The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-12-17
INSPECTOR BYRNES.
Some SNAP SHOTS OF A FAMOUS
MASTER OF CRIMINALS.
How He Manages His Force of Near
" Fou- Thousand Men-some Ex-
perienccs with Men OF Crime.

Here are some snap shots of the man
who runs New York's 1888 policemen
a famous man. Superintendent Byrnes.
1t is a New. York Press reporter who
presses the button:
He is tail man and sits behind a
roll-top desk at police headquarters.
His big head has q bald streak running
from the forehead back across the top
and the plentiful hair on the side is
gray. The most notable features Of
his somewhat aerid face are the droop-
ing gray mustache and the eyes. If
you are an honest man those eyes
viii seem pleasant ones and you will
pronounce them a soft hazel But if
you are a thief-then those eyes will
be at first a cold gray and freeze you.
And from a cold gray that freezes you
they are likely, providing you attempt
to deceive the man who owns them, TO
slowly change from q freezing cold to
warm Not q genial warmth, but a
warmth that promises heat to come
And il you still resist his search ng
questions or lie to him that promise
VIII be carried out. The heat will
come. Those eyes will glow and bore
inlO YOURS. anu QuECllOlO LDll1ll6
from under the gray mustache grow
more and more severe they will begin
to burn. Then, until you tell the truth
they viii bore into your head and bore
and bore, and burn and burn into your
very soul.
1T would please me BETTER" said a
thief to me In the Tombs one day, ito
face the gates Of hell itself than to have
those eyes Of Tom Byrnes' fastened on
me-" But what those eyes will do must
be told later on.
After various interviews with peo-
pie on the day the Press reporter was
q. visitor, the following incident oc-
CURED:
a touch on the ever-busy bell sum-
moned an officer.
Bring up" said the superintend-
ent Sharply.
characteristic of the place Two de-
tectives brought in a thief. When he
first entered he wore the defiant care
less air common TO his class Of Grim
inals. Some one afterward described
him as enc of the ''be gee sort" His
head was up and he staggered a bit
He knew probably that there was little
evidence against him. As he entered
the superintendent head was dropped
forward a trifle, and those eyes looked
out from under bushy broWs straight
into the prisoners face. Like a fash
IRE SWdSSSI OIOpPSQ, tnS QSuduce
melted, and when the detectives left
him with the head Of the police force.
he was already very humble and
badly frightened thief. For half an
hour he was cloSeted with the super
intendent in little room adjoining.
When he came out he was white and
sweating. He had not undergone any
physical eUertion. lie had met those
eyes. He was bewildered and dazed
Exactly what had been asked Of him
and what he had answered, he could
not have told, but he knew that there
was no lack of evidence against him
now. When the superintendent said
briefly to the returning detectives,
Take him down again. that thief
knew that striped raiment was only
question of a short time with hi-~-.
Exactly what happened to that
particular malefactor in that little
room ! have no means of knowing.
But the details of two cases concern
ing two famous and vastly more i'm
portant criminals are familiar to me.
And notifications of such SceneS-in-
tense, dramatic, horrible beyond con-
ception to the men who in that little
room are forced by a subtle force, a
moral magnetism to convict themselves
with their own uncomfortable words
are not infrequent at police headquar-
tiers.
on each Of these interviews in the
private room of Thomas Byrnes hung
the escape or conviction of a murderer
One of these murders, from its novelty
of horror, made such an impression
on the public mind that many people
VIII remember 1t. The baggageman of
the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, at Bal
tmore, received a trunk which had ar
rived from BROOKLYN, and stood it aside
when no one called for it, among the
many which are always waiting for
owners to turn up around a big rail-
road station. In a few days an IN
pleasant odor made them look at the
trunk with suspicion, and it was fin
ally opened by the Baltimore police.
In il was found the dismembered body
of a man. AS it came from Brooklyn,
the case was put in the hands of the
New York and Brooklyn police.
1t was a difficult one, and therefore
enlisted the active interest of Inspector
Byrnes. He found that the body was
probably that of a man named BolleS
who had disappeared from this city,
and suspicion pointed to one Unger as
the probable murderer The two men
had roomed together, and in the room,
now without occupants, were found
bloody couch, a bloody meat saw, and
a bloody hammer. Blood was also spat-
tered on the walls. This was evidence
but ii was not of the kind that convicts
a man of a capital offense. There was
blood.
He was arrested and every possible
effort was made to find proof that he
had committed the crime OF which his
captors were moi ally certain he was
guilty. but TO no avail. 1t was evident
that he was likely to go free unless he
convicted himself by a confession
which seemed scarcely probable. as he
was phlegmatic, dogged German, who
would say nothing at all except to re-
peat denials.
This was the problem which con-
fronted Inspector Byrnes. Unger was
locked up in one of the cells st police
headquarters. Not far from it was
room of about the same size as the
one in which the murder was commit
ed. Inspector Byrnes had every par
tiele Of furniture in the murder room
taken to the room at headquarters, and
in few hours the latter had been
transformed into a very good dupli-
cate Of the scene Of the crime. Then
the inspector went to fingers cell.
Come with me, Unger," he said
Jnger looked up defiantly and stepped
out of his cell. The inspector gave
him one more chance to avoid the
dreadful ordeal which had been pre-
pared for him. Unger stuck to his de- |
NAL of all knowledge of the crime BY
this time the two men, walking slowly |
through the corridor. were opposite the |
door Of the counterfeit murder room.
Let's so in here and talk the matter |
over" said the inspector, quietly, and |
opened the door.
Unger stepped in unsuspectingly For |
a moment he was dazed Byrnss in |
the meantime had seated himself on |
the only CHR in the room No seat !
was lett for Unger except the blood I
stained couch.
dr7z--1 Tn 41aza