The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-07-01
THE CU2IOSITIES OF CRIME.
AN OLD DETECTIVE DEaCRIBHS THE
WAYS OF CRIMINALS.
No Original Ideas Among Them -
Crime Averages up Like n Wheat
CrOp-SOme Gases Cited.

WAYS OF CRIMINALS.
No Original Ideas Among Them -
Crime Averages up Like the Wheat
CrOp-SOme Cases Cited.
1.-THE study of crime brings forth some
curious facts" observed m old detective
the other day. "While you may know
lust how q certain shot in billiards ought
to be made, it may not be possible to
make it successfully. So with orr bust
ness. We NAV be able to pick up all the
clues in q murder case, but the next
thing is to catch the murderer"
"What arc your curious facts
aOne of them is that all criminals
commit crime after certain rules. 1t IS
rarely, indeed, hat you find q crook
working on an original idea. The burglar
works after the style of 100 years ago.
The thief has no new ideas. All our
murders arc committed after what might
be called tho old. fashioned way. some
times wish some offender would develop
something new in law-breaking. For
instance, l can point you to Il case where
as many as thirteen attempts have been
made to enter 4 certain residence within
the last two years, and each attempt at
the same window with the same tools.
Isn't that moEotonous q
"Anothcr of the curious facts is That
crime averages up with as much certainty
as the weather or the crops. If it gains
ono 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
ccpt there are special reasons for it. We
send about 80 many criminals to prison
each year; about so many give us the
slip; about so many commit their first
~olfense, have q close shave from State
prison and are frightened into leading
honest lives.
GA third curious fact is the shortsight-
cdness of criminals, even when crime is
deliberately planned. III a 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 q club, the
blow causing her death. In his confes-
sion, made after four or five days, he &C
kuowlcdgcd that he had been planning
the crime for weeks. Now sec how
blind he was. The window-sash was
nailed down at each corner. He broke
off one nail and left the other! lie 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 a h~oe-handle. In
planning his perfect safety he committed
half a dozen of the stupidest plumbers
one ever read of.
"Takc 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 o haul and returns to give
himself dead away by his reckless cx-
travagance.
ut is the same with a common thief.
If he would steal and hide his plumber
for awhile he would give lis more hard
work, but the idea with him seems to be
that If he is not nabbed in the very act
he has nothing to fear. lie don't wait
to dispose of his plumber, and his man
ncr of offering it for sale is o give away
in itself. The old thief learns caution.
of course, but the oldest Of them drop
foot prints here and there.
"Scc how easy it is to draw a war map
of crime! The bond robber will sooner
or later seek to negotiate with bankers
or brokers. The store robbcr will work
his silks and velvcts off at auction. He
may not personally, but his fence will.
The clerk or cashier, who is cmbezzling
from 81, 900 to SIS, 900 per year. will
spend it in wine, cards, horses and with
evil company. When he makes q grab
of $40, 900 you can depend upon his
going to Canada or Mexico. The thief
who steals a harness, silver pitcher, gar
den hose or other article wants the cash
forit right away, and YOU may figure on
turning him up at some second hand
store or the Dawnbroker's.
"Thc ruts of crime arc as plain as the
iron tracks Of a railroad. You can figure
to a moral certainty what a criminal
should do and will do, but that isn't
catching him. There hasn't been a 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
50 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,
schcmcd every way to break Jail, and
riskcd his life to get out of Canada, but
he hadn't had his liberty t%wenty-four
hours before he wanted to give himself
up. lie headed for the far West. but
stopped i'll Pullman in disgust, and
actually took pains to let three or four
individuals know who he was
Some criminals will ovcrdo the thing,
and by the vchemencc of their
pr~otcstations 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
ncr of glancing at his fellow pedestrians.
| have arrested others who looked every
body in the face as frankly as if they felt
it Il crime to steal q strawberry. They
were OVERRIDING the thing by too much
%frankness.
"Tcll ME to-day the name of a man in
any certain business whom you have
reason to believe IS hard up ana 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 n
bogus chattcl mortgage, or some of the
stock will be struggled away. If TO a
third, there will he an inccndiary 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
furrow and takes a new departure before
he can he ovcrtakcn."-Detro Free Press.
A Royal Game.
Tennis has been a royal game; so very