The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-11
Light ON THE SWBATBOX
How Detectives EFFORT Confessions
From Criminals.
Information Regarding tbe Mystic
rEoUs Third DPErcc''-i Conten-
Mental, Not Physical, Domination
Workings of The "Nnsfcr Mind"

Patrick and Charles f. Jones, the lawyer
and the valet of the late William NJ Rice,
were taken into custody, in order that the
police might get at the bottom of the
mystery surrounding the eccentric mil
lionaire's death the prosecuting officers
of this county have tried their best to
force one of them TO tell all he knows
about the case. Patrick Is now under in
dictment for forgery, while Jones is
merely held. as 4 witness. Jones tried
to cut his throat some time ago after a
confession" which may have been ex-
torted from him However that may be,
and whether he was at any time treated
with brutality, it is apparent that the
prosecutors. both in previous attempts
and in the one yesterday, commonly called
the third degree" have been working
at Jones because they could not do much
with Patrick, and because they thought
Jones the weaker mind"
The nature of this third degree" has
always been subject Of question. Detec-
tives of long experience say 1t is not ne
cessarily a brutal ordeal; most of them
| claim that mental rather than physical
mastery is the thing needed. Detective
| Sergeant Eyanhoe, now retired, and living
| down on the south shore of Long Island,
where he says he has nothing to do but
| look after his place and worry about the
! public debt" recently published a book
containing some of his experiences, and
because he appeared to have a distinct
and interesting point of view he has been
asked to describe the third degree" as
he saw it at police headquarters. Follow
ing is his reply:
L often wondered why some OF the
newspapers, or one with authority, did
not investigate what newspapers say
about the third degree by the police /
have often had people ask me what it
was; l explained it to them. and they
seemed to be we'll satisfied with my ex-
PLANTATION. Now l will endeavor to ex-
plain to you what | always understood by
degree as worked by the police, and, IN
order to do that properly, ii will be
necessary to take case where it is
worked on two men.
Nov, the chief Of detectives, Il he I'M
derstands his business, and is a master
mind. surrounds himself with what l call
good timber, and If case comes up that
is IN important one. he assigns men
mostly fitted for such a Job. l want to
explain here that there are men better
fitted for some things than they are for
others; some men are good on forgery |
cases, some on knockout drops, some on |
pickpockets some on burglaries. some |
may be all-around good men that would |
be able to take Fifth or Tenth Avenue |
cases, and, as we say in police language, |
front up well on either end. The impor-
tant case has been assigned detectives |
best fitted for the job; newspapers make |
mention of it from time to time; finally /
the chief calls you in and says: Well, |
what have you done in this natter You |
make an explanation, telling what you |
have discovered and whom you suspect; |
he will ask you, 'Why?' You then ex-
plain. He puts on his thinking cap and |
may say: What do you think about il?
You tell him what you think. He then
says: You go up and see Mr. A (the com
p!ainant) at o'clock tomorrow morning,
and tell him TO send (the suspecO out
on an errand; as soon as he gets few
blocks from the house. you bring him
down here An hour after that another
detective goes in the house and tells Mr.
a that the chief wants TO see c (another
suspect.
Now. there are several small rooms at
police headquarters. The first man down !
goes with his prisoner in one of the small
rooms. The other officer, who arrives an
hour later, sits with his prisoner in the
main Office, where he can see everybody
walking in and out One does not know
that the other is there. We notify the
chief that the suspects have arrived. He
may say: Which do you think VIII do the
Mind you the chief Of detectives
has to depend to a certain extent upon the
timber that he has surrounded himself
with and your judgment must amount to
something or you would not be stick OF
that aforesaid timber. Now that feeling,
4 am the boss here makes it easy for the
chief to act the part. His position does
not depend upon sending two innocent man
10 jail; neither does it require Of him 10
string them up by the thumbs, because We
all have peace OF mind. and a man who
had ability enough to become chief Of po-
lice or chief of detectives would not like
TO have that peace OF mind disturbed by
doing something brutal.
He invites one Of these men in mis- 7
office after they have sat outside a few
hours He and the suspect are alone. He
sits there behind his desk. which is placed |
between two windows, and he wears lis {
gold lace coat and gold shield. There are
pictures on the wall, probably represent !
ing some criminal act; the chair Is 50
arranged that when the suspect sits down
the light from both windows hits him t,
square in the face, and the chief whose
l.,
twitch OF the face. culver of the chin.
shifting of the feet, or movement of the =
hands-in fact there sits the man that | !
If he has a guilty knowledge OF that which
the chief asks him-weli. ! will leave II b
for the reader to say whether the guilty
man. placed in that position, who would !
not show some evidence of guilt, would E
not be a wonderful man. / never saw any !
one who was able to describe that evil /
1ence of guilt on a mans face but It is /
there. Evidence Of innocence is shown /
equally as well by the innocent man: an {
experienced detective can detect that. {
1.-The chieef does not go at the suspect =
with a stick. should he observe evidence +
IS to his guilt. With the chiefs knowl- =
,dge as to how the crime was committed. +
md who was there at the time. he must | Z
cad the suspect into conversation: and !
he more he talks the worse he is of +
The chief asks him this and that. He h
will finally get him tied up lie viii ask !,
lin about his pardner in crime, say lot \
II things as to why the other fellow u,
hould say this, that, or the other thing !
bout him; what reason does he assign for h
hat? why does he say such n thing
bout you? You have always been I
riends, haven't your When lie gets an !,
wers 10 these, he has got as far as he n
bought proper with the first man He =
resses tie button. = clean-loOIling man n
Ppears in uniform and stands in the posi p
ion of attention The chief remarks.
Take this man outside and bring up II
tairs.' c is taken out and passed through =
he room where sits; that is the first r
hat sees OF c: and that is the FIRST !
hat c sees OF b. They are not allowed TO o.