The Irish standard., 1895-06-22
;tfa$
sketch of the Life and rlethods of
the Celebrated New York
\ # Il Thief-Taker.
He Organized His Force to Keep
Track OF the Professional
.&s: Criminals in the City.
of Crooks From Wall
\ Street Was One Of His Ear
liest Important Acts.

Thomas Byrnes was born in New York
city on June Is, 1S42. He learned the
trade OF gasftting and worked at it until
he went to the war in 1861 with Ellis
worth IS zouaves. He joined the police
force on Dec. 10, 1865; was made rounds
man Oct. %, 1858; sergeant Nov. "a, 1869; !;
! captain July /, 1870; inspector April %,
1880; chief inspector April 18, 1888, and
superintendent April IL, 1892 He did
his first duty in the Fifteenth precinct,
and he was in command Of that precinct,
| with its headquarters in Mercer street,
when he did the piece of work which
took him finally into the detective bu-
reau and later into fame and power. This
was the capture Of the Manhattan Saw
ings Bank robbers and the recovery of
the stolen bonds. Byrnes was soon aft
erward set to reorganize the detective
bureau, Within six weeks he was ap-
pointed inspector, and he began to dis
cipline the force and to reinforce his
hold on the place and it's portunities at
once.
I One Of the first orders he put forth was
one prohibiting any man in his depart
ment from opening his mouth about po-
llice business. Thereafter every story
of crime and crime detected which came
from the detective bureau was told by
Byrnes himself. From the moment he
stepped into power he made it his busi-
ness. to teach criminals that certain kinds
Of crimes must not be committed here.
Highway robbery, bank burglaries OF
important burglaries of any kind, sys-
tematic forgeries, counterfeiting and a
lot Of other crimes We're prohibited, and,
to the credit Of the system which Mr..
Byrnes created to suppress them, have
never been allowed to gain a foothold In
this city since he has been a power IL, the
police department. The old force Of de-
tectiyes which he found in the bureau he
! got rid Of almost to man. He took new
men from the ranks and taught them his
method, and each man became an eff
cient part of the machine.
| If any one supposes that Mr.. Byrnas'
methods OF discovering the authors Of
crime were like those of a Sherlock
Holmes he is much mistaken, says the
lNew York Sun. Mr.. Byrles Is a man
of force and not fnesse, His business
was to check the actions Of certain
thieves and other criminals. To do this
he made it his business to know crimt-
mails. In the early '80s, when Theodore
Roosevelt began his political career and
lied a legislative committee to this city
to Investigate the police department, Mr..
| Byrnes was a witness before them. He
surprised the committee by saying that
|he spent two hours day in the company
Of thieves. s43&
.@5tt<I'm in their company now" he said,
Eloking around the cham Der. If you lost
your watch you would not expect me to
90 to some eminent divine to get it, but TO
I,ise nv acquaintance with the thieves"
4 He did not go out in the streets to talk
to thieves. nor did he have them calling
lupon him as honored gnests, he explained,
lbut it was interviewing thieves when
i they were brought in to him as suspects
that he spent the 18th part of each day.
/ Armed with a power under the law to
make arbitrary arrests, to lock men, or
women either, under the marble head
luuarters' building, and to keep them there
| close prisoners for ~ hours, not even ad-
limiting their presence there, or permit
! ting a relative or friend to approach them,
Ihe was able to get almost any infor nation
| out Of Z. criminal caught in his net that
\ be wanted against an associate or even
against themselves.
4 Bry1es himself is authority for the
manner in which he forced confession
from the man Unger, who murdered his
friend and afterWard cut and sawed up
/ the BODY II was criticised fer what
! did IN this case he said, "but I was pre-
pared to defend my actions: Unger was
Ibig, sto1id, heavy -jawed felloW-as stub
born and reticenJ as any man ever saw.
III could get nothing out OF him, and l
I did not seem to be able to make any inn
}pression upon him.. So ! got the blood
stained lounge upon which he had cut up
ibis friend. the knife, the saw and the
Inammer. Will WniS1A&nle n1iAcA ~ LIZ, 81 -
nut all OF these things in the little narrow
Icell With him. Well, in 80 minutes he
was trying to break out Of his cell to get
\ away from these things. He was well
4 ready to confess. .S,3 i.s.
4 Byrnesstreated the thieves brought be-
4 fore him with the utmost contempt He
/ smoke to them as il they were the dirt OF
1 the streets. He spoke of them as !" COM
fa0i diseases or, the highway = sS!i
II never let them feel as II they were
as big as a double ace, he has said.
\ e hen they come to me whining m ' about
their inten ton TO lead h honorable m lives 's
Il saw None Of that here YOU are a
thief and you and t know IT., SEED ali
Won can, and get away with it if5syou