The burglar does not commit his depredations in the open light of day, nor in the full view of the spectator.

Nor does the murderer usually select the brilliantly-lighted highway to strike the fatal blow.

Quietly and secretly, and with every imagined precaution against detection, the criminal acts, and it is only by equally secretive ways that he can be reached.
Weeks and months may elapse before he is finally brought to bay, but I have never known it to fail, at least in my experience, that detection will follow crime as surely as the shadow will follow a moving body in the glare of sunlight.
From the facts collected by my operatives, and from every other available source, I was now put into possession of every point in the case of the murder of Henry Schulte, that could be arrived at, and we were prepared to define a plan of operation, which, if strictly adhered to, bore the impress of promised success.
An old man had been foully murdered, and his body had been robbed of a large sum of money.

Money, therefore, was the cause of the murder, and the recovery and identification of this would undoubtedly lead to the discovery of the criminal.
The matter, with all its attendant facts, was placed in the hands of Mr.Bangs, my general superintendent, and of my son, Robert A.
Pinkerton, who resolved to succeed in the undertaking if success were possible.
The details of our proposed line of action were submitted to the German Consul-General and to the State's attorney, Mr.Olmstead.

The former, while expressing doubts of the expediency of the plan proposed, determined finally to allow us to pursue such course as in our judgment was advisable, while the latter gentleman signified his hearty approval, as it accorded in many respects with a plan which he had previously thought feasible in this very matter.
Our relations with these gentlemen were of a nature somewhat peculiar.