The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-15
AN EXHIBITION OF CRIME.
Art Contributes to the Curious Col
lection in the Austrian Capital.

Art Contributes to the Curious Col
lection in the Austrian Capital.
One point of attraction at the Jubilee
Exhibition here is pavilion which re-
veals secrets and mysteries OF a kind
which we all love to hear about. Inc
Vienna police, in the endeavor to con-
vince the public that it's only task Is
not to bother people and arrest them,
has attempted to make a show or It's
duties and aims, the system on Whlch
it works and the results attained. Ia
bles and figures have been consc1en-
tiously avoided, and very pleasant
mode of enlightening the public has
been found. The pavilion has seven
large rooms, which. with a good cata-
logue and a very little explanation, give
an insight into a most complicated or
ganization. Forty-two artists OF note
have contributed to the police picture
gallery. One has Illustrated touch
ing scene-an everyday event IN Vi
enna-of two policemen bringing a
young girl, who has flung herself into
the Danube, to the shore. A sculptor
has treated the same subject In mas
terly group. Another artist SHOWS now
a mounted policeman stops runaway
horses, another gives us the interior OF
a police station, where several police
men are amusing a little child who has
strayed and is seated on their table,
conteded to see so many KIND races
around. Then there is an excellent
picture of a fire from which police
man snatches a woman, another or a
policeman on guard in pelting rain at
night at some desolate point. The po-
uceman who has found a babe laid
away by it's mother makes the most
touching picture Of all, perhaps, and
one deciding a quarrel between two
market women the most comlcal. There
are seventy excellent works OF art, IL
lustrating the poicemans difficult ca
reer.
Adjacent to the picture gallery is
model office for a police commission
in which the newly caught criminal is
being examined Close to the desk is
the so-called Criminals Album
which is a good sized cabinet with six
teen DEMONSTRATING material which
makes it easy work to recognize the
man if he is not at his first crime. The
exhibition shows some of the photo
graphs by which criminals are identi-
fed All are natural size. Every man
is taken tWice-full in the face, and in
sharp profile with his right ear to the
beholder. The exhibition contains hum
dreds of these fine photographs, many
Of which show the same man at inter-
walls of one year or longer. 1t must
be admitted that in nine cases out OF
ten the man in one cannot be recog-
nized in the other. 1t is, of course, in
the interest of every criminal who has
been in the hands of the police to
change his appearance as much as pos
sible. But we are shown that two
men can be perfectly alike, so as to
deceive even the cleVerest police officer.
These photographs are exhibited to
prove the necessity of anthropometry.
Life sized wax figures illustrate this
interesting system of keeping a record
of criminals. The eleven measurements
recorded on the card with the criminals
photograph are here taken before our
eyes.
A policemans schoolroom Is also
shown, with all the material for his
teaching - enlarged photographs Of
hundreds of ears, portraits of criminals,
a skeleton. collection of glass eyes
showing all the colors that exist; then
fifty-eight wigs to show all the POSI-
BILE coIors Of hair. An interesting OBJ
iect is the bag which a Police Commits
sioner takes with him when he is called
to the site of a murder-with micro
scope, magnifying glasses and fifty i'm
plements, including a case of strong
cigars in case a disinfectant should be
found indispensable.
There is, in addition, collection Of
criminal implements seized on the
scenes of murders and burglaries. The
new hammer with which a solicitors
clerk murdered his master is there, the
Ratchet with which a married couple
were murdered years ago, a. piece of a
railway rail with which a ledger killed
his landlady some months ago. Thou
sands of keys, iron bars, tongs. cross
bars and many mysterious implements
are arranged into groups and tableaux
A most remarkable object is steel
contrivance which suicide made for
himself to be quite sure Of getting the
ball right into his heart, and we are
assured he did not fail There is also
a pistol which an apprentice made with
his own hands and shot himself with
A large glass case shows how poachers
catch game in the Prater-pheasants
wild ducks. hares. partridges and even
a deer are caught in the sings and
traps and the other contrivances which
reveals extraordinary powers Of inven-
ton. The most recent murders are
shown in a series of photographs-the
victim during the examination by the
physicians, the scene of the murder in
all the terrible disorder, speaking of re-
sistance offered, the picture of the muir
derer We are promised a practical
demonstration shortly, when a thief
will be caught in the crowd and taken
to the pavilion, there to be identified
and treated according to his deserts.
London Standard
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