Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-09-25
ARE LACKING IN CUNNING.
Nearly All Criminals Display Dearth
of Ingenuity.

1t Is one or the most remarkable Idct'
In the history Of crime that many dar'
ing and clever criminals have beer
their own successful detectives ant
have brought about their conviction by
acts of almost incredible stupidity.
An amusing case of this kind occur.
red a few weeks ago at Rochester
when finely developed young fellow
presented himself at the local police
court for admission as constable
While he was being medically exam
ined it was noticed that his feet were
Of quite abnormal size-in fact the
only two feet that could be compared
with them were owned by a burglar
who was very much wanted by those
Rochester police. and a copy of whose
footprint they had. A reference to the
footprint confirmed the suspicion thai
perhaps the burglar and the would-be
constable were the same man after all
and the candidate was arrested on the
spot, with the result that he confess
ed he was none other than the con-
verted" burglar.
In another recent case young swim
dler who had robbed his employers at
Budapesth succeeded in evading the
police and made his way to the Island
Of Lussinpiccolo, in the Adriatic, where
he promptly signalized his escape by
having his. photograph taken. A copy
of the photograph was seen by po-
lice agent, who at once arrested It's or
iginal and brought his little holiday to
very early conclusion.
At the recent Northumberland as
sizes a miner was charged with break
ing into the premises Of an Amble
tradesman. While regaling himself
from the tradesman's larder he had
taken a bite out Of a pat Of butter, a
bite which proved fatal to him, for a
plaster cast Of his mouth was produced
in court and it was demonstrated that
his teeth fitted exactly into the inden-
tations left in the undevoured portion
of butter.
In another case which occupied the
attention Of a Yorkshire jury few
months ago burglar owed his con-
viction to a momentary literary curios-
ity. During his midnight exploration
he entered the library Of the clergy
man in whose house he was an unin-
vited visitor and whiled away a few
moments by taking down book from
its shelf and turning over its pages.
Unfortunately he left evidence OF his
taste In the form of a dirty thumb
mark in the book, and this extra IL
lustration" proved to be an exact copy
of the thumb mark Of a well-known
criminal, who was promptly traced and
arrested. That little weakness for lit
erature cost the burglar seven years
rest from his labors in other mems
houses.
But police records are full Of such
cases where a man has cunningly con-
ceived and successfully executed a
crime only to give himself away" by
some idiotic act Of which a child could
scarcely be capable. When Courvoisier
had murdered Lord William Russell
one Of the first things he did was to
take part Of his spoil, wrapped IN
brown paper. to Nine Piolain. the mis-
tress Of the hotel where he had served
as a waiter, and absolutely the most
dangerous person in London for his
purpose. OF course, with a woman's
curiosity she opened the parcel and
recognized from its description the
stolen property, and Courvoisier paid
for his stupidity with his life.
wainwright, the Infamous murderer OF
Miss Lane, might have escaped detec-
tion If he had not insanely left the par
eel containing the body Of his victim
exposed to the curious gaze Of stran-
ger while he went in search Of a cab
and Miller, when he vacated the rail-
way carriage in which he had foully
murdered Mr.. Briggs, left in 1t his hat
with the makers name inside-a hat
which his landlord had purchased for
him shortly before. And. as another
sample of his folly, he had given his
landlords little daughter a jewelers.
cardboard box on which were the name
and address Of the very man to whom
he sold his victims watch.
When the murderers Of M. Delaha-
che, at La Gloire Dieu, near Troyes,
ransacked his safe and carried away
his gold, notes and securities, they
contemptuously threw back into the
safe a small notebook for which they
had no use. 1t proved very useful to
the detectives. though for 1t contained
the numbers Of all the stolen notes and
was the instrument Of the murderers
capture and conviction.
In a notable Indian case some ma
tive burglars, when plundering a
wealthy banker and pawnbroker, took
away a pod Of musk and buried 1t with
the other spoil in their encampment.
The powerful odor Of the musk how
ever, penetrated the soil and led the
police infallibly to the place where the
plunder was hidden, and ir 'ther rec
orded cases the smell Of spikenard and
Of opium, which burglars have not
been able to resist, has led just as
surely to their undoing.
When some time ago man In Mich
igan killed his wife in their bed room
and explained that the deed had been
done by an unknown ruff1an, who had
entered through the window, he had
quite overlooked the fact that the
window was nailed down and had
clearly not been opened. AS a mat
ter of fact, he had actually removed
one nail and left the other.