Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-07-21
HAND OF THE MURDERER.
Men Who Take Life In Cold Blood Def ,ct.
ed by the Thumb

ed by the Thumb.
Has the murderer a distinctive hand .
NJ Desbarolles, a French servant. who
made the hand his study, was emphatic
on that point, says the st. James Gazette
The murderer, he was conginced, is known
by tie thumb, and to this thumb he gives
the name Of pouee en- bile. DesbarolIes
remarks that the faces of the murderers
may not necessarily be repuisive, but that
the hands are always Administrations
demnatory. Evidence on the latter CHAR
acterlsuc is but scanty, and rests upon the
Investigations ofthe French chiromancists,
but as to the former it is fact that some
or the most brutal murders on record have
been perpetrated by men whose countenan-
ees habltually wore a mild expression.
Williams, the murderer of the Mars, 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 awoke
from sleep and found him standing by
her bedside. mot if | heard your voice
and knew 1t was you, Mr.. Williams, :"
was her reply. Mr. Scott, chaplain OF
the prison in which Daeming was execut-
ed, says the murderer was d pleasant man
to speak to until crossed, and the man 5
influence over women certainly supports
this statement.
Some of the medical authorities who
examined Deeming's bands declare his
broad thumb indicated the born muir
derer. But the drawing which mas beer
published is not that of the pouce =
bile. The true pouce en- billie, or bald
headed thumb, as it might be termr.. in
E.np1Sh CrIu n +ha IL,
round Dubious appearance. It is snort,
and the nail is so abbreviated as to sue,
gest that it has been gnawed. It is en-
b. 1ded in the flesh which rises on either
side and extends beyond it. In the draw
ing of Deeming's thumb the bulbous
swelling Is carried below the phalange,
and the nail is level with the tip. but
these differences may be due to the in
accurate observation of the artist.
Desbarolles examined the hands of many
murderers, and In all he found the pouce
en- bile. 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- bile, but on one hand only Du-
mollard, wholesale murderer of the first
rank, had hand remarkable for lCs
thickness and length of palm in propor-
ton to the fugers, This abnormal
length of palm, according to the rules
of the science, indicates intense animal
ism. DumolIard had Significant sign,
common to most murderers namely, the
| almost entire absence of lines in the lain.
| save the three principal-the lines of
life, head, and heart These lines were
very strongly defined. The line of the
head-the center line extending across
| the palm-was violently cut by the line
OF lie, running upward from the wrist
ChlromGcy interprets this to toretell
vloient death. Desb7rolles noticed it fc.
the first time on the hand of Lomaire.
and eight days afterward saw it on the
hand of Dumollard. The fingers of the
| latter were uneven and knottv at the
nail phalanees. The hand of DumoiIard
| Indicated lDtiexible will, avarice, and alb
sence of moral feelings.
AAOppdIduu1 ouOtueT WuDIeS3l6 muir
derer, had nothing particular about the
shape OF his hands. Indeed, they were
almost elegant, bat then as NJ. DesbaroI-
les remarks, he was not born pr nisev
for crime. Sill the palm was def 3iept
IN markings beyond the three princIpal
lines, and he had the fatal sign of the
scatfoId, Troppman's hand was aIsg
distinguished by an abnormal develop
D1n of no -
words, thlckening of the outside edge
of the hand. His fingers were fat, aud
he committed murders for gam, because.
as M. DesbaroIles phiIoscphicaly puts il
OF his determination to be comfortable
at any price.
Lacenalre, another notorious maIefac
tor, had large, spatulous fingers, long
palm with the line of the head cut in
two, short nails, and the thumb absolute
Y en- billie. Serreau aud BrouiIlard, who
murdered a woman in the Rue Ulichy,
had hands of similar pattern. Muller.
the murderer of Mr.. Briggs, possessed
the pouce en- billie, the fingers crooked.
and an absence Of lines in the palm.
He also had the omnibus scaffold mark
In the seyerence of the line of the head
The hands of Mullins, the Stepney mUr-
der, was soft, and the fingers crooked
He had the pouce en- bile, but rather
longer than usual.
To sum up, the signs of the murderer's
hand are: Firstly, the pouce en- bile.
Secondly, and only less impol tant. 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 ard causes the man to tsee red. "
Thirdly, the scaffold sign Fourthly, the
presence only in the palm of the three
principal lines, occasionally reduced to
two, and almost always reduced to bright
scarlet. Filthy, crooked fingers with
spatulous tips, the nails small and uneven.
According to the rules of art, therefore, a
murderer if a murderer by disposition and
not (as in most cases) by accident, ought
to have hand with all or nearly all these
chara cteriSFicS