The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-04-18
the RocUEs GALLERY.
An accessory OF the Police De
partment that Has Proved Valuable.

partment that Has Proved Valuable,
Probably very few people except those
having dealings with the police know what
prominent part in the success of the de-
partment is played by the "rogues' gallery"
winch is as carefully kept as the record Of
court cases Is. Doubtless good many peo-
pie do not know what rogues' gallery is,
the word gallery conveying the impression
OF large room with portraits in oil, water
and pastel arranged around the walls. The
Portland rogues' gallery is none of these
| For several years it was book, kept in the
marshal's office. Now it is large wooden
box In the same room. and book that Is not
| on public exhibition. This change in ar
| rangement Is one of the reforms inaugurated
| during Marshal Green's administration and
| it is not the least satisfactory of them. The
| box referred to is handsome cabinet, about
three feet square and half as high, with
sloping front, the whole being shaped like
the blade of jack-plane. If any officer
wishes to consult the oracle to see whether
a prisoner just brought in is hardened sin
ner known to fame. he procures key from
| the deputy marshal's desk, unlocks the cover
of the case and lifts it up. A series of
wooden frames appear, each little shorter
| than the one below it, corresponding to the
| slope Of the cover. These are all hinged at
| the back and can be lifted and stood up on
end one after another as the searcher pro-
ceeds down the list. Each frame is divided
| inshalves and each half contains spaces for
twelve photographs of the regulation rogues'
gallery size, the old-fashi0ned card size that
was commonly used by all photographers.
Each space Is numbered and the first six or
seven hundred numbers represent an equal
number of persons of all ages. sizes. nation
alities, occupations and of both sexes. The
only ground of commonalty among them Is
the fact that every one has some record"
known to the police. Even here there is
great difference between them. There are
common sneak thieves, jewelry thieves. till
tappers. green goods men, polite and pol
| ished confidence men, forgers, bank burglars
| highway robbers and murderers of all kinds.
There is no common feature in the faces. no
seal of crime that can be pointed to at once.
Almost all have heavy jaws and thick under
lips. Nearly every one has the'nostrils d.
lated, "caught up with an invisible fish
hook" as Dickens said, and all without ex-
ception have disagresable eyes. Some of
these are shy, some sullen. some defiant but
there is a false light in every eye in the lot.
| showing that the eye is the window of the
soul as much as any outward feature is.
There is as much diversity of dress and gen.
eral personal appearance as there is of
crimes represented. There are Lascars,
Italians, Hungarians, wild, half-starved look
f.xrx T. IL,
sleek and respectable looking persons who
in any other place might be taken for bank
presidents, lawyers or prosperous merchants.
Some of them are in fact of these callings,
but having transgressed the law they have
become members Of the criminal classes to
the police, forever.
Several notable faces are in the collection.
There is the half-wolfish, half wooden face
of Isaac Sawtelle, the spruce form and
shabby genteel face of O'Neil, and the fea-
lures of the other murders who have each in
turn created their share of business before
the courts and gone to their living death.
There are several United States soldiers
photographed in uniform, as thieves. There
are many women, shop-lifters mostly, who
have been arrested again and again and are
oO WOh huOWA nUW lkOul Ou6 cuu VI LILO
country to the other that they dare not ply
their vocations longer.
There are several pictures THAT show the
knowledge on the part of the criminals that
the picture process is a serious blow to their
industries. There is one youth looking down
with fierce scowl ON his face, while hand
appears above with grim grasp on the
criminals hair and the three gilt buttons on
the sleeve above the hand show that the
owner of it is policeman. There is another
representing man with side whiskers lying
back on chair with one pair of hands hold
ing his hands and another passed around the
subjects neck and choking him into SUBJ
~--issi~-,. - Si-s-1 g. sr- >Aias,.
bright-looklng young fellow, who apparently
has an extra pair of hands growing out of
the sides of his neck. The photographer has
evidently dropped out the rest of the police
man who was acting as headrest. Many
of the other subjects while not resorting to
violent measures to defeat the object of the
camera, distort their faces by smiles, winks.
or frowns so that their own best friends
would notsknow them.
The book which forms part of the rogues'
gallery and which is not generally opened to
the gaze of the curious contains descriptions
more or less minute; according to the well
known character of the subject, of the per-
sons whose pictures are in the gallery to-
gether with their records" The descrip-
tions are numbered to correspond with the
pictures so that they can be referred to at an
instant's notice.
Besides this principal rogues' gallery there
is another made up Of the various illustrated
"hue and cry" posters and handbills that are
sent out from time to time describing various
absconding criminals who are wanted and
whose whereabouts are unknown. This last
is the gallery most studied by the officers for
there is hope of large rewards attached to
the interest felt in the matter.