US 1830-1880

Journal Entry

In the twentieth century , the journal of my Irish ancestor , Detective Robert Shorts , was found during an Estate sale . He immigrated from Ireland in the early 1850 's as a teenager and spent the later part of his life as Detroit 's Detective and , later , Police Chief . The following are his words

October 24 , 1872 , Detroit

It was a dark time . The city had been safe since the 1830 's , so safe that women could walk about without their husbands or go to work without an escort . Now . Well

, now things were dark . I found myself standing alongside the latest victim , pretty , well-dressed , not a prostitute . A lady of means , murdered in broad daylight . I wondered what the world was coming to

Back in Ireland , this never would have happened to her . Things were different there . The main difference being that in Ireland , you knew where the bad neighborhoods were , and unless you were there for reasons unmentionable , you avoided them like the plague - for that 's what it would get you , and that would be the best of things

Things had changed so much if you didn 't know the new buildings in town you could get easily lost and wind up in a bad spot . Which is probably what happened to the lady , I considered . I saw nothing that would have placed her in this dark alley that used to be a small , slightly urban park

My hand rested on my pistol as the city 's...