The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-04-06
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

| At present. he explains, when a ROBBERY
| Is committed and the victim notifies the
notice. he is asked to give a description
| Of the robber He does it, and de
scription something after this fashion is
| sent out; "Look out for and arrest
man about twenty-five years old, five
! feet eipht or nine inches tall stout built;
weighs 40 pounds; dark hair sallow
complexion. long features; wore light
overcoat and dark suit. As there are
| thousands of persons answering TINS de-
scription in Chicago, it helps the ponce
but little. Under the system proposed,
every local station would be furnished
| with plates of profiles and features OF
the human face, only prominent types
| being shown. One plate would be OF
the lines of the eyes and eyebrows;
Another would give types of noses, and
| in like manner mouths and ears, boards
and moustaches would be illustrated.
The plates and the cuts in each would
be numbered. and when anybody who
had been robbed or assaulted, or was
witness to a crime, called to give de-
scription of the perpetrator, the ohlcer
in charge would show him the diagrams,
so to speak, of human features, and II ne
remembered the criminals face the CORE
spending cuts might be designated by
him. A Geographic direction to the
police stations would then read some
thing like this: "Arrest for robbery
Plate /, No. 3; plate g Mol; plate. 3,
No. s." etc. "Of course" says the in
ventor, "there would be mistakes, but |
claim that there would be fewer than
under the present system of written de-
scriptions If a man is competent to
give description at all, he is competent
to give it under my system. just as
much as a photograph excels written
description for purposes of identification,
Just so much docs my system excel that
at present in vogue / believe the Ber-
tillon system to be the best system for
identifying criminals after they have
once been caught, but believe mine is
the best for catching them
The British foreign office has been
somewhat perturbed by an incident
which recently occurred in st. Peters
burg, and which, strange to say, has not
vet been reported in the English news
papers, although it has been discussed
in the diplomatic circles of every Euro
pean capital. 1t happened that at one
of the great court fetes given IN honor OF
the Emir of Bokhara, a central Asian
potentate who is more than suspected of
carrying on intrigues against the English
in India and Afghanistan, the grand
master of ceremonies, by accident or de
sign, placed Sir Robert Morier, the Brit
ISL ambassador, Immediately after the
emir, whereupon Sir Robert bounced in
dignantly out of the room, saying that
the representative of the empress of
India could not possibly give precedence
to third-rate Asiatic prince, who was
also a vassa of the ear. On being in
formed of this the car sent this message
to the ambassador: His eXcellency
forgets that the cmir is our guest, and
that we aree accustomed to treat our
vassals with courtesy which the Eng
fish are not in the habit of extending to
theirs" Since then the emir has had his
revenge by concluding treaty of com
mcrce with Russia which will exclude
India from the central Asian markets.
SOUTHERN family names are scattered
across the country, below Mason and
Dixon's line, from elst to west in what
biologists would perhaps call drift.
As the West began to be settled by
people from the colonial seacoast fringe,
emigration tended to go in straight
lines, so that the names of the Virginia
seacoast appear in Kentucky, those of
North Carolina in Tennessee, those of
South Carolina along with Oglethorpe's
cockneys in Georgia. Later the drift
swept westward into Arkansas, Missis
sippi, and Texas. In the progress names
have been curiously transformed.
Flemish names have lost the ivan" or
de Huguenot names, whether
Flemish or pure French, have been awk-
wardly Anglicized, and even English
names have suffered violent change.
THERE were II, 500 miles of street
railways in operation in this country at
the close of last year, comprising 1888
miles of electric roads, AGO miles of
horse roads, GAG miles cable, and 620
miles steam. The mileage Of electric
roads increased 1878 miles during the
year, while there was decrease of Si6
in the number of miles operated by horse
power, and also a decrease of % miles in
steam car lines. Fiftytwo miles of new
cable road were built during the year.
these figures show how largely cleo
tricity is superseding other power for
street car traction on lines already built,
as well as the great actual growth of new
electric roads. The number of street
cars in use in the United States is stated
to be 3S,400, which is almost Is, 600 in
excess of the number of passenger cars
in use on the regular steam railroads.
THE people of Rhode island are NOV
ing in the matter of raising funds for
the erection of monument to the In
dian chief Massasoit. At an entertain
ment in aid of the fund in Warren the
other evening Governor Brown delivered
an address in which he said of the great
sachem: "At the critical moment in the
birth hour of this new settlement, after
wards to grow into mighty nation, his
loyal and unselfish assistance was god
send to our pioneer fathers. For his
humanity and protecting care shown to
the pilgrim fathers and the liberty low