The Opelousas courier., 1899-10-28

W0MAN'S WORLD.
Ono Woman's Work.

Ono Woman's Work.
There's a quiet, clever, notoriety
hating little woman in Newark, N. J.
whose occupation probably takes til,
prize for unusualness. So far O.
heard from Mrs. Morrison is the onl,
woman in the country, or in thu
world for that matter, holding thu
post of official photographer to polio,
headquarters. Her work consists O.
taking pictures Of criminals for the
rogues' gallery which is a feature O
police headquarters in Newark as vel
as other cities. Since criminals have
begun to appreciate the possibilities
OF changing this appearance by a diff
terent arrangement of the hair or an
other style of hirsute decoration,
photographs have fallen somewhat in
esteem. Some day, no doubt, they
will be superseded by a record OF
measurements, thumb marks and such
things. 1t will probably not happen
in Mrs. Morrison's day, however, and
she has little fear on that score OF
losing her job.
She has a studio especially fitted up
for her work at the top of the head:
quarters building, and the prisoners
are brought to her under guard. She
has been particularly successful in
getting them to sit quietly and allow
her to photograph them with no more
trouble than any ordinary sitter would
give. Men who have hitherto done
this work have nearly always had
great difficulty in getting good pic
lures, because the sitters would twist
and turn and screw their faces up.
Sometimes it was only after the guard
had dubbed them into q proper frame
of mind that they could be persuaded
to allow the photographer to get a
proper focus at all. It may be Mrs.
Morrison's personality or that what
eve good is left in the most hardened
criminals responds to the polite femi-
nine variation of the request to look
pleasant.
After such a~pleasant account Of her
success with her pictures it seems a
pity not to be able to say that the
financial end of the business is equal
ly successful. There is no danger
that Mrs. Morrison will grow rich as q
result Of her official labors. To be
sure, s. or 81 a day in addition to
your income from other sources is not
to be despised, and Mrs. Morrison
feels very happy over her new post.
She fitted up her studio at her own
expense, and shs is paid at the rate of
a dollar o dozen for all the photo
graphs she takes. She makes a dozen
copies from each negative. One of
these is regularly posted in the
rogues' gallery with the record Of the
original written on the back. The
others are kept for use in identifying
suspicious persons. For instance, if
the police in another city have ar
rested a man suspected OF having been
previously convicted, these extra
copies come in handy as helps in
identifying him. Then the detectives
sent to identify prisoners find these
extra copies of great service to carry
with them for purpose of comparison.
Mrs. Morrison is a business-like
little m with O firm belief in the
possibility of a working woman keep
ing the personal and domestic side Of
her life quite separate from business.
She took nip her present occupation
because she was suddenly thrown
upon her own resources. She had
some knowledge of the work and a
studio in the lower end of the city.
She does all her own work except the
retouching. Mrs. Morrison's opinion
is that photography is a good, prac.
teal trade for q woman if she will
learn the business right through.
Few of them know more than one very
simple branch.