The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-06-12
THE CU2IOSITIES OF CRIME.
AN OLD DEFECTIVE DESCRIBES THE
WAYS o. CRIMINALS.

NO bEfIihhI hNcNS among Hhcn
Crime r. crugcs up s.il<c the W hen:
Crop Simc cases cited.
"Thc study of crime brings forth some
curious facts,' observed an old detective
the other day. while you may know
just how a certain shot in billiards ought
to be made, it may not be possible to
make it successfully. So with our bust
ness We may be able to pick up all the
clues in a murder case, but the next
thing is to catch the murderer"
"What are your curious facts ?"
zone of them is that all criminals
commit crime after certain rules. 1t is
rarely, indeed, that you find 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 are committed after what might
be called the old-fashioncd way. I some
times wish some offender would develop
something new in law b1 eaking. For
instance, l can point you to Il case where
as many as thirteen attempts have been
made to enter a certain residence within
the last two years, and each attempt at
the same window with the same tools.
Isn't that moEotonous 2"
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 oil 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 it. We
send about so many criminals to prison
each year; about so many give us the
slip; about so many commit their first
1 OtIaOco hovo p1Cco chova from tota
! 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 ac-
knowledged that he had been planning
! the crime for weeks. Now see how
blind he was. The windowsash 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 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 a haul and returns to give
himself dead away by his reckless ex-
travagance.
at is the same with a 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 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
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.
"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 robber will work
his silks and velvets off at auction. He
may not personally, but his fence will.
The clerk or cashier, who is cmbelaling
from 81 900 to 5000 per year. will
spend it in wine, cards, horses and with
evil company. When he makes grab
of 80, 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
for it right away, and you may figure on
turning him up at some second hand
store or the pawnbroker's.
THE ruts of crime are 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 ism
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
so 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,
schemed 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. lie 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 vehemence of their
protestations excite suspicion. Others
show guilt by timidltv and yet others
by their show of Indifference or check.
have picked up an offender on the
street with no other clue than his man
ner of glancing at his fellow pedestrians.
l 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 a man in
any certain business whom You have
reason to believe IS hard up and cannot
pull through his financial straits and can