The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-03
BYRNES' THIRD DECREE. "
How Confessions We're Obtained From
Dangerous Criminals.
Dramatic Scenes in the Private Office
of New York's Great Detective-Un-
ger and McGloin on the Mental Rack.

of New York's Great Detective-Un-
ger and McGloin on the Mental Rack.
From the New York Press.
The details of two cases concerning two
famous and important criminals are IA
miliar to me. And notifications Of such
scenes intense, dramatic, horrible be-
yond conception 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 headquar7
! ters.
FORCED TO CONFESS.
On each Of these interviews in the pri-
! vate room Of Thomas Byrnes hung the
| escape or conviction of murderer One
| of these murders, from its novelty of hor-
/ rOr, made such an impression on the pub
| lie mind that many people viii remembe
| it. The baggagemen of the Baltimore and
! Ohio railroad, at Baltimore, received
! trunk which had arrived 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 railroad station. In a few days an
unpleasant odor made them look at the
! trunk with suspicion, and it was finally
opened by the Baltimore police. In
! IL was lOuuu lIlt UlSlltIuDtItu DOuA OF Il
man. AS it came from Brooklyn the case
was put in the hands of the New York
and Brooklyn police. it was difficult
one, and therefore enlisted the active in
forest Of Inspector Byrnes He found
that the body was probably that of 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
without N q found
bloody couch, a bloody meat saw and a
bloody hammer. Blood was also spattered
on the walls. This was evidence, but it
was not of the kind that convicts a man
of capital offense. There was no positive
proof that Unger shed the blood.
He was arrested and every possible eff
fort was made to find proof that he had
committed the crime of which his captors
were morally certain he was guilty, but
to no avail. 1t was evident that he was
likely to go free unless he convicted him
self by Il confession, which seemed
scarcely probable, as he was a Dhlegmatic,
| logged German. who would say nothing
at all except to repeat denials
This was the problem which confronted
| Inspector Byrnes, Unger was locked up
in one of the cells at police headquarters.
Not far from it was room of about the
same size as the one in which the murder
was committed. Inspector Byrnes had
every particle of furniture in the murder
room taken to the room at headquarters,
and in a few hours the latter had been
| transformed into a very good duplicate of
| the scene of the crime Then the in
spectOr went to Unger's cell.
Come with me, Unger," he said.
Unger looked up dehantly and stepped
out of his cell. The Inspector gave him
one more chance to avoid the dreadful
| ordeal which had been prepared for him
| Unger stuck to his denial 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.
Lets go in here and talk the matter
over" said the inspector quietly, and
| opened the door.
Unger stepped in unsuspectinglv. For
| a moment he was dazed. Byrnes in the
meantime had seated himself on the only
| chair in the room No seat was LEFT for
! Unger except the blood-stained couch.
sit down, Unger, said the inspector
| calmly. 81 want to talk to you"
| Slowly, with a great effort to control
| himself, Unger sank to a seat on the
| couch. Byrnes spoke casually again
| about the crime, making no reference
! however. to the furnishings of the room
| Unger white and trembling did not hear
! him. His eyes wandered furtively from
| one familiar object to another; his body
! twitched with excitement; his nervous
| tongue sought yainly to moisten lips dry
with a sudden fever. Still Byrnes, APP
! parently unconscious of his companion $
! agitation, droned on in slow talk Unger
! dropped one hand at his side. 1t touched
| big blood stain on the couch That
was the last straw. With a yell of hor-
rOr he jumped up from the awful seat. In
five minutes he had told to the inspector
every detail of the crime. He was tried.
convicted and sentenced to q long term of
Imprisonment. Byrnes had given him the
third degree"
THE CASE OF M'GLoIN.
Another equally interesting case was
that of McGloin, a tough, who killed a
| Erenchman There was even less evil
dence against him than there had been
| against Unger Everything was supposi-
titious; but Thomas Byrnes' suppositiOns
in matters of that kind are likely to be
not far from right. He was reasonably
certain that McGloin was guilty, and that
| there had been three witnesses of the
| crime. The names and whereabouts of
these probable witnesses he knew Nc
( GlOin had also paWned a pistol. Bvrnes
| guessed that it was the pistol with which
the crime had been committed. But he
had not "A particle of proof of any one of
these things.
| One Gay, however, he had MCGlOin and
the three other men arrested, taking care
that no one of the quartet should know
that the others had been captured giving
no one Of them an inkling of why he had
been taken into custody. This also oc-
CURED during Byrnes term as Inspector.
He occupied the room now used by inspec-
tor Mclaughlin, and around its walls in
those days were the cases of indictments
and mementoes of crime now on exhibition
in the Museum across the hall. Into this
room where, as he entered, a tall glass
case full Of the ropes and black caps which
had figured in the city sexecutions stared
him in the face, McGloin was led Neither
the surroundings nor the fact that he was
TO be closetcd with the famous police Off
cial worried him, however He was full
Of the bravado Of the tough"
DRAMATIC PLAN.
One Of the windows of this room looks
out upon the court yard in the center of
the building. Inspector Byrnes placed a
char so that its back was close against
this window, and another facing it. with
only room for knees between it and the
casing To the latter chair McGloin was
led. As he sat there he had fun view
Of the courtyard. Byrnes sat in the