A WOMAN DETECTIVE

Otago Witness, Issue 3332, 23 January 1918, Page 58

A WOMAN DETECTIVE

J MRS FARLING OF WASHINGTON. I . liio most valued detective on the Washington force is a woman. She is enveloped in someunng oi an atmosphere of mystery, .....i-.i . . s,ae;u VV ason, Bruce JLJielaski, of the Secret Service, nor the Chief of Police Pullman will allow her to be photographed without a mask." Her work ia i-iuviiig so necessary, in dealing with suspected German spies, suffragists, or the ordinary disorderly element of .the capital that the Government considers it essential tuaf sao remain unicnovvn. fehe is stronger and mora agile than the ordinary man, and in her innocent-lookng reticule she carries a revolver—and she is a dead shot! Albert Whiting Fox, 'writing in tho New York Sun, says of her: Officially she is known as Sarah V. Farling, active member of Major Pullman's police force. She impresses one as an attractive women in the full bloom of robust health. There is a note of seriousness and sympathy about her countenance which invites confidence, but one can readily see how she might be a success in a dancehall, for you would take her to bo whatever'she says she is. | She might say she is a mother —which she is, although making her way in the world in this unusual manner —and no one would doubt. Or she might say that she \lived in anticipation of nightlife excitement, or was seeking, employment as a typist, and she would still seem to fit the part. No one, however, would guess that she dragged two men at once off a crowded street ear by puro physical strength, cr that she carried a revolver in her little black satchel, with which she had' made a record as a dead shot. Secret Service, men at £he White House, ' who regard even the most remarkable investigation work as mere routine, believe that Mrs Farling's physical qualifications are more remarkable than those of any other woman in the country:* She can knock a man down as easily with her right arm as a policeman can with his nightstick, and therefore she carries no stick. She was assigned to duty at the White Kouso because it took two or three policemen to handle excited suffragettes with banners, while Mrs Farling simply takes a kindly grip, on any one of .the disturbers, and the banners fall. This interesting Government sleuth was recently called upon by the Department of Justice to investigate what looked like a delicate piece of spy work. Its denouement was both unusual and amusing, i The secret Government agents had reported that a woman had come to Washington after a series of visits to places where military posts were located. She had been seen taking notes and had been overheard making statements about secret information she had gathered. Bielaski's men believed she was a man disguised as a woman and possibly in the pay of Germany. They had been around the hotel, _ but ; were unable to make headway. Inciden- I tally the suspect kept most of her time j in her room, where she had her meals sent. The hotel people thought her eccentric, but suspected nothing wrong. About this time a woman with conspicuous baggage alighted from a taxi and took ' a room on the same floor. An hour later j there was a knock on the door of the j suspect. Outside stood a woman taken j suddenly ill. " Have you anything in the way of a I bromid or a little morphin?" she pleaded. I "My supply has run out, and they say I you can't get it here, and I'm nearly | crazv." "Come in," said the other woman, with th-»t knowing W>k which one addicted to drugs gives a fellow victim. Soon a very confidential relationship had been established, after Mrs Farling—for it was shehad carefully taken her drug supply for future use She had the whole case cleared ui> that afternoon. It was not a man disguised as a woman, or a German-paid spy, but simply a woman who, through her drug excesses and distorted mind, had constituted herself a "secret agent" and _ was "Tnthering information about military secrets for the use of the United States Government." Mrs Farling's energies are not directed solely to the undoing of suffragists and German spies. Frequently _ she works entirely on her own initiative, when j she is actuated by a womanly desire to protect the weak _ of her own sex who have fallen into un- , scrupulous hands. One Saturday night she started in the evening and worked until 8 o'clock on Sunday morning. She mmgled with the resellers in dance halls and Chinese restaurants, and scoured bright- j lighted sections or secluded automobile I routes in a machine of her own. She took j 12 young, girls from their escorts _ and . escorted them to their homes. In no single case had the girls' parents any idea where j their daughters were. A typical case involved a very attractive I young girl, daughter of a well-known business man, who was joy-riding on the Speed-

vvd-y with two young men. Mrs Farling's machine broke the speed limit following the automobile around until it finally came to a stop before one of the fashionable cafes.

''Just a moment, my dear!" Mrs Farling said to the girl, asking her escorts to excuso her for a minute. There followed a conversation, after which the girl called her escorts over and said:

" This is Miss Brooks, an awfully good friend of mine. I'll have to call it off for to-night." After admitting later that sho had never seen either of the young men before, the girl was escorted by Mrs Farling to her home, where she thanked her, and bade her food-night. But Mrs Farling said she' rst wanted to have a talk with the girl's mother.

"Oh, mother will bo furious if you wake her up at this time of night," the girl said, and her prediction was verified, for the woman came down in her dressinggown, very indignant at having her rest interrupted. "If you can sleep soundly at this time of night without knowing where your daugh- + ->• is you had better cultivate insomnia," Mra Farling said. It turned out that the mother thought her daughter had gone to visit a friend, but didn't particularly care, where she had gone, as she believed her well able to judge as to her own conduct. But after she had talked with Mrs Farling a little while her ideas changed. „ It was a penitent and thankful mother who baxJe Mrs Farling good-bye in the early h6urs of Sunday morning.