The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-18
USED BY POLICE DE-
TECTIVES
TO BE USED IN THIS CITY
Criminals Find 1t Impossible to Cir
cumvent Accuracy of the Meas
uFements-Used in All
Large Cities.

With the beginning of the new year,
If expectations are realized, the Bertil-
Ion system of Identification and meas
urement wfll'.be in full operation at the
st. Paul poliFSl headquarters.
On that date the criminal class and
his recognized protege, the suspicious
character. will likely give ST. Paul a
wide berth, as memorable laws will have
been set in motion that but few of these
enemies of society have as vet been
able to set at naught
This innovation will place the st. Paul
criminal detective department on a par
with the leading criminal agencies of
the civilized world, and will enable the
Identification of that migratory and dan
gerous class which heretofore, by rea-
son of its lack, haev preyed upon socie-
ty and escaped because of some trivial
technicality.
AS is known, at a meeting of the po-
lice commission a few weeks ago, the
Bertillon system was formally adopted
much to the qualification of Chief
O'Connor, and that official is now max
Ing the necessary arrangements which
Will follow with the opening of the new
year So important does Chief O'Con-
nor recognize the new addition to his
already efficient plant Of criminal de-
tecting machinery, that a room has
been set aside in the central police sta
ton and is being altered to conform
with the requirements of the system
Just now the central station is in
state Of chaos, owing to some extensive
improvements, which means the plac-
ing Of the entire working force, detect
ives, police telegraph system and all
heads Of departments on the first floor
and IN reach and speaking distance Of
the head that rules this mysterious col
ony, Chief OConnor
Adjoining his office, and to the right
Of the station proper, will be the room
assigned to the Bertillon system, equip
ped with the necessary implements,
simple and few, yet sufficiently inexor-
able in their complex use of the recog-
n1zed. laws of nature as to strike dis
may into the heart of him ushered with
in It's portals. It means branding for
life that only death can oblterate and
which few in a lifetime of cunning and
ingenuity have been able to circum-
vent
In brief the Bertillon system of meas
urement and Identification, which re-
ce1Ved its inception at the hands of Ber-
t1llon, the celebrated French project Of
police, is nothing more than the simple
use of the meteric system in the mat
ter of inches and the fractional part Of
the same. By it the thousandth part of
an inch is as readily noted as a greater
Inquire would be obtained by the crude
use OF the carpenters rule, while its
application is based on theories that the
laws of nature fully sustain.
stripped as nature ushered him into
the world, the first victim of this system
which the civilized world and st. Paul
has seen fit to infiict on those who trans
gress its laws, will find himself In this
new room before q determined looking
o1hc1al, also force Of assistants if nee
eSsary to secure submission, and an in
nocent, yet efficient, set Of Instruments
an order for which has been placed
10 an assistant at a desk, the operator
VIII call on the measurements as he ap-
plies the rule to various parts OF the
body, which that official will carefully
note down on printed and blank out
nned caro-, concluding by transferring
TO prepared space on the same, a
picture Of the victim which by this time
IN all PROBABILITY has been taken with
difficulty from the unwilling subject.
1t is one of the laws of nature that as
man increases in years certain portions
OF his body reach their minimum and
maximum in growth height for instance
which is fully attained at majority. ana
many of the bones of the body easily
reached by the measuring apparatus are
also full grown at that age WEIGHT
scars and other peculiarities of the sinh.
Ject are noted until finally a full de-
scr1pt1on of his physiognomy and anat
oAA1 he19 OCSH SECURED, so accurate in
ract that time only adds to it's exact
ness His physiognomy he may alter. by
Irusal1ty OF excess reduce or increase
his avoirdupois as the case may be. but
the work IS complete and where success
1ul IN one evasion, there are others that
will eventually trip him UP.
Ihls card contains a complete descriD
ton OF Mr.. Criminals anatomy, with
note of his crime or career If such is at
hand, and is filed away in a specially ar
ranged pigeon holed cabinet, with others
OF its kind and which is incress Ad In
holding capacity as time makes demands
upon It,
were it go-as-you-please system. with
every police department, the jealous
guardian of it's own secrets, little would
DE accomplished, but advanced minds
nave brought into requisition an assocfa-
ton known as the National Bureau of
doentlf1cation of which the st. Paul DO
nee department through the courtesy of