Old Specie, the Treasury Detective; or, The Harbor Lights of New York — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

OLD SPECIE. 23 amined the strange means of communication be- tween the houses. Unless one’s suspicions were especially directed to that point, he would never dream of the existence of a door. It looked innocent enough. Finding a rough knot-hole, which he believed was the key to the situation, the detective worked at it for a minute, and then the door opened. He passed through. Now that he was in the building that he had de- sired to visit, he did not take as much stock in the enterprise. If this house was used by gamblers as a means of escape from their own quarters it did not seem likely that the shrewd men he sought would have their den here. Still, while in it he might as well make a thorough examination. He did so. Striking matches he passed from the attic down to the first floor. Nothing was discovered. Here a door led into some sort of cellar, but it was nailed fast. Nothing remained but to leave the house in the same way the gamblers had. This was through a rear window. In twenty minutes he was again in the place next door, looking for his man. Once let him get a footing, and from that time on he depended no more on the freaks of fortune. It was like climbing up a ladder. The clock showed twenty-five minutes to twelve when Old Specie caught his man. Gomichboo SS) =| (E(0)