The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10
such an Institution, Recently Estab-
Iished at Washington, Is Crow
ing Rapidly.
A CARD CATALOGUE SYSTEM
THE "RoGUEs' GALLERY" OF PHOTO
GRAPHS NOW PASSING AWAY.
Thousands OF Records by Which Grim
fnaIs Can BE Traced-Names and
Faces Not the Keys.
Correspondence of the indianapolis Journal.

Correspondence Of the Indianapolis Journal
WASHINGTON, May S.-That eleven ma
lions now cooperate in maintaining at
Washington an international criminal
clearing house is a fact probably known
only to one American out of a million. This
Institution. but recently established at our
capital, Is one of fast growth, and although
is great work has been unheralded TO the
public, the worlds police authorities are
appreciating ii and are fastening to secure
fits benefits.
All American cities Of any size and those
of ten foreign countries now subscribe TO
the enterprise. Each OF these centers of
population, scattered as they are, over the
face OF the earth, sends to the central blI-
reau here duplicates Of their rogues gallery
cards. These are all filed away in a vast
card catalogue. and If any crook captured
and measured in any great city of the world
may happen to have past his record is on
tap at the international headquarters here,
and is ready to be cabled, If needs be, TO
any corner of the earth in about as much
time commonly as librarian consumes in
running her fingers through a modern in
dex drawer 10 find for you the volume which
you call for.
The old ''rogues gallery is now thing
of the past. Perchance it adorns the walls
OF some backwOods county Jail or the prison
OF some unprogressive city in a remote cor
ner OF the old world. The card index system
has almost completely replaced it. Within
the past decade Bertillon. the great anthro-
pometer of Paris, has revolutionized the sys-
tenn of keeping tab on crooks. To-day pho
Biography plays only a secondary part in
criminal Identification, whereas in the days
of the mural rogues gallery is was the all
important factor. While the Bertillon sys-
tenn is the basis of all progressive methods
OF keeping chronological records to-day
some criminologists have attempted TO
improve upon it by slight variations. New
ertheless. all rogues' cards are now known
as "BertillOn cards."
INDEXING A WORLDS ROGUE.
From all parts of the world patches of the
Bertillon cards are constantly pouring into
the international bureau of Identification.
Each bears the photograph, name, measure
nents, peculiarities, history and record OF
criminal newly apprehended Were the
library system of fling authors cards. for
instance employed, these pasteboard
squares would be grouped alphabetically
The result would be NIL so far as success
ful Identification is concerned. The crook
changes his name as often as he varies his
vestments, and oftener. too in. many cases.
So the name cannot be taken as the index
to the system. What then? The photograph?
Suppose put all men with mustaches in
one drawer, those with Furnishes. in ar
other. those with loom Paups' in another,
the horse-tail boards by themselves and the
clean-shaven faces, too, in separate class.
And the women? We might classify them
according to pompadours, frizzes, spit
clrls.' water falls or corkscrews, and sub
classify both men and women as blondes
or brunettes. But the hirsute adornment Of
the professional crook changes as often as
his name. a
AS the Cards come in they are classified
first according to sex, then according to
head lengths. There are separate cabinets,
for large heads" medium heads and
"small heads" A large head is 1913 cent?
meters over in length: medium heal
from 1S.S to 1872; a small head 1871 or under.
OF course. where many thousands CT
cards are stored together there will be
many equal headlengths side by side In the
same drawer. These are subclassified, first
according to head widths, second ACCORDING,
10 length of middle finger and further aci
ccrding TO the other dimensions of the hu:-
man body framework which the Bertilloh
operatives in the worlds police departments
record.
This Is the main classification. An ex-,
haustive card index of names, cross-indexes
as to aliases. is auxiliary. Each BertilloE
card contains pasted upon the left, a pro-
fEe. and upon the right a full face photo.
graph of the crook. From some small citie$
and rural county seats there are ordinary
studio photographs showing a front view!
Only. Some far Western cities have adopted
tie English system of photographing eack
criminal against mirror, which refiect4
his profile at the same time that his full
face portrait is being made. This method ii
a time-saver and time is an item to be reck,
or.ed with by police photographers. .
MODUS OPERANDI
Branding the shoulders of criminals With
tie fieur de lis burned into the skin with 8
redhot iron was the means employed fo,:
criminal Identification in France, not st
many generations ago. That this improved
system. the invention of a Frenchman, ii
more sure. as well more humane is att
tested by the number of identificationsi.
made daily by Superintendent Z. A. Evans.
In charge of the international bureau. Mr.
II
Capt. NJ p. Evans having been superin;
teadent of the Chicago city bureau of identii
hcation since 1884 In boyhood the younger;
Evans assisted his father between schoo;
|. hcurs and as he grew older developed intd
Br: expert In the fine art Of Identification.
called upon Superintendent Evans yesi
to-day, and he illustrated to me his method
of ..spotting'' crooks
\ cipher dispatch is received from the
chief OF police OF. say. Montreal. Canada
Translated this asks: What do you know
about Henry Lewis. alias Foxy Lewis,
alias Poker Shark Fox head. 1914 by las;
middle finger. 1ls; ear. 10. ETC.: wart OF
no,e. etc? Card mailed to-day
fFoxy' mist be sought among the big
heAds" All OF the cards comparing favor
sbsy with hic description are laid aside. ar
error OF one millimeter being allowed each
Bertillon operative. The name index Is
sczrched for clew, and IL any alias therein
happens TO 1T "Foxy's." that fact is noted
II Foxy appears to have a double, parallel
TO him as TO measurements. marks. scars,
nodes. tattoo designs. deformities. ETC.. that