The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-01
CAMERA AS A DETECTIVE.
Photography Useful in Discovering
Criminals and Their Works.
From the London Mail.


From the London Mail.
Year after year the wonderful strides
made in the science of photography be-
| come more and more apparent. Its assist
ance to all the arts and sciences has now
| become so important that it is difficult to
realize how it's aid could be abandoned.
Not the least important use of photo
| graphy has been it's assistance in the de-
lection of crime. Everyone has heard of
| the wonderful albums of criminals kept
| by the police authorities, and how the
portrait and record of any previous often
der can be referred to at moments no
| tice.
But how useful, too, has photography
| been in tracking and bringing offenders
| against the law into the hands of JUS
tice! Only let the authorities get a por-
| trait of wanted" individual, and, by a
| special process, thousands of duplicate
| portraits can be made at few hours no.
| tice and distributed among the guardians
| of the law in all parts of the world.
Quite recently noted criminal succeed
| ed in escaping from the country, and was
| probably rejoicing in his safety in an out
| of-the-way village in Western America.
But the awful photograph went with him,
| and he was arrested within a few hours
| of his arrival
Besides the photograph of his face, both
| full and side view, images We're also made
| of the criminals hands, and these are
| being found of wonderful Importance. A
man can easily disguise or alter the ap-
| pearance Of his face, but he cannot so
easily alter the appearance of his hands
and the characteristic lines of them. Ac-
cording to history, the Chinese discover
ed this fact thousands of years ago, and
were in the habit of taking the impression
of the thumbs in wax The lines on this
part of the human body never alter and
are never alike with any two persons in
the world.
In the detection Of forgeries photogra-
ply plays an important part. True it is
that it assists the forger in making most
perfect limitations OF banknotes, but it
is also an infalhble detective of the for
geries it has assisted to make.
BY photographing and charging the
forged signature and the true one the |
difference is clearly visible. Further, in
copying a signature the forger can never
write with the same ease and speed as
the man whose writing Is initiated. Con-
sequently there is always a shaky or
wavy appearance of the lines, due to the
vibration of the hand This, however
is usually invisible until the printing is
enlarged many diameters, when it be-
comes at once apparent.
DnOIOGTaOnX
any alteration in the date or wording of |
a will, or in the amount of check can |
be easily detected. Cases of this sort |
are common in our law courts and rarely
has photography failed to denounce the |
forgery. BY a special process the very
minutest differences in the shades of the |
different inks employed can be made glar- |
ingly apparent. 1t is rarely that any al
teration in a document is made with the |
same ink as the original writing. so that !
it Is easily detected, but even if the Same |
ink be employed the alteration must be |
cleverly made to escape detection by |
Photographic enlargement
At the Photographic exhibition held in |
London one of the most important exhib- |
its was number of photographs of Ger |
man forgeries detected by a celebrated |
German scientist. In the same frame |
were also some photographs of the human
hair. 1t appears that in GERMANY some |
time ago woman was murdered and in |
her hand was discovered a small quantity
or a mans hair, evidently snatched from |
his head in the last struggle for life NJ
the poor unfortunate woman. man |
known to be intimate with this woman |
and last seen with her was arrested on
suspicion and, unable to give any satis-
factory account of his occupation at the
tune the murder was committed. he was
In a fair way of receiving the death nan-
atty upon purely circumstantial evidence
Ut. Je5erlch, the eminent scientist allud
ed to, became deeply interested in tha
matter. He made enlarged photogranhs
Of the hair found in the dead woman,s
hand, and also that Of the suspected man
Although apparently identical in color
and appearance, he found that in con.
structon they were entirely dissimilar
1t appears also that there was anothar
man who knew the murdered woman. bnt
who was not in the least suspected ~ az
crime Some of his hair was also oh.
tanned by the indefa tigable doctor. ana hv
photography it was found to be ident,ooy
In form and construction The man gss
charged with the crime and FORUM taI,,
saved all further trouble by n confass,nS
OF the awful deed. The unluckv man grs.
charged and who, apparently was IN
fair way Of being hanged for a Seed ha
had never committed, had no doub,
great deal Of thankfulness for the nv
derful perfection that Photography has
been brought to. mas
There is a peculiar kind of Ink sor,o
times used by certain class of indi,,iS
uals, which, after few days. fadSs ~.
tirely away, leaving no trace visible !.
the eye But here again photosranh,, W
sists justice in reproducing invisible i 1
ters. This peculiar property "a often 49,