St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-20
IDENTIFYING CRIMINALS.
By Their mugs" Ye Shall Know Them
"A Detectives Guide.
THE BERTILLON SYSTEM.
Bone Measurements That Never Change
"A Device to Circumvent
Ringing.

One who has never had 10 do with the
criminal classes, or ever attempted to
identify a man by photograph that is
! month or year old, little knows the
wonderful alteration that little hair
will make in a man; but old police
officers, wardenS of state prisons
and others who been in con-
slant contact with thieves, forgers,
embeZzlers and murdererS for years are
well aware that even man with a
strongly marked individuality about his
face can so change his looks in few
hours that his own mother would re-
fuse to acknowledge him. For years
the great detectives and long-headed
police officers in all parts Of the world
have been endeavOring to discover
system of Identification which
they could defy the criminal class
to set at naught, and it seems that at
last this long-felt want has been filled
in the discovery or invention. for it
partakeS of the nature of both, of the
Bertllon or French method of identif-
cation by a system of "bone measure
ments," as they are called. The syS-
TEN is now in use in nearly all the large
penitentiarieS of the East, and has
in Chicago and some other cities.
Win NJ. Bracket, superintendent of
the Minneapolis police force, has made a
visit to Chicago since he was Informed
that he was to take charge of the police
| here, and while there submitted HIM
self as a subject and underwent
the entire course of measurements
and photography. and otherwise ac-
quainted himself thoroughly with the
workings of the system with view of
introducing it here, as he now expects
to do at no very distant day.
The measurements are all taken by
| the metric system, and everything is
measured to fraction of a millimeter,
so that there is no chance for mis-
| take. The most important measure
ments and observations are the height,
| stoup, height of trunk when sitting,
| length and width of head. length and
peculiarities of right ear, length
of foot. length of middle fin
ger and of little finger. length
of forearm to end of middle finger.
color and peculiarities of left eye, age
and where born, inclination, height,
| width and peculiarities of the forehead.
measurements of the nose, peculiarities
| of the chin, remarks on the teeth,
| beard. complexion, build and hair, be-
| sides the weight and social condition,
married or unmarried. All these
| measurements and memoranda are re-
corded on card provided for the pur-
| pose, which also has pasted on its sur
| face profile and full-face photograph
| of the subject. On the back of the card
| is record, showing name, date of arrest,
residence, occupation, date of trial. sen
tence, number of times arrested, and
| previous criminal record, together with
| memoranda of any marks, scars or
moles on the face or body of the Grim
| inal.
The cards are numbered, flied and in
| deXed SO that any one can easily be re-
| ferred to, either by measurements OF
number. Photographs of all criminals
so measured are also placed in reVOlv
| ing case with glass front, with their
| proper numbers inscribed upon them,
SO that they may be turned to hastily.
| All measurements are made with
metal caliper graduated to millimeterS
and are therefore absolutely correct.
and no two men have ever been found
| whose measurements are so nearly
alike as to place the officers in
| the slightest danger of placing
any cases of mistaken identity on
record. Another advantage of this Sys-
| tenn is that no changes can be made in
the "bone measurements. and a man
once measured can in spite of artificial
| DISCUSSES always be identified to prac-
tical certainty.
Supt Bracket will urge the adoption
of this system of Identification by the
| police department of Minneapolis. The
collection of ''mugs" of criminals, called
the rogues' gallery. has heretofore been
neglected, and it is only within the past
year that any attempt at classification
has been made, when the pictures were
taken from the rack which adorned the
detectives room when anybody could
inspect them. Even the names and de-
| Scripti0ns OF the pictures were omitted.
and the collection has been practically
useless, although some endeayor i'll this
direction is now made.
The new system described cannot fail
| TO be of advantage to this or any other
city where it is introduced, as all crimi
nails of the better, or rather worse, or
| brighter classes, are known to avoid
pla es where this ''neyer miss system
| &c in fOrna