Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-29
Observation-Disclosures
Some Real Cases Attracting
Londoners.


LONDON. July %, 1905.
Finger-print Sherlock Holmes PROPOSE
tions are attracting the attention of the
general public nowadays well as inter-
esting the local police.
One case was where remarkable finger
print evidence and the testimony of M. Al
phonse Bertillon, tho great snthrop-
ometric expert of Paris. resulted in an Or
der for the extradition of two alleged muir
derers and robbers from London to Paris.
CASTOR Henry Thirot, the elder Of the two
young French prisoners, was twenty-seven
years Of age. while his companion In crime
was only nineteen. Finger prints large and
small; finger prints of the index and the
middle fingers of the right hand, which. Pc
cording to the evidence had been left by
Jean Baptizate Sauzat, the nineteen-year-
old. wine bottle In the cafe of the
murdered Mime. Laurent in. Paris: finger
prints taken with great care by the English
police at Brixton prison after the clever
arrest Of the two men by Setective In
spector Sexton; finger prints taken long
before the present group of murders while
one Of the men in French prison, the
result of previous conviction-all of these
were placed in evidence.
M. Hamard. the chief Of the Paris detec-
tive department, told the story of the fin
ger prints as follows:
Shortly before 3 o'clock on the morning
of May / went to the wine shop in the
Rue Houdon, Paris, kept by Nine. Laurent,
and found her body lying on the floor In a
pool of blood.
"She had apparently been strangled:
buster had been forced into her mouth. The
money drawer in the counter had been ran
sacked.
The remains of a meal were on one of
the tables. and the place turned upside
down.
ION the table with the food were three
wine bottles. / saw finger marks on one
of them and gave orders that this bottle
was to be left on the table untouched.
1T was afterwards examined by M Ber-
tilion.'
The great master of finger-print science
then entered the witness box. He is q man
with fine, high, forehead. a grave oval
face, a dark full moustache and trim
pointed beard.
He held UP his right hand with the index
finger and the middle finger apart and said
that those were the fngersiapart and said
murderer had unconsciously marked the
wine bottle.
II have compared them with the finger
prints of Sauzat taken In Paris on pre-
vious occasion, and 1 have since compared
them with the finger prints of Sauzat taken
by the English authorities in the Brlxton
prison The result was that the reSem-
biance was complete in every detail
The magistrate then committed Sauzat
for extradition to France on the charge OF
murder, and Thiriot. on the charge of be-
Evidence in a case at Rochester quarter
sessions indicated in an indisputable
manner the value of finger prints as
means of criminal detection.
A few weeks ago a man was charged be-
fore the magistrates of Rochester with
burglary at house in Strood, and when
asked for his name and address, he replied
John Smith,
He added that this not his real
name, and although he pleaded guilty, he
said he withheld his identity because he
wanted to test the value of the Scotland
Yard finger-print system.
81 have been convicted twice before he
told the magistrates, but ' want the police
to tell me who I am. If they find me out
I will admit at once"
While awaiting trial Smith gave the
police every facility for having his finger
prints taken. The impressions were sent
to Inspector Collins. chief of the Scotland
Yard finger print department, with the re-
suit that Smiths real name was found to
be Frank Cotton, whose previous convic-
tons were for theft and HOUSEKEEPING.
Smith," who admitted the accuracy of
the test, has been sent to prison for ten
years on the latest charge.