THE
Complete Detective
The
C omplete
D etective
Being the Life and Strange and Exciting Cases of
Raymond Schindler, Master Detective
BY RUPERT HUGHES
With a Foreword by Erie Stanley Gardner
M. EVANS
Lanham • New York • Boulder • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
M. Evans
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Distributed by National Book Network
Copyright © 1950 by Rupert Hughes
First Rowman & Littlefield paperback edition 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available
ISBN 13: 978-1-59077-454-0 (pbk: alk. paper)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
FOREWORD by ERLE STANLEY GARDNER
1. THE DETECTIVE IN FACT AND FICTION
2. THE SERIAL MURDERER
3. BEAUTY IN DISTRESS
4. RAY’S MOST FAMOUS CASE
5. HIS HARDEST CASE
6. THE WOMAN OF TOO MANY PASTS
7. CINEMA SHAKEDOWN
8. BLACKMAIL AS AN INDUSTRY
9. A FEW HORS D’OEUVRE
10. EVEN HIS INITIALS WERE R O B
11. THE DICTOGRAPH AS A PUBLIC DEFENDER
12. THE DICTOGRAPH AS A PRIVATE EAVESDROPPER
13. CRIME AGAINST CRIME
14. THE KOREAN MIND AND FACE
15. THE TYPEWRITTEN KIDNAPPER
16. PAINTINGS VANISH, JEWELS REAPPEAR
17. HE BUILDS A RAILROAD
18. VANISHED WEALTH
19. A RAID ON FAIRYLAND
20. GRAND (SOAP) OPERA
21. HE PLAYS SANTA CLAUS
22. PRETEXTS AND THE PASSION PLAYERS
23. THE LIE DETECTOR DETECTS THE TRUTH
24. THE LOST GIRL
25. WHO WAS THE RED KILLER?
A Foreword
THE CASE OF THE
DETERMINED DETECTIVE
by ERLE STANLEY GARDNER
THE CASE OF THE
DETERMINED DETECTIVE
by ERLE STANLEY GARDNER
I first met Raymond Schindler in 1943 at Miami Beach.
It was just before the opening of the famous de Marigny trial in the Bahamas. I was to cover that trial for the New York Journal-American and some of its affiliated newspapers. Raymond Schindler was acting as consulting criminologist for the defense, employed by de Marigny’s beautiful wife, the former Nancy Oakes.
Tom Ferris, the incomparable publicity man of Miami Beach, arranged the meeting at the Versailles Hotel, and Tom saw there were plenty of cameramen along. We sat at a sun-swept table against the background of the beautiful hotel swimming pool with its overhanging cocoanut palms. Flash bulbs blazed and shutters clicked while Ray and I got acquainted.
Not too well acquainted, because Ray was embarking upon one of the most difficult jobs of his entire career and he was playing them very, very close to his chest.
A few days later, the scene shifted over to Nassau in the Bahamas.
There I had an opportunity to see Ray Schindler in action. Bit by bit, he began to warm up to me and let down the bars.
Before I became a mystery writer, I was a trial lawyer. Dining that time I had occasion to employ quite a few private detectives, and I employed some good ones. Therefore, my appreciation of Ray Schindler’s technique was founded upon a pretty fair knowledge of what he was up against.
Only those who were in the Bahamas during the trial of Alfred de Marigny and were familiar with the terrific tension, the behind-the-scenes developments, can appreciate the magnitude of Ray Schindler’s task.
Almost immediately after the murder of Sir Harry Oakes, the Duke of Windsor, then the governor of the island, had personally called in Captain Edward Melchen, of the Florida police. Melchen and Captain James L. Barker, also of the Florida police, arrived on the island. Apparently their status was never fully clarified. They may or may not have thought they were helping the island police. The island police apparently thought they had been superseded. In any event, the investigation of what is perhaps the most mysterious and baffling murder of all time devolved upon these two Florida police officers who were dealing with a strange legal procedure in a strange land and trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat in a matter of hours.
The officers discovered, interpreted or encountered evidence which led to the arrest of Alfred de Marigny.
By far the most significant part of that evidence was the fingerprint produced by Captain Barker, a fingerprint which was concededly made by one of de Marigny’s fingers, and which Barker insisted he had removed from a wooden screen which had been within a few feet of the bed where the body of the murdered millionaire had been found.
For some time prior to the murder, Sir Harry Oakes and de Marigny had been estranged. De Marigny insisted he had not been in the house where the murder was committed for a long time, and, quite obviously, if his fresh fingerprint had actually been found on that wooden screen, the case against him would have been as black as the deepest cell in a dark dungeon on a cloudy night.
It is a mistake to assume that Ray Schindler was ever employed to solve the murder of Sir Harry Oakes. He was employed to see that de Marigny wasn’t convicted on evidence which wouldn’t stand up to the searching analysis of modem criminology.
The fact that this fingerprint, unquestionably that of de Marigny’s little finger, authenticated by police testimony as having come from that wooden screen, didn’t put the noose right around de Marigny’s neck is one of the greatest investigative triumphs of modem times. I know of no detective who has ever faced a tougher assignment or discharged it more triumphantly.
Rupert Hughes, famous for his biographical technique as well as for his fiction, gives the reader in a special chapter in this book Ray Schindler’s story of the de Marigny case and discloses facts which have hitherto not been available to the public.
There is, therefore, no point in discussing at this time how Ray Schindler did the thing that he did. I only mention the case because, for several long weeks, each day of which was packed with enough excitement to make a dime novel seem anemic in comparison, I watched Ray Schindler in action.
Feeling was running high on the island. There was intense prejudice against de Marigny. There was prejudice against American sensationalism. There was wild excitement. There were rumors. There were even rumors of threats.
Against that background, Ray Schindler, quietly, competently, aggressively, vigorously, went about his work. He surrounded himself with some of the best men in the business. He directed their efforts with the talent of a bom executive.
But the thing which impressed itself upon my mind was the fact that in all of this atmosphere of wildly distorted rumors, fantastic speculation, prejudice, heat, haste, uncertainty and doubt, Ray Schindler never for a moment lost his mental perspective. He listened to everything, saw everything, investigated everything, and sifted facts out of the chaff of rumor and speculation. Always his mi
nd was as cold, calm, detached and deadly efficient as though the man had been some calculating machine.
Gradually, bit by bit, the remorseless energy of his mind drove that fingerprint farther and farther from the screen until at the time of trial the thing simply couldn’t be identified with any specific area on the screen. Up until a few days before he was to go on the stand, Captain Barker had the place marked on the screen where he claimed the fingerprint had been before he “lifted” it. When he got on the stand, he had decided he couldn’t be sure.
De Marigny was acquitted.
Since that time I have seen a great deal of Ray Schindler. I have learned now something of the background of the man. the reason for those qualities which made him stand out so sharply during those hectic days on the Bahamas.
It is a remarkably interesting character, and the things which have made it what it is are analyzed in Rupert Hughes’ book. Here the reader can meet one of the most outstanding of all of the real detectives. Here he can follow him through case after case, watching a man who can’t be excited, can’t be stampeded, and can’t be frightened. A man who matches the ingenuity of crime with an even greater mental resourcefulness and who has in addition a dogged determination and a big fighting heart.
The history of Raymond Schindler is far more fascinating than fiction. His biography is the story of a great investigator, of a life that is packed with exciting adventures and of criminals who are outwitted, outfought and smashed.
It is a great story.
THE
Complete Detective
1.
THE DETECTIVE IN FACT AND FICTION
“If you will save my husband from being hanged as the murderer of my father, I will pay you all the money you may ask”
It was a beautiful, young American Marquise who threw herself on the mercy of Raymond Schindler. She appealed to his—shall we say, cupidity?—but he answered warmly:
“I will do my best, my dear child—but on one condition. If my investigations turn up evidence that your husband is guilty, I will turn that evidence over to the prosecution.”
The desperate girl had to consent. All the world read in the newspapers of that time how Ray Schindler not only saved her husband from execution but won an almost instant verdict of “Not Guilty” from the jury. He tore the case against the Marquis to shreds by new methods of dealing with fingerprints.
“We haven’t much money but we believe that this worthless Negro, who is about to be railroaded to his death, is innocent of the ghastly murder of that poor young girl.”
The case against the Negro seemed to be absolutely unbreakable; the financial rewards were almost nil; yet Ray gave his utmost art to that case.
Few things in detective fiction are more complex and ingenious than Raymond Schindler’s discovery and trapping of the real murderer, and the extraction of a full confession from him. Ray’s immensely modern methods included the publication of false copies of three leading newspapers, the simulation of a murder, the use of the dictograph, and elaborate and subtle psychological devices.
“If you tell my husband what you have found out, I will kill myself.”
A beautiful wife was on her knees to Ray Schindler. It was the detective who pleaded.
“But, my dear lady, I have no choice. I must tell him.”
“Then go ahead and tell him,” she cried. “And I will kill myself. I mean it!”
How Ray Schindler saved her and did his duty by his client is as fantastic a series of facts as any imaginary story any fiction writer ever concocted.
The writer of mystery stories can, and sometimes does, show great invention in working up plots and characters. But, in a pinch, an author can make any changes he may find necessary, or convenient, or exciting.
The detective in real life needs just as much imagination as the fictionist, and often more. The real detective has to take a ready-made plot, find out the hidden characters, take them as he finds them and deal with them as they change their efforts to elude him.
It is not enough for a paid detective to keep a reader awake or scare one to sleep with a thrilling bed-time story. The detective has to work out his plot until it will convince a jury that it could not possibly have happened otherwise. He must be ready to confront expensive criminal lawyers of equal imagination who aim to persuade emotional juries that the accusations are entirely false; or, even if they are true, that the guilty ones should not be punished for them.
The story of Ray Schindler’s life and works is not only a cyclopaedia of enthralling stories, but also a travelogue through nearly every phase of human life.
Having known the man for many years, I have come to feel an affection for him as great as my admiration. He deserves a biography far more than most of those whose lives are set forth in pretentious tomes; for he has been the protector of the weak and the savior of the guiltless as well as a preventer of crime and an avenging fate on the heels of the wicked.
He has invoked and developed the newest scientific devices of every sort, and collaborated with the highest experts in every field of medical, chemical, and electric discovery.
Most of his adventures far outrun in ingenuity and suspense the masterpieces of detective fiction; and they have the added value of genuine human documents.
I have tried to recount these stories faithfully as they first came to Ray Schindler’s office in all their cloudy mystery; then to show how, with inspired imagination and unwearying skill and science, indomitable pertinacity and ingenuity, he penetrated the fogs and jungles, overcame the conspiracies of obscurity and villainy, brought home the true truth, and served the high offices of justice and mercy, making life safer for everybody.
This may not be popular fiction; but if it is not popular fact, it is my fault, not his.
Few people realize how important to the public safety is the activity of the private detective. Fewer people knew that this same Ray Schindler devoted far more time and genius to saving a drunken, disreputable, ex-convict Negro from being hustled off to the electric chair for the horrible murder of a little girl, than he spent in rescuing a rich Marquis from prosecutors determined to execute him.
The high sense of pure justice that led Ray Schindler to save the life of a worthless derelict is one of the qualities that inspire him. His exceedingly busy life has done much to lift the name and trade of the private detective into the realm of high art, and the high dignity of public protection.
Many criminal lawyers, though sworn to act as allies with the courts as officers of the law, gain wealth and fame by defeating justice and saving the guilty from punishment. And there have been more than enough evil detectives, both private and public. But Ray Schindler feels that he is a part of the administration of the law.
The clearing of that trapped Negro and the discovery and the conviction of the true murderer of the little girl, won from Dorothy Dix the phrase: “the most brilliant piece of detective work in American history.” One would search far to find another that involved such elaborate and patient toil and such imagination. It invoked the invention and perseverance of the dramatist, and the scientist. The relentless siege of the guilty mind until it gave up its own secret was a superlative feat of psychology in action.
In this case he made the only use he ever made of a fictional story; for he took a hint from Conan Doyle’s “Hound of the Baskervilles” and had for his collaborator a dog, as in another of his cases he found a most useful ally in a monkey.
Among the triumphs of Ray Schindler’s creative and analytic genius which are to be recounted in this story of his life, many of the most exciting to read about never reached the glare of publicity till now. He often forswore the advantages of advertisement for the sake of poor creatures entangled in meshes of circumstances from which he alone could release them without exposing them.
What could be more dramatic or horrifying than the experience of the emotional millionaire who accidentally stumbled on the fact that the wife of his bosom, whom he had loved and
adored for years, had tricked him into matrimony and concealed an almost unbelievably wicked past of many marriages and the crassest blackmail?
He called on Ray Schindler to rescue him from the claws of the unscrupulous harpy and to get her out of his life and his home without a prodigious scandal. Ray Schindler managed it by pitting his skill and stubbornness against her relentlessness; but he had to visit many European capitals before he won the battle.
Then there was the big hotel that appealed to Ray to save it from an enormous damage suit threatened by a pretty girl who was growing rich by pretending to swallow broken glass in successive hotels. Then the grafting woman whose celluloid combs exploded in her hair—
On one occasion he built fourteen miles of railroad to convince, and so unseat, a crooked railroad president. And he made the railroad pay a profit!
On another, he opened a bank to persuade a banker to disclose his own dishonesties.
He laid out the plans for a gigantic radio program in order to save the product of a soap manufacturer who was helpless to protect his own field from invasion by powerful rivals.
In his early days he had a large share in putting behind bars San Francisco’s mayor and so many other officials that the city had to be run by an “elisor” designated by the courts.
He saved Atlantic City from enormous municipal robbery, and imprisoned grafters in high places.
One of his noblest achievements has been his collaborations with Erle Stanley Gardner in their “Court of Last Resort,” which investigates the cases of men convicted of murder and claiming innocence. The Court, at vast expense of time and money, has already released three guiltless wretches who had already served twelve or more years’ time at hard labor in penitentiaries. The proof of their innocence had been as difficult as it was divinely merciful.
He has kept abreast of, and taken constant advantage of the ever-increasing resources of science. His clever adaptations of radio have been startling. He was perhaps the first detective to employ the dictograph in his work. After making use of the first gropings towards mechanical discovery of the truth, he was closely allied with Leonarde Keeler in the employment of his widely known, widely misunderstood and underrated marvel, the polygraph, generally called “the lie detector.”
The Complete Detective Page 1