Morning journal and courier., 1881-12-27
Fugitive Criminals.
How They Disguise Themselves-Dfsad- vantaSes of the English Police.
 rF rom tbe Iondon Daily NewsI

How They Disguise Themselves-Dtsad- vantages of the English Police.
 From the London Daily News.I
 The success with which Lefroy so long eyaded the pursuit, not of the police alone, but of the many thousands of alarmed per- sons who were anxious to see him captured, suggests some reflections on the disguises which fugitive criminal may assume to con- ceal his identity. It is generally believed that when. a crime has reused whole nation to excitement the alleged perpetrators chances of escape must, in these days of rapid infor- nation, be small but little reflection will show that this must depend largely upon the amount of intelligence and nerve which a criminal possesses. Happily criminal in- stincts are seldom associated with prudence, and murderers especially are notorious for
 the reeklessness with which they leave clews about to assist their capture. Few of them when arrested are found to have disguised themselves further than by altering the cut of their hair or boards and fewer still have shown elf-command enough to break off altogether with their former haunts and hab- it's and to cease from all correspondence with their friends. Yet there are exceptions, and although it is very rarely that murder CT whose real name and personal appearance are known to the police long eludes appre- hension, there are cases in which such men l have got clean of, in the teeth of all chances against them. About twenty years ago g man named Jud murdered @ French judge, President Poinsot, ln railway carriage, under circumstances almost identical to those in which MT. Gold lost his life. Jud was well known; his description was publish | ed in all the newspapers his name became 8 | by-word for taunts against the police; and scores of persons were arrested in his stead 1 but Jud has remained undiscovered to this | day. Charles Peace, the burglar, evaded | capture for nearly two years after his mur- 1 der at Blackheath, and might possibly have I remained undetected altogether had he moi | continued his criminal courses. He had dis l guised himself with great art, but not toe eIaborately, as anyone can see by looking at | the two wax figures of him in the Tussauo Chamber of Horrors. In one he appears IT convict garb; in the other he is made uI ! like little old gentleman with spectacles anc only one arm, hook doing duty for the los limb The disguise was most ingenious, but \ very simple for 1t involved no painting o. the face or wearing of wig, expedientl l which the true proficient in the art of Self trayesty avoids whenever possible.
 | The mysteries of self-disguise have lon( l been familiar to law-breakers, but more so a l rule to swindlers than to murderers. Ok | Patch, Bamfylde Moore Oarew, and other
 have left extraordinary regulations for thel | skill in making up,'' but their exploits il
 this way have been quite equalled by moderl | detectives Thlef-tak6rS are pound 70 D
 l very careful in their disguises, for they oftel carry their lives in their hands when the,
 iutrude themselves under false appearance
 into bad company, and for this reason the.
 have to be very clever at acting as well a
 | masking. That stock phrase ia the mouth
 of policemen speaking to magistrates, "Fron
 \ information received" often sums up tn
 results of weeks or months of marVellou
 adventures on the part of detective who's
 name is not even mentioned at the trial
 From information which the policeman re
 ceived he went and took the prisoner mt l custody, but before the detective could giV
 him the information which consigned long
 hunted criminal to the hands or gustlce, n
 may have had to practise dlsslmuiatlon ans
 patience, to exhibit nerve ana oaIang 70 z,
 Isextent almost inconceivabie. Criminal
 1 whose mere object is to avoid recognition
 as ttev wander about the land labor under n
 such necessities as these, and very little ar
 | will he required to make them absolutely un
 recognizable For few shillings man ma
 T buy bottle of hair-dye, which in few hour
 will change his hair and eyebrows from blac
 to gray or red and entirely alter the expres
 l sion of his countenance. If this be nc
 enough, two small pieces of quill inserted i
 the nostrils will transform the shape of hi
 nose, and completely change the tone ot hi
 1 voice. With decoction of fresh walnut-juic
 man may paint as much of his skin as
 shows to the color of mulatto's and thi
 application need be renewed no oftener tha once every four days; while the smoking 2