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SOCIETY GIRLS ARE
SUCCESSFUL SLEUTHS
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Mystery of Disappearance of Money
In Bank Is Solved and Innocent
Man's Life Saved.
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SUBJECT ONLY TO SPECIAL
DUTY IN DETECTIVE WORK
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Idea of Getting on Force Originated
From Reading Lurid Tales of
Sherlock Holmes.
[UNITED PRESS LEASED WIRE.]
Budapest; Hungary, Sept. 4. — Society
girls of Budapest suffering from
ennui are turning "detective" in
search of excitement and mental
exhilaration. This latest stunt of young
women in good social circles has just
been disclosed in a love romance in the
police department, which has led to the
discovery that a considerable number
of prominent girls between 18 and 25
— young women of means and highly
educated —are on the regular roster of
the police as female "Sherlocks."
The announcement of the engagement
of a bank clerk to a prominent
society girl, has resulted in the
disclosure of the fact that the police have
a corps of lady detectives from the
best families.
Recently a thousand dollars
disappeared from the cashier's window in
one of the largest banks. Two clerks
were present at the time. They asked
to be searched. In the coat pocket of
one of these was found a large new
pocketbook containing the missing
money. He professed his innocence so
earnestly that the bank turned the case
over to the police to unravel the
mystery. The regular detectives failed,
and finally the chief called in a young
girl of 18, daughter of a prominent
family, who had secretly joined the
"secret police," out of desire "to
have something for her brain to do."
Locates Thief.
This young woman had upon several
occasions unraveled mysterious
cases, and was the best detective on
the force. She quickly discovered
that the pocketbook found in the pocket
of the accused bank clerk came from
a certain store. She obtained work in
the store, discovered that one of the
store girls was in love with the
second bank clerk, had presented him
with the pocketbook the day before
the robbery.
With this information, the police
confronted the other clerk. He
confessed. The accused man, who was at
liberty, had disappeared. The girl was
set at work to find him. She discovered
him on the bank of Danube writing
a farewell note before jumping
the writer. The denoument was the
announcement of an engagement and a
wedding in September. The bank
refused to prosecute the other clerk, and
has enabled him to go to America to
start life anew.
It was admitted at police headquarters
that there are a number of young
women from some of the best families
m the city, on the "secret roster."
The idea originated with a young
woman after reading Sherlock Holmes.
She thought it would be "great fun"
to be a detective. She let several girl
friends in on the secret, and they also
became regular police detectives
subject only to special duty.
Tired of Social Doings.
Now, that several of them have
become known, their usefulness is gone.
One of these, a handsome miss of 19,
declared that she turned Sherlock
Holmes because she became tired of
social doings, and, as the status of her
family made it impossible to do any
work without "disgracing" the family
and herself in the eyes of her friends,
she wanted some "brain exercise."
Speaking of her work, she said, "It
is splendid to think and think over the
mysteries of a case, try to put
yourself in the place of the criminal and
sense his way of thinking; to theorize
and put your wits against those of
some one else. I think women,
because of their higher developed intuition,
are particularly adapted for it."
