Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-08-15
The MuRpERER.S HAND.
1t Is Said to Reveal More About Hin
Than His Face.

Than His Face.
Has the murderer distinctive hand?
Nj. Desbarolles, a French savant, who
made the hand his study, was emphatic
on that point. The murderer he was
convinced, is known by the thumb, and
to this thumb he gave the name of the
pouce en- billie. DeSbarollcs remarks
that the faces of murderers may not
necessarily be repulsivc, but that the
hands are always hideous-self-con-
demnatory. Evidence on the last char
acteristic is but scanty and rests upon
the investigation of the French chiro
manciStS; but as to the former, it is 4
fact that some of the most brutal muir
dcrs on record have been pcrpctrated by
mon whose countcnanccS habitually
wore Il mild expression. Williams, the
murderer of the Marrs, it is said, had
slngularly soft voice. a girl who knew
him, giving evidence at his trial, was
asked by the prisoner whether she
would be afraid if she awollc from sleep
and found him standing by her bedside.
Not if l heard your voice and knew it
was You, Mr.. Williams, was the reply.
Mr.. Scott, chaplain of the prison IL
which Deeming was executed, says the
murderer was n pleasant man to speak
to until crossed, and the mans influence
over women certainly supports this
statement.
Some of the medical authorities who
examined Dceming'S hands declare that
his broad thumb indicated the born
murderer. But the drawing which has
been published is not that of the poucc
en- billie The true pouce en- billie, or
ball-hcadcd thumb, as it might b.
termed in England, gives to the first
phalangc Il round, Dubious appearance.
1t is short, aud the nail is SO abbreviated
as to suggest that it has been gnawcd.
1t is embedded in the flesh which rises
on either side and extends beyond it.
In the drawing of Decmings thumb
the dubious swelling is carried below
the phalangc, and the nail is level with
the tip; but these differences may be
due to the inaccurate observation of the
artist.
DrSbarOllcS examined the hands of
many murdcrcrs, and in all he found
the pouce en- billie lie also discovered
other signs. The fingers of Armande
Philippe, who committed an atrOciouS
murder, We're bent toward the left side,
and the lines of the palms were of n
deep red, as though they had been
dipped in blood. The fingers, especially
the second and third, We're 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 a hand remarkable
for it's thickness and length of palm in
- {1,a 81,
NAL length of palm, according to the
rules of the SCIENCE indicates intense
animalisn. Dumollard had q signif-
cant sign, common to most murderers-
namely, the almost entire absence of
lines in the palm, save the three princi-
pa1-thc 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 VIC
lently cut by the line of life, running
upwards from the wrist Chiromancv
interprcts this to forctcll Il violent
death. Dcsbarollcs noticed it for the
first time on the hand of Lemaire, and
eight days aftcrward saw it on the
hand of Dumollard. The fingers of the
latter were uneven and llnotty at the
nail phalanges. The hand of Dumol-
lard indicated infieNiblc will, avaricc
| and absence of moral feelings. The
| cure of MOntincl, noticing his eXtraOr-
I binary GOODNESS when about to be gull
| lotincd, said to him: ''Only martyrs go
| to the caffold with this indifference -
"IIh bcin, jc fcrai avcc cuN," retortcd
| Dumollard.
| Troppmann, another wholesale muir
dcrcr, had nothing particular about the
| CHI IF In1npl
| almost clegant; but then, rs NJ. Dos
barolles remarks he was not born pre-
cisely for crime. Still, the palm was de
ticicnt in markings beyond the three
| principal lines, and he had the fatal
| sign of the scatfold. Troppmann's
hand was also distinguished by an alb
normal development of the Mount OF
| Mars-in other words, thicllening OF
the outside edge of the hand. His
| fingers were fiat; and he committed
murders for gain, because, as NJ. Drs
barolles philosophically puts it, of his
determination to be comfortable at any
| price.
| LacChairc, another notorious male.
factor, had large spatulous fingers, q
| long palm with the line of the palm
cut in two, short nails and the thumb
|
lard. who murdered woman in tho
Rue Clichy, had hands of q similar pat
tern. Muller, the murderer of Mr.
Briggs possessed the poucr en- billie, the
fingers very crooked, and an absence
of lines in the palm. lie also had tho
/ ominous scatfold mark in the severance
of the line of the head. The hand o
Mullins. the Stcpney murderer. wa:
soft and the fingers crooked. lie haC
the poucc en- billie. but rather longer than
usual.
To sum up the signs of the murderer
hand are: Firstly, the poucc en- bile
secondly, and only less important, tn,
thickness of the Mount of Mars at Tho
edge of the hand, from which flows thu
blood direct to the brain at the slighteS
motion, and causes the man to ''sc,
rcd" Thirdly, the scatfold sign
Fourthly, the presence only in the pain
Of the three principal lines occasional.