Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-07-17
SYSTEM
DETECTING CRIMINALS.


ciologist, announced in the early '90S
that he had discovered a way to iden-
MY any man in the wcrld by telegraph
The police officials and prison wardens
or this country lost no time in send
| ing representatives to Europe to study
! the virtues of the Frenchmans claim.
NJ. Ber1illon discovered that the width
end breadth of a mans head never
changed after he had reached the age
Of maturity. He later discovered the
same fact REGARDING mans height
the length of his forearm the hreadtA
of his hand, the color of his eyes. the
length of his ear and length of his
foot. His tests to prove the value of
his system extended over several
years. during which time he meas
ured the prisoners in Paris. When he
was satisfied that his claims were
right he gave his secret to the world
and asked the cooperation of police
/ officials in making his system world
/ wide.
Previous 10 his discovery the police
depended on photographs to identify
criminals. There was no central hn-
reau for filing these. This made it
, possible for a thief who had onerat-
| ed in the east to flee to the west and
begin operations anew with little fear
of detection. Unless some officer who
knew him in the east were to see
him in the west the chances were
!! that his past record would never
he known to new captors if he fell in
to their hands.
The National Association of Polica
Chiefs had its inception through Rer
tillons discovery central bureau
was established. All the cities in the
association We're interested in the
/ central bureau. When thief or
criminal of any kind fell into the
hands of the police he was photo
eraphed The card on which the
nicture ewing full face ard profile
was mounted bore the Rertillon meas
nrements of the prisoner. One of
these photographs was put on file in
the roeue's gallery in the city where
it was taken. Another was mailed
to the national bureau.
The cne sent to the national bureau
hn ch
nature of the crime committed. the
day Of arrest the arresting officer. a
full description of all marks. scars
and peculiarities of the prisoner.
One line was left open. This line
was labeled "disposition If the pris-
oner escaped from his captors the
central bureau was notified. If he
was sentenced to the penitentiary
it was reported to the central hl-
1eau and registered
In time pictures of thieves began
to come in such quantities that the
men in the national bureau thought
il would soon have gallery of all
the people in the United States. The
new system was exploited and descrih-
ed in the newspapers. Old-time
| criminals laughed at it. Many an old
offender found himself under arrest
! q thousand or more miles from the
central bureau. Perhaps his work
bore the earmarks of professional
Of hn %
city knew the man the first thought os
the chief in that city was his Bertil-
Ion system The prisoner was meas
ured His photograph was taken and
hurried to the central or national bn-
reau. If the operative in the central
bureau did net identify the ricture
at glance he turned to the index
He started with the head maasrre-
ment given on the back of the photo
eraph, then the forearm height
length of foot. and if necessary he
went through the full list of measure
ments
Seldom. however. was it necessary
few moments he knew all that he
wanted about that man. He laid his
hand on photograph taken in sorne
other city. On it's reverse side was
the prisoners name and record. This
was wired to the chief of police ask
ing the Identification. He was put
in communication with the last ar
resting chief The net result was that
the culprit had to face bad record
when brought to trial.
When the national bureau was &C
tablished Chicago helped it along. A
room in the city hall was set aside
foro the bureau. Here were kept the
records of all thieves, and CHICAGO