The New York private detective's licence

Under Article 7 of the General Business Law, no one in New York could run a detective business without a licence from the State Comptroller. The applicant, a citizen of the United States, stated his age, residence and occupations, and five reputable freeholders of his county who had known him five years approved the statement; he paid one hundred dollars, gave a bond of two thousand, and received for five years a certificate naming his business address and the persons who had filed the statement, with a metal shield or badge he could neither lend nor let another wear.

No licence of the period has been found, so the paper Bearer prints is a reconstruction on the article, and the office says so above it.

Bearer makes an investigator's papers for Call of Cthulhu and any 1920s or 1930s tabletop campaign: the passport a consul would have filled in, with the visas and frontier stamps a campaign leaves in it, and the permits, certificates and tickets of the period, to print or to share.

An example

Open this example in the office

The paper

A reconstruction

This paper is a reconstruction. No New York detective's licence of the period has been found: what it certifies and states is Article 7 of the General Business Law as amended in 1909 (the comptroller's licence, the statement approved by five freeholders, the fee of one hundred dollars, the bond of two thousand, five years, the business address and the names and residences of those who filed the statement, the shield or badge). The words and layout are ours.

Still to be confirmed

• the whole paper. What would settle it: a New York private detective's licence of 1920 to 1939.
• the licensing office: the text read (1909) names the State Comptroller; whether it passed to another office inside the window has not been found. What would settle it: the amendments of Article 7 after 1909.

Sources

• State of New York; in The Consolidated Laws of the State of New York, amendments of 1909, archive.org, New York General Business Law, Article 7, Private detectives (§§ 70-76), as amended by L. 1909 ch. 529, no one conducts the business of private detective without a licence from the state comptroller; the application states age, residence, occupations and United States citizenship, approved by five reputable freeholders of the county who have known the applicant five years; fee of one hundred dollars for a person, bond of two thousand dollars; the licence lasts five years, revocable for cause; the certificate specifies the business address and the names and residences of the persons who filed the statement; a metal shield or badge issued to each, evidence of due authorisation (read directly)

Open the passport office · MGS Toolbox