The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-08-20
THE MuRpsRER,s HAND.
u Is said TO Revohi Mora About Hi
Tbpu IIi rnog.

ob that point. The murderer, he was
convinced, is known oy the thumb and
to this thumb he gave the pane of the
I,ouce en- billie. Desbarolles remarks
that che faces of murderers may not
necessarily be repulsive, but that the
hands are always hidecus--self-con-
demnatory. Evidence on the last char
acteristic is but scanty and rests upon
The investigation of the French chiro-
ruancists; but as to the former, it is
fact that some of the most brutal MUIR
dcrs on record have been perpetrated by
inen whose countennnces habitually
wore mild expression. Williams, the
murderer of the Marrs, it is said, had a
singularly soft voice. A girl who knew
him, giving evidence at his trial, was
asked by the prisoner whether she
would be afraid If she awolse from sleep
and found him standing by her bedside.
Not If heard your voice and knew it
wasyou, Mr. Williams" was the reply.
Mr.. Scott, chaplain of the prison in
which Deeming was executed, says the
murderer was % pleasant man to speak
TO until crossed, and the mans influence
over women certainly supports this
statement
Some of the medical authorities who
examined Deeming's hands declare that
his broad thumb indicated the born
murderer. But the drawing which has
been published is not that of the pouce
en- billie. The true pouce en- billie, or
ball-headed thumb, as it might be
termed in England, gives to the first
phalange a round, bulbous appearance.
1t is short and the nail is so abbreviated
as to suggest that it has been gnawed.
1t is embedded in the flesh which rises
on either side and extends beyond it.
In the drawing of Deeming's thumb
the dubious swelling is carried below
the phalange, and the nail is level with
the tip; but these differences may be
due to the inaccurate observation of the
artist.
Desbarolles examined the hands of
many murderers, and in all he found
The pouce en- billie. He also discovered
other signs. The fingers of Armande
Philippe, who committed an atrocious
murder, were bent toward the left side,
and the lines of the palms were of a
deep red, as though they had been
dipped in blood. The fingers, especially
the second and third, were spatulous at
the tips, and the nails, short and ugly,
were buried in the flesh. Lemaire, who
murdered his father and three other
persons, had crooked, spatulous fingers,
and the pouce en- billie, but on one hand
only. Dumollard, a wholesale murderer
of the first rank had hand remarkable
for it's thickness and length of palm in
proportion to the fingers, The abnor-
NAL length of palm, according to the
rules of the science, indicates intense
animalism Dumollard had signifi-
cant sign, common to most murderers-
namely, the almost entire absence of
lines in the palm save the three princi-
pal-the lines of life, head and heart.
These lines were very strongly defined.
The line of the head-the center line
extending scross the palm-was vio-
lently cut by the line of life, running
upwards from the wrist Chiromancy
interprets this to foretell a violent
death. Desbarolles noticed it for the
first time on the hand of Lemaire, and
eight days afterward saw it on the
hand of Dumollard. The fingers of the
latter were uneven and knotty at the
nail phalanges. The hand of Dumol-
lard indicated infexible will, avarice
and absence of morai feelings. The
cure of Montinel, noticing his eXtraor-
binary GOODNESS when about to be gull
lotined, said to him: ''Only martyrs go
to the scaffold with this indifference"
"Eh bein, je ferai avec eux," retorted
Dumollard.
Troppmann, another wholesale mur-
derer, had nothing particular about the
shape of his hands. Indeed, they were
almost elegant; but then, as NJ. Des-
barolles remarks, he was not born pre-
cisely for crime. Still, the palm was de-
ficient in markings beyond the three
principal lines, and he had the fatal
sign of the scaffold Troppmann's
hand was also distinguished by an alb
normal development of the Mount of
Mars-in other words, thiclSening of
the outside edge of the hand. His
fingers We're fiat; and he committed
murders for gain, because, as NJ. Des-
barolles philosophically puts it, of his
determination to be comfortable at any
price.
Lacehaire, another notorious male
enctor, had large spatulcus fingers, a
D'uB pulll WIFI JHe llnc OF Lne palm
sut in two short nails and the thumb
absolutely en- billie. Serreau and Brouil-
hard, who murdered woman in the
Rue Clichy, had hands of similar pat
tern. Muller, the murderer of Mr..
Briggs, possessed the pouce en- billie, the
fingers very crooked, and an absence
of lines in the palm. He also had the
ominous scaffold mark in the severance
of the line of the head The hand of
Mullins, the Stepney murderer, was
soft and the fingers crooked. He had
the pouce en- billie, but rather longer than
usual.
To sum up the signs of the murderers
hand are Firstly the pouce en- billie.
Secondly, and only less important, the
thickness of the Mount of Mars at the
edge of the hand, from which flows the
blood direct to the brain at the slightest
motion, and causes the man to "see
red" Thirdly, the scaffold sign.
Fourthly, the presence only in the palm
of the three principal lines, occasionally
reduced to two, and almost always a
bright scarlet Fifthly, crooked fingers
with spatulous tips, the nails small and
uneven. According to the rules of art.
therefore, murderer, if murderer by
disposition, and not (as in most cases.
by accident, ought to have hand with
all, or nearly all, these characteristics.
Pail Mall Gazette
Flying Foxes.