The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-01-07
THE R0GUES' GALLERY.
A SKETCH BY An OLD DETECTIVE,
The EuTderers, Confidence Men, Counterieiters,
Burglars and PickpCckets Of New York.
Pen and Ink Portraits Of Promi-
% nent Criminals.
Characteristic Of the Gallery How the Por.
trails are Obtained -Modus Operandi Of
Rogue Catching Crime as q Profess
sIen-E1hcsey Of Judge Russcii,s
Long Terms Of imprisonment,
Sc, &C., sc.

Long Terms Of imprisonment,
SC, &C., sc.
tH
One Of the few improvements in the police sys-
tem Of New York, made under the auspices Of the
Metropolitan Police Commissioners, is the estab-
Ashment OF the Rogues' Gallery, consisting of col
lection of portraits of prominent and professional
criminals, numbered and registered, together with
- accurate data be gathered to their lives
habits, associations and haunts, TO be referred to as
escasion requires.
But, Of what use Is all thisl" is the natural in
quiry Of the reader and in Difference to that Amer
can and unitarian view of the subject that question
had, perhaps, best be answered at the outset. The
use is simply this: If house or store is robbed, or
apocket picked, the owner may possibly recognise
IN the gallery the physiognomy Of some individual
Who has been seen lurking about the place. in which
ease the police can probably find him in short
time. Indeed such desirable result has been ef
tected in plumber of instances. The record is al
ways available TO the department, and does not
depend, as heretofore on the memory of the officer
br it Is made the duty Of members of the force
70 mpart such information as they can for preser
walton, SO that The record Of suspicious persons and
places, well the minute history Of professional
yogues, may he preserved for reference. descrip-
ton Of thief, then--f he be a professionals
pretty certain to be recognized by the police !;
and if man has his pocket picked it is
lot at all improbable that he will find in
The Rogues' gallery the likeness Of the amiable
gentleman or interesting lady who sat next him
m = stage or car, who jostled against him in the
street, asked the time of day or night, solicited
Aluuo tod To ,f
miliar to pickpockets, and 80 generally attracting
tie attention of the victim after the harm is DONE
Nor is the effect of the Rogues' gallery unsaluta-
~ upon the rogues themselves. They are not in
sensible to the damage done to their profession by
ne exhibition Of their portraits, and not few
have been induced to reform, at least to pretend
70 do so, By this easy means Of making the public
familiar with their visages. Some have been led
10 pursue their nefsrious vocation with greater
caution, and others to seek other and less DANCE
Ieus fields Of speculation.
II the gallery served no other purpose than as
etudy of the natures of those who populate our
prisons and penitentiaries, who openly pursue ille-
gal avocations in defiance Of all law, depending on
fAsir own shrewiness and daring for escape, its
uee would be by no means contemplate. The con-
temptation Of these hardened faces cannot but az
ford food for the reflections of the philosopher and
philanthropist; nor can the mere idle gazer visit
10 gallery without reading in the furrowed faces
81 crime lessons Of inestimable value
Tome wonder may be expressed that the rogues
should submit to have their faces daguerreotyped,
hut when the process is learned astonishment will
cease. The plan is quite ample. The culprit ID
asked TO Sit be refuses, he is threatened with
walk up and down Broadwayywith placsrd show
ing his profession appended to his person. In most
eases the threat is sufficient and in others it is put
D execution, and succeeds. II long term Of i'm
prsennent is before the cuprit, and he proves OBJ
dnrate, he is registered for trial when he shall be
set at liberty go that he will have motive for re-
firing from the public gaze.
The visiter il struck with the apparently re-
spectacle appearance of many'of the subjects, and
0ten with the resemblance to noted individuals in
honest life. There are all forms of expression,
Rom gay and jovial to brutal and ferocious, and
GDiess the beholder is assured, in q great many
cases, of the character Of the subject it would be
next to impossible TO Judge adversely from mere
glance at the features. The most subtle physiog-
nonist might well be puzzled to indicate the vii.
hnous expressions in three quarters of the coun-
tenances, while in many cases it seems incon.
sistent with reason to believe that the honest,
open, manly, intelligent face before you is
that of a sneak thief, desperate bur-
glar, pickpocket, or o confidence man.
But there are demons in human form there repre-
sented-black, forbidding, desperate, ferocous,
viIlAnous, hangdog treacherous looking scoun-
drels, whom you would dread to have behind you,
o. within respectable distance of your person
men with all sorts of facial deformtes who look as
they had had terrific scufles with bears, rhinoce
xeees, tigers aud painters, and had come Off vcto-
yiors with large proportion of the attributes Of
those gentle animals.
Yet, amid the whole, there are resemblances to
prominent men to keep you mindful that they are
human. Like all other classes of society they
have their grades Of renown and obscurity, of
wealth and poverty, of ability and stupidity and
Of pride. An expert bank robber scorns the socie-
y Of small pickpocket, and confidence man
looks with extreme disgust on the brute IA
sulies Of the burglar. They have their
weaknesses and folles, and their illustra-
tons of the genius of dihereut nations. The
English monopolizc the skilful burgaries, the
Americans the confidence men, the Irish the daring
deed requiring reckless bravery, the Jews the va
nation Of goods, the French the ingenuity of ma
chinery-and so on to the end Of the chapter.
The genus of the fair sex is not unrepresented,
and the female form divine appears in the charac-
ters Of modesty, of holiness, Of beauty, Of Mrs.
Cardleshness, of cunning and Of vanity just as Is
seen in honest iife The guady ribbon, the dashing
dreas, the hashy jevelry, or the youptuous swell
denote the ruling passion
All the mainsprirgs Of human action appear to
be represented, not excepting charity, which the
Scriptures say is greater than faith and hope.
More than one Of these professional robbers is
noted for his generosity TO the needy-with other
peoples money, to be sure-but more so than the
Wall street financicr whose bogus bank rags have
IMPOVERISHED thousands. They have their repre-