Dodge City times., 1889-08-01
DETECTING CRIMINALS
A St. Louis Detective Tells How It In
Done by Means Of Photographic.


A ST. Louis Detective Tells How It I,
Done by Means OF Photographs.
Photographs are very useful in the
detection of criminals, but considera
BILE practice has to be acquired before
they can be used TO any great advan-
tage. Criminals resort to all sorts o
tricks in changing their appearance
besides change of dress, clipping hair
shaving off the beard or altering it
style, etc. The process of shaving of
the mustache and beard and clipping
the hair by a criminal is known in
the parlance of detectives as ''ring-
ing" But there is one unmistakable
manner of scrutinizing the cOunte-
nance of a man or in studying his pict-
ure. There is one portion of the face
that criminals can not change in their
methods q ringing" Draw a circle
over the face. taking in the eyes, eye
brOws, lower part of the fore
head, the nose and that part
of the cheeks on each side OF
the nasal organ and just beneath the
eyes. This portion OF the face always
remains the same. A man can shave
long beard off. clip his hair, and
leave or shave his Inustache. but that
portion of the face within the circle
described above will remain the same
Dissipation and consumption will
sometimes make decided hollow ap-
pearance of the eyes. and the cheek
will become sunken. but an expert
enced detective will identify the man
nine times out Of ten, nevertheless.
The manner in which a detective fixes
an impression of the features of g
criminal in his mind is very simple
A small magnifying glass the size of q
half dollar is held over that portion of
the photo described in the circle.
which enlarges the impression of the
eyes and other marks of Identification
until the detective very easily gets
clear conception of that portion OF the
criminals face. This conception he
carries in his mind. and is. of course,
aided by full description,
which attends. of course, the
photo of every criminal in rogues'
gallery, and any marks on the body or
any peculiar twitch of muscles or gait
of walking, and, in fact. all peculiari-
ties noticeable, are mentioned, and
when these full mental notes OF a
criminal are before the detectives
minds eye it is not so strange that he
can pick his man out of large crowd
and rarely make a mistake. Detectives
often identify criminals from pictures
which look but very little like the
originals, and persons who do not un-
derstand the art Of scrutinizing a
physiOgnOmy would declare that a
mistake had been made. One of the
most successful criminals in ringing
in this country is James Carroll, the
noted bank sneak. who is now serv-
ing a term of eight years at
the Joliet penitentiary for rob-
bing the safe Of a bank in Gales
burg, Ill. His picture, taken over ten
gallery in the United States. 1t rep
resents him with Il long flowing beard
and long hair, with a higl forehead
and no mustache. One night several
years ago the police brought in a man
on suspicion, and he was lodged in the
holdOver. at the Four Courts. Chief
O'Neil of the st. Louis detective force
was passing through the holdover on
his regular rounds to identify any
criminals that might be there. He
came to prisoner whose face at once
struck him as being the original OF
photo in the rOgue's gallery. He step
ped upstairs to the gallery, and in
a few minutes found the picture of the
prisoner. 1t was Jimmy Carroll, the
bank-robber. But nobody but an expe-
rienced defective would have ever ilen-
titled the prisoner By the photo we
had, and which have been described
above. Carroll had his hair cut short
and cOmbed it down on his forehead,
his beard was clipped very short, and
the greatest change of all was that he
wore mustache. He looked very
much younger than the picture we
had, which was taken nine years pre-
vious. His mouth dropped at the COR
ners. his under lip showed plainly,
while the upper lip was covered, which
was directly opposite to our picture.
But Mr.. O'Neirs Identification was no
The features of the robbers
face within the circle that had been
described were the same as nine years
before, and by that circle he was
Louis Globe-Democrat
Stranger Than Fiction.
A retired clergyman. the sands of
whose life have nearly run out, writes
to us as follows: .'In the year 1879
was pastor OF church in Herd;mar.
One Sabbath, having made call upol q
parishioner who was very i'll, was de-
tanned in my preparation for the morn
ing service. and just as the second bel
was ringing a collar button which |
was endeavoring to force through 4
new three ply linen collar, exceedingly
stiff and with rather small button
hole, slipped from my fingers and fell
to the floor. Casting my eyes in the
direction which it would naturally take,
saw the button lying in plain view
close to my foot. just where | expected
to see it. Ipicked it up, fastened my
collar with little or no trouble. and
leisurely walking TO the church ar
rived there in ample time. not in the
least excited or hurried. and conducted
the service as usual" The bearings
of this observation lays in the applica-
ton OF t"-Brooklyn Eagle.
Two men from the marshy districts
of Tennessee. stood looking in at the
window of Chicago restaurant One
of them. with movement of surprise.
mi nfod at n lobster and eyc1a;u1ed.