The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-02-26
CRIMINAL OF TODAY
IS PROGRESSIVE
Is an All-ROund Crook and
Knows His Business.
BATTLES SLEUTHS AS TO A CLUE
VIII Lapse of Time He Becomes
More smooth and Consequently
Harder 20 Trap-Can Give OLD
Timers Pointers on saEacity.

Every time mention is made by a news
paper Of the condition OF Mrs. ada GIL
bert Dennis, be il encouraging or other
wise, criticism OF the apparent helpless
ness Of the detective and police force to
run down the person who so cruelty as
saulted her is renewed with vigor. and
this leads 70 recalling the hardness in
making an arrest in he Ayres case and
IN every other case where the sieuths
; nave been mysufed IN recent years
While these criticisms may be based
on reasonable foundation. there is vet ex-
cuse Tor the delay in bringing the Dennis
cLiprit TO justice, as there have been
m similar instances. One OF the most
experienced members on the local de-
tectFe tOrce-a man who has done good
work II bringing 10 book perpetrators Of
a number Of notable cTimes-made this
plain 20 Times reporter yesterday.
Today and Twenty Years Ago.
Twenty years ago it was a good deal
easier to run down murderer or thief
than it is today, he said Criminals
like bankers. merchants. manufacture
educators. and doctors, have Progressed
IN their methods They have become
much more smooth and consequently much
more difficult to trap. The crook Of the
present day. so far as saEacfty goes could
give the old-timer cards and spades, and
beat him out.
I'm the years gone by professional
criminals had certain lines Of work. and
u was rare thing to find them digress-
ing A safcblOwer was never found in
ringing on the business Of the horse
thief a housebTeaker did not invade the
held Of the pickpOcket; the swindIer did
not attempt the highway robbery act.
Every crook had his particular line, and
he stuck 70 IT,
Now. however, that principle has been
abandoned The successful criminal OF
today must be an aII-round man He
must know how 10 get into a house. crack
I a safe, or lift pOcketbOOk-in fact. how
T TO do any sort OF a crooked job And,
above all things, he must know how 70
+ cover his tracks
Field OF Operations WIdened.
In the widening Of their fields Of opera
tiCns criminals have brought detectives
and other defenders OF law a world Of
/ trouble IN the old days a safebIower
| invariably had certain way Of doing a
I job. When the plans on which a robbery
I OF this kind had been done were looked
I over, detective could say. This is Bill
Jones job, as il is his method
And so il was IN nearly every kind
( of thieving- The cuIprit had his way OF
I doing things Those methods were IN
/ derstoOd BY detectives. who knew just
l how certain criminals went at a job.
/ With this knowledge. the work consisted
! OF locating the nan
I But il is different now. All thieves
/ are all kinds of thieves II one touches
I up a bank We cannot any longer say Bill
/ Jones did IT,, because bank rObbing now is
/ only one Of the many thieving ways that
| Bill has or making a raise, and there
are thousands upon thousands Of crooks
/ Just like him.
OF course. when il comes to murder,
/ the situation In many instances is
| changed. The Dennis ease is a sample
I Of this The person who assaulted Mrs
! Dennis did not, in my judgment, break
I into her house and room for the purpose
/ OF robbery. And II he did. there are SO
many thieves now who will resort TO any
I kind OF stealing that il would be the next
/ thing 10 impossible 70 pick out the per
I petratOr OF this crime on the old plan.
CuIprit Left No Clue.
The solving OF this mystery is all the
more difficult because the culprit left
! absolutely nothing behind by which he
! could be traced. II Mrs. Dennis dies-and
/ IL Is almost certain that she wiIl-there
/ is just one person in the world who can
I tell who struck the fatal blow. and il
| that person keeps his lips closed. justice
/ will be thwarted-
And at that, I believe 7 know who
I committed this crime I confess though
| that as matters now stand, ] could not
/ make a case, should an arrest be made.
/ Z live in the hope, however, OF yet being
/ able 20 place a moose about the neck Of
] Mrs Dennis slayer"