Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-10-04
HARD FOR CRIMINALS TO HIDE.
Wherever They May Go They Soon
Become Marked Men.

Become Marked Men.
Several recent sensational homicides
and the active pursuit Of the alleged
murderers by the police in the cities
where the crimes were committed, and
Of the law officers in the different parts
Of the country, call up fact about the
apprehension Of criminals" said a
headquarters detective sergeant.
ITO the ordinary observer one would
think 1t would be comparatively easy
to commit crime, whether Of robbery
or Of homicide, and escape detection,
especially in large city like New York.
1t would appear to be very easy in that
whirlpool Of humanity for a man to Sc
crete himself lie low, wait until the af-
fair blew over and then seek safety in
flight and oblivion in some distant
part Of the country. To a stranger it
would seem that a man could be en-
tirely lost from observation in New
York, where one does not know the res
idents Of his own apartment house, or
even those on the same floor with him,
muck less the people upon the block.
"The two great reasons why such an
escape Is not made by the culprit lie in
his lack Of nerve, once blood has been
shed by him, and from the further fact
that we all have our little worlds in
which we live, and when a stranger
comes over the threshold thereof we at
once detect his presence.
THUS while man who had commit
ted a. crime in large city would think
himself safe in some small town or vii
lage, he becomes, on the contrary, i'm
mediately an object Of suspicion on the
part Of the residents, who though
strangers to him, are known to one an
other. Until this suspicion is cleared
up he Is a marked man, and being a
stranger he is as readily picked out as
man in uniform upon a city street.
But In a great city, you say, he
would be safe. A great city Is simply
an aggregation of little worlds to which
I refer. If man comes to lodging
house or boarding house or to hotel
in any quarter Of town, If he Is not as
he represents himself to be, his real
identity is soon discovered. The same Is
true If we go into the lower strata Of
city life; in each little world he shows
himself to It's inhabitants to be stran-
ger, and the suspicion I speak Of at
taches at once to greater or lesser de-
gree.
"And thus are clues given to the po-
lice. The stranger Is discovered and
reported directly or indirectly. He is
not one of the regular frogs in that par
ticular pond in which he thought he
would be secure from those from whom
he has fled. 1t is really astonishing
how quickly man Is detected out OF
his regular environment and sphere,
and the first thought Of a man who has
committed crime is to get out Of his
regular environment and into new and
unfamiliar one to him.
"A criminal who seeks the environ
ment Of a tramp, as in several recent
notable cases, is detected by the men
whom he tries to simulate just as read
lily as a man in the lower walks Of life
who commits q crime, obtains money
and seeks to float in an atmosphere to
which he is not used. These men betray
themselves and are caught, and because
Of this trait Of human nature, showing
itself over and over again, the police
are able to lay their hands 80 quickly
upon offenders. They have learned
where to look for their game. Like the
hunted wild animal, they run in the
same paths when pursued, and are
quickly brought to bay or shot down.
Each year the catching Of offenders.
of all degrees. against the law Is being
worked down to fixed science. The
chances Of a man escaping after COM
mitting a crime have been greatly re-
duced during the past decade, and with
each ensuing decade they will be STILL
lessened." d."-Washingt Star.