New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-09
TIE DETECTION OF CRIlLE.

Four startling and specially revolving murders
have been committed recently, but III none OF
these cases has any clcw been thus far obtained
ia the criminals. Yet all Of these crimes were
pcrpetratcd in the country, and the conditions
appcar TO have been such that really keen dc
tectives should have been able 10 give a salts
factory account of the murdcrcrs by this time.
1t sometimes happens that murders are pre-
mcditated, and that criminals take elaborate
precautions to destroy all tcll-talc evidence {;
yet in many of these cases some little thing Is
overlooked, and that apparent triiic has often
led to the discovery of the murderer. But
when as in these recent cases, there Is no
ground for assuming generalization, the pre-
sumption is that traces and clcws must have
been left which would be enough 10 guide in
tclligent detectives. 1t is no doubt true that
the press often intcrfcres very seriously with
detective work. In their cagerness 10 give the
public the latest and fullest intelligence, the
newspapers commonly print every fact they
can obtain, aud also every conjecture, In regard
TO such cases. The consequence is that the I'M
detected criminal receives timely warning and
information Of every step in the investigation,
and the detective is compelled to proceed with
out the great advantage of secrecy and conceal
ment
But when full allowance has been made for
the garrulity Of the press, it must be admitted
that comparatively little skill Is exhibited in
detective work nowadays. In countries where
this kind of occupation is carried on with more
generally successful results for example,
France the detective is in the first place thor
oughly trained and in the second place, he is
protected in his incOgntO by the Government
that employs him. Thus cases have been cited
in which detectives have passed their lives In
difficult and delicate cmployments, yet no sus-
picion of their avOcatiOn has reached either the
public or the criminal classes. With us, on
the contrary everything is against the success
of detective work. In the majority of cases lat
least outside the cities men are appointed de-
tectives without having had any special train
ing, and without having given proofs of the
possession Of any of the faculties required.
Often they owe their appointment to political
considerations, and IL is rarely that fitness Is
the motive. So we take inexperienced or in
capable men make them detectives and then
compel them to do their work in the full light,
under a running commentary of criticism, and
cheered by the pleasing consciousness that all
their movements are chronicled for the use and
behOOf of the criminals they are set TO capture.
Under the circumstances we ought not to be
surprised if the number of undetected crimi-
nails increases, for it would be impossible to
conceive a more impractical or worthless sys-
TEN than that which we have allowed to grow
up. 1t Is not too much to say that every one of
the four murder cases referred to ought to have
been unravelled in week, and would have
been If skill and experience had been employed
in the beginning. We have, however, no Mon
sieur LecOqs, or Inspector Fields here, and
what Is worse we expect the village Dogberry
to do the work Of such men, The fact is that a
really clever detective must be man of re-
markabe ability in many directions At pres
ent all the higher detective ability seems to be
absorbed by the private detective agencies, and
they are only at the command of those who
have money. 1t is probable that no village or
small town can hope to possess skilled detective
police but there might and should be a State
detective force available for any detective SER
vice within the limits of the State and II such
force, being established, did not at once fall
into the hands of the politicians 1t would be
reasonable to expect satisfactory results from 1t.
As the case stands, however, the detection OF
crime is made 30 difficult that 1t Is rather a