Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-02
on from adult to old age.


! ton from adult to old age. II
| occasionally happened that the per-
| son 10 be measured was refractory and
| declined to allow the necessary minipu-
/ lation of his person. In these cases, by
means Of his shoes, hat, gloves, etc., a
| sufficiently near measurement could be
/ arrived at. The experience, however,
| was that the criminal made no objection
to the formality. Sometimes because he
regarded it as a mere Formally, and
sometimes. perhaps, because he appTe-
| hended that any resistance on his part
4 might make the authorities suspicious of
| his past history, and thus induce them
| TO make q more careful search. Besides
the e5oYe measurements and obserVa-
tons. photograph of the criminal was
! taken. This proceeding was now how
! ever, considered as OF secondary i'm
| portance, and was used only as further
| test to secure absolute accuracy. All
| evidence OF scars, moles, or character
istie Indications of any kind was re-
corded on the backs of the photographs, ,
with anatomical precision as to
their nature, dimensions Situation, etc..
| and mach importance had always been
attached to some of these. Considerable
stress was laid by M Bertilion on thS
Importance of the hand and the ear as
marks of recognition. The hand, be-
cause it was the organ in most constant
use in almost every calling and in many
| trades and professions, became modified
according to the particular character of
the work which it had to do. The ear
was the precise opposite of this. 1t
| changed very slightly, If at all, except
perhaps in the case of prize fighters, who
developed popularity of the ear which
it was easy to recognize. The ear, there
fore was an important organ to measure,
inasmuch as the results were not likely
to be nullitied by change it its confor-
nation.
The examination of criminals under
this system had been extending with
great rapidity in France. In 1882 there
were 225 examined, aud the number
had increased year by year until in 1888
the number was 81 $40. OF this last
total 6l5 persons were recognized as
having relapsed into crime and given
false names. The number 81 ,S49 repre-
sented nearly the whole number of per-
Sons arrested during 1888 for offenses
under the common law, and having
passed through the depot. A striking
proof of the efficacy of the sZstsJ-,. bf
tss------E------ l------------> -.-fsfieQ by tha
complete disappearance of dissimulG3
tion of identities it the prisons other thg =
the depot, so that while in 1S54-S5 thu
number OF reoognitions made in tn
prison after conviction amounted to 29o
or 800 year, thu number of cases
this class in the whole year 1888 wa
eighteen, of whom ten were individualt
who, never having been measured BIZ
fore, were of necessity not recognizable
I,r- IL
to be distributed among 81 900 examinfaS
in the year. The lecturer explained th.
the system of measurement required
further instruction than was contains -
in small manual, and that is the dire
lions were followed it would be easy -
get records made in any country, whit
might be in the highest degree service
able in the detection of criminals AID f.
other useful purposes. %