The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-20
CROOKS DO USE DISCUSSES,
BUT THEY ARE NOT LIKE THOSE
IN DINE NOVELS.
Their Purpose IL to Conceal Marked Phys.
teal Peouliarities-CrOss Eyes Straight.
ened. Broken Noses Repaired. Tattoo
Removed-A Philadelphia Speciality.

Shanghai and yet I've never seen any Of
those whiskers-and-goggles, wig-and-back-
hump DISCUSSES Of the sort that are en-
ployed upon the slightest occasion by the
hist-E Eureka. lightning change sleuths OF
detective Of the Headquarters staff. And
it's the same with all Of the Headquarters
detectives. They don't know what make
up box looks like.
Its the crooks themselves who do the
Disgusting, but even they don't 60 In for
such effects as pink siders and grease-paint
wrinkles of the spard-the-Miser kind.
The toppy crooks, men and women. OF the
present day spend good deal Of their time
in trying to get away from their rogues'
gallery muggings and their Bertillons.
"They don't have any truck with the
foolish junk forming the DISCUSSES COM
monty described in the detective yarns.
They 60 In, instead, for the eradication or
covering up Of their most pronounced
characteristic Of feature, shape, gait or
manner.
'Every crook put through the mugging
process and after that Bartilloned has some
popularity that stands out-a squirt or q
stare, a sidewise nose or hooked one.
fappy ears, q broken finger, ragged teeth
or unusually good ones. characteristic
walk or way Of using the hands; some sort
of kink whereby he Is marked and spotted
by the headquarters men who look him
over.
As It is the habit OF the detectives to lay
particular, almost exclusive, stress upon
these peculiarities in identifying crooks.
the crooks 60 to all sorts of trouble and
expense to effect shift In the giveaway
popularity. l know of a sparkgrafter
he's now doing four-specker in Sing
Sing for working little game with the
sleepy drope-who went all the way to
Japan to get himself fixed out.
Eight or ten years ago this gem CRATER
stood for pinch in Chicago, along with
four other fellows with whom he was work.
ing. He squealed, and was turned loose
for passing evidence to the State. The
other four got two spaces each.
"The first thing they did when they were
let out Of Joliet was to hunt up their former
pal who had peached on them, not to kill
him, but to brand him. They got him down
into hack, and drove him to plant that
they had fixed. Then one Of them tattooed
a big blue s., for 'Squealer, on the peachers
right cheek, and he was turned loose with
that mark on him.
fled already been mugged several times
in New York He kept the s. covered up
with a kind of flesh tinted grease paint
Of kind that actors use. But the next
time he was snaRged in New York he was
kept in his stall for a couple OF days before
being remugged, and by that time the
grease paint had worn of the IS and, OF
Course. the brand went into the picture.
THE spark CRATER was turned loose
after being photographed with his brand,
there being no evidence against him suf-
ficient to convict. He Immediately set
about to get rid of that big tattoo mark.
-Now, the Bertilloned crooks have a
arms and other covered parts, of their
bodies, but this plan isn't feasible in re-
moving tattoo marks from the face. They
dip toothpicks in milk and pick away at
the 'attoo marks until they soak up the
ink When the prickings Of the toothpicks
heal, the ink has disappeared, but the scar
from the toothpicks is always left.
ut wouldn't have done for the crook
with the IS brand on his cheek to use the
milk and toothpick scheme on his face.
for that would only have left big s. scar
instead Of the blue S on his face. The
crook found out that Japanese tattoo
artists have scientific plan for removing
tattoo marks without leaving the slightest
scar, and he went all the way to Japan to
have the job done.
AHe came back with that right side OF
his face IA clean az the other side, and, as
he was a man with no other distinguishing
personal haracteristic, he worked in and
around New York for several years without
any OF the Headquarters men .spotting
him. They didn't. in fact, spot him when
he got his last fouI-specker for the knock.
out drops frameup until he was stripped
and looked over for Bertillon comparisons
after his arrest.
aThen they found certain physical charac-
teristics that identified him with his Der.
tilon chart that was already on file, and
then they picked out his seve al Photographic
from the mug department and recognized
him easily. They had to put the right side
of his face under strong, glass before they
were able to trace the IS from which the
jap had removed the ink without leaving
any visible scar.
These face changers that call them
selves dermat ologsts are OF great assistance
to the crooks who start out to make the
shift in their looks. The biggest and most
hopeless locking caulifower ear that
ever saw was worn for dozen years by q
leather worker, Cockney, who's now doing
a long space in Portland prison, England
for DID work at the English fairs.
"Old Joe Goss, the onetime champion
pug, who died in poverty on the Bowery
few years ago, gave the pickpocket the
caulifower ear. The dip went after Goss' g
super one night in Bowery gin mill. Joe
got wise to the move wi lie 1t was coming
of, and he handed the dip the ear.
Its wonder the blow didn't kill the
crook The ear had more crisscross COR
rugations and flanges and extra lobee than
I ever saw, and It made the dip mark
through a fog for all hands.
at caused him to be chased out OF the
punkn fair grounds, even by the fne-cut
constables of Iowa hamlets, and for years
at stretch he found himself getting pinched
every twenty minutes, SO to speak all on
account of that bulgy and outstanding
ear
Then he went to one OF the map
smoothers and had the ear made, over into
az slick looking new one as the one on
the other side of his head. and when, on
top OF this, he raised epread-eagle mus
tache and a goatee he was new moll-
buzzer and copied the merchandise for
long time before he was yanked here
and compared with his Bertillon chart.
Several years ago there worked down
at the Battery a Dago grafter-phony
money changer who had the worst case
of mixed signals on record. His lamps
we're Of deep mazarine color. but they
were so crossed that the only way he could
get a cinder in his eye while travelling
was by riding with his hack to the engine.