The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-06-06
TRICKS OF CRIMINALS.
Shrewd Devices by Which They Try to
Escape from Prisons

Escape from Prisons.
I'm my study of crime and crimi
nails" said budding crlminologist. :"
have observed one thing which has no
been given so much Importance by tn,
men who claim to be expert in sucf
matters, and it has afforded food fol
some rather interesting reflections, sc
| far as any personal taste is concerned
The criminal is an iconoclast. The
| conoclasm of crime is one of the most
interesting things I have found during
the time I have been studying the
question. BY rejecting a moment we
can see that the destructive, tearing
down element Of flowers and pick away
the petals with utter recklessnes, or it
would hammer a dainty piece of sculp-
ture into smithereens, or besmear one
of Angeles or Raphael's pictures with
back to the criminal class crime is es-
sentially iconoclastic in that it seeks
the destruction Of some other persons
rights by the theft of property, or the
burning of a building, or by the TAX
ing Of life, or by the mutilation of hui
man bodies, as in the case of Jack the
Ripper However, L had in my mind
another kind Of iconoclasm. the dispo-
sition among imprisoned criminals to
deface and destroy things about them.
They will smash water buckets, cut
and carve the walls, tear up the bed
clothing and do other things of this
kind. They are not doing it out of
spite, or for the purpose of escape,
but just simply to destroy something.
know of one instance where "a man
set fire to his bed clothing, and then
yelled for the taller to extinguish the
fire. When asked why he did it, he
said he just wanted to destroy the bed,
he hallooed simply to keep the inmates
of the Jail from being burned to death.
recall another case of young woman
who had been arrested on a serious
charge. She was born criminal. Some
time during the night she had torn her
clothes into shreds and when the desk
went to her cell he found her
perfectly naked. At her feet he noticed
a bundle Of rags, the torn and tattered
remnants of what she had worn. The
sergeant thought she had been mad
and committed the act while in an UNI
happy mood. But she smilngly told
him that she was In the best Of humor,
but that she Just wanted to tear some
thing to pieces, and really got great
heal Of pleasure out of it. The prisons
Of this country are full of similar ex
amples of the iconoclasm of crime in
this limited sense, and the public Off
Gals who are charged with the en-
,orcement of the criminal law have |
many opportunities of observing it.
Crime has made considerable prog |
'ess in these latter days, remarked an |
I'D police officer, but one thing has |
me more than any other |
hing in connection with the lives of |
hardened criminals. OF course. all Of
enders make an effort to escape detec-
ion and arrest. This is the first neces-
airy thing with them, and they do all |
hey can to throw the officers of the
aw off of the right trail But the
reatest talent shown by crooked men
las been along different lines The
hing they study most Is the matter of
scapng after they are arrested. Oc-
asionally they resort to very clever
chemes to get out of jail, and occa-
ionally they work them too. I remem-
err the case of a very shrewd crook
Tho a. female aid, and she was in the
abit of visiting the jail every day or