Rock Island daily Argus., 1892-08-08
THE EHANDIS ANINDEX
MuRDERERS' HANDS ARE GENERALLY
CHARACTERISTIC.
Since Attention Has Been Paid to Chiro-
NANCY, the Lines on the Hands of Con-
victed NIurderers Have Borne Out the
Laws First Laid Down.

1
| victed Murderers Have Borne Out the
Laws First Laid Down.
| Has the murderer n distinctive hands
| The question has been frequently asked,
| but seldom intelligently answered Very
| few people, aside from deputy sheriffs,
| policemen and jailers ever come in contact
| with slayers of human beings and even
| those whose duties compel constant asso-
| citation with them seldom make a more
| critical eXami nation of the prisoner than a
| mere search for scars or other marks of
| identification. French savants have pur-
sued the study of chiromancy further per
| haps than scientists of any other nation
| ality, and after years of diligent research
and investigation several of them assert
| positively that the hand is far more indie
ative of character than the face or forma-
| tion of the skull. According to their be-
lief the thumb stamps the murderer.
The chief characteristics of the murder
er's hand are these: The thumb is short and
thick, with a round, bulbous appearance
| at the first phalange. The nail is broad
and fiat and generally imbedded in the
| flesh, which rises above it at the tip and
sides. This thumb is called by the French
| the pouce en- billie, or baldheaded thumb
The thickness of the Mount of Mars at the
outer edge of the hand is only second to
the baldheaded thumb in Importance as
from this the blood flows direct to the
brain and causes the lurid flame in the as
sassins eyes when he is about to strike
The lines in the palm of the hand are bad
signs under certain conditions. If they
are reduced to three in number, or some
times only stwo, as has been frequently
noticed, they stamp the possessor as a
dangerous person. Add to this a deep
red or scarlet coloring of the lines, and the
case is almost invariably aggravated as it
=
determination. Crooked fingers with
spatulous tips and small, uneven nails are
ominous markings, and are generally
found on hands the palms of which are
elongated to from one and One-third to one
and half times the length of the fingers
These peculiarities are common only to the
born murderer and are not apt to be found
on the burglar who murders lin order
to escape, the man who kills in self defense
or the lunatic who butchers his victim
while laboring under an hallucnation.
The hand of Deeming, the wholesale
murderer Of women and children, is of in
terest to everybody in this connection. 1t
is described having a broad bulbous
thumb, with the nail imbedded in the
flesh, but the drawings made of the hand
at the time do not show further charac-
teristics of the born murderer. His voice
was soft and there something capti-
waiting about his manner, fact which
easily explained his wonderful influence
over the gentle sex.
Maxwell, who deliberately murdered his
best friend, c. Arthur Preller at the
Southern hotel a few years age, possessed
the hand of a murderer TO q very pro-
nounced degree His hands Were small
and soft and were well cared for, but the
markings that stamp the murderer were
there never to be effaced. The baldhead-
ed thumb was prominent, the lines of the
palm were scarlet and three in number,
while the palm was elongated and the
Mount of Mars thick. The finger nails
were well kept. but We're deep set in the
flesh. He allowed them to grow to me-
dunn length, and in that particular his
hand was an exception to the rule. He
was always well dressed and had the bear
ing of n gentleman, but the fingers We're
fat, indicating avarice and a determination
to secure money at any cost.
On George Scbafers hand the scaffold
sign IS very plain, yet there are distinct
lines in the palm without the slightest
shade of red or scarlet coloring. Schafer
has been convicted of murder in the first
degree, and the evidence showed that there
was scarcely an eXtenuating circumstance
in the murderer's favor. The jury consid-
cred the deed n murder in cold blood and
rendered n verdict accordingly. Schafer's
hand is marked by long palm. and adj
ded to this strong indication of animalism
are fingers short and stuffy with Spatulous
tips and Il bulbous thumb.
The contrary is noticeable in the case of
Sam Welsor, who killed his mistress be-
cause of jealousy. The bad feature Of
Welsor's hand is the baldheaded thumb,
aside from which the indications of the
murderer are lacking. The thumb is
however, perfect pouce en- bile, muir
derer's thumb. The Mount of Mars is
slightly thicker than the proportions of
the perfect hand and arm permit but the
palm is short and well proportioned.
Schafer has peculiar, piercing eye that
would stamp him bad man anywhere
among criminal experts, and the forma-
tion of his head is irregular.
The reporter visited ''murderers' row"
in the Four Courts Jail, in which there are
nineteen persons, male and female, con-
fined on charges of murder. OF this num-
ber several have been convicted, some have
confessed, while against all of them there
is strong proof of guilt. Several of the
prisoners We're peculiarly superstitious in
regard to submitting to an examination of
their hands. and this difficulty was en-
countered to far greater degree among
the whites than the negroes. One of the
former declared he had been hoodooed by
allowing a gypsy fortune teller to examine
his hands, and thrust them into his pock-
cts in order to prevent the newspaper man
from seeing them. Only one of the negroes
refused to submit to an examination. He
said that if he allowed any one to look at
his hands he would be sure to ''go out the
back way'-a reference to the scaffold in
the rear of the jail.-St Louis Globe-Dem-
Scrat.