Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-06-10
THE CU2I0SITIES OF CRIME
AN OLD DETECTIVE DESCRIBES THI
WAYS OF CRIMINALS.
NO Original Ideas Among Them -
Crime Averages up Like the Whea
CrOp -SOmn Eases GlIeI

No Original Ideas Among Them -
Crime Averages up Like the Whca
Crop Some Cases Cited.
"The study Of crime brings forth SOM
curious facts" observed an old dctectiv
the other day. "Whlc you may know
| just how certain shot in billiards ough
to be made, it may not be possible tt
make it successfully. So with our bust
ness. We may be able to pick up all thu
clues in a murder case, but the hex
thing is to catch the murderer.
what are your curious facts ~
"One of them is that all criminals
commit crime after certain rules. 1t is
rarely indeed, that you find a crook
working on an original idea. The burglar
works after the style of 100 years ago.
The thief has no new ideas. All oul
murders are committed after what might
be called the old-fashioned way. some.
times wish some offender would develop
something new in breaking. Fol-
instance, ! can point you to case where
as many as thirteen attempts have been
made to enter certain residence within
the last two years, and each attempt at
the same window with the same TOOLS
Isn't that monotonous ~
"Another of the curious facts is that
crime averages up with as much certainty
as the weather or the crops. If it gains
one month it will lose the next. If it
falls off in one season it will pick up at
another, so that your figures for one year
will not vary greatly from another, ex.
cept there are special reasons for 1t. We
send about 80 many criminals to prison
each year; about so many give us the
slip; about so many commit their first
oflense, have a close shave from State
prison and are frightened into leading
honest lives.
"a third curious fact is the shortsight.
edness of criminals, even when crime is
deliberately planned. In murder case
in the interior Of the State last year you
remember the murderer claimed that
some one reached into his bedroom win.
dow and hit his wife with a club, the
blow causing her death. In his confess
sion, made after four or five days, he &C,
knowledged that he had been planning
the crime for weeks Now see how
blind he was. The window sash was
nailed down at each corner He broke
off one nail and left the other! He was
made to see that no man, no matter what
his height, could have reached into the
window far enough to strike any one on
the bed, even with hoe-handle. In
planning his perfect safety he committed
half a dozen of the stupidest blunders
one ever read Of
"Take the case Of the average burglar.
1t comes TO be known around his usual
haunts that he is broke for cash. In.
deed, he volunteers the information him
self, makes haul and returns to give
himself dead away by his reckless ex.
travagance.
at is the same with common thief.
If he would steal and hide his plumber
for awhile he would give us more hard
work, but the idea with him seems to be
that ii he is not nabbed in the very act
he has nothing to fear. He don't wait
to dispose of his plumber, and his man
ner of Offering it for sale is a give away
in itself. The old thief learns caution,
of course, but the oldest of them drop
foot prints here and there.
"Sec how easy it is to draw war map
of crime The bond robber will sooner
or later seek to negotiate with bankers
or brokers. The store robber will work
his silks and velvets off at auction. He
may not personally, but his fence will.
The clerk or cashier, who is embezzling
from $1,000 to $1,000 per year, will
spend it in wine, cards, horses and with
evil company. When he makes grab
of $40, 900 you can depend upon his
going to Canada or Mexico. The thief
who steals harness, silver pitcher, gar
den hose or other article wants the cash
fort right away, and you may figure on
turning him up at some second hand
store or the pawnbroker's.
"1he ruts of crime are as plain as the
iron tracks of railroad. You can figure
to moral certainty what criminal
should do and will do, but that isn't
catching him. There hasn't been muir
der committed in Michigan for twenty
years without my feeling morally certain
as to the murder, but what feel and
proofs to convict are two different mat
tiers.
"And one of the curious facts is that
30 many criminals give themselves away.
Not one in thirty can commit murder
without eventually sharing his secret
with some one. The burden of guilt
seems too great for one pair of shout
ders.
'Phipps, who was hung at Sandwich,
schemcd every way to break Jail, and
risked his life to get out of Canada, but
he hadn't had his liberty twenty-four
hours before he wanted to give himself
up. He headed for the far West, but
stopped in Pullman in disgust and
actually took pains to let three or four
individuals know who he was
Some criminals will overdo the thing,
and by the vchemence of their
protestatons excite suspicion. Others
show guilt by timidlty, and yet Others
by their show of indifference or cheek.
| have picked up an offender on the
street with no other clue than his man
ner of glancing at his fellow pedestrians.
| have arrested others who looked every
body in the face as frankly as if they felt
it crime to steal a strawberry. They
were OVERRIDING the thing by too much
frankness.
"Tel me to-day the name of man in
any certain business whom you have
reason to believe IS hard up and cannot
pull through his financial straits, and | can
tell you pretty closely as to what will re-
suit If he belongs to a certain class
there will be an honest assignment If
to another certain class there will be
bogus chattel mortgage, or some of the
stock will be struggled away. If TO a
third, there will be an incendiary fire to
secure the insurance. You can count on
these ruts in crime as certainly as upon
the seasons, but the criminal who follows
them very often gets to the end of the
lurrow and takes new departure before
ne can be overtaken. "-DetrOH Free Press.
The Cholera Danger,