Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-08

by the French and English police. In
Paris II Is used as an adjunct to the
measurement system of NJ. BertiltOn,
but at Scotland Yard the Bertlllon sys-
tenn has been entirely done away with
and full reliance is had on the prints.
M Bertilon claims to have 100000 prints
| I'm his collection, although this Is said
by authorities to be an exaggeration,
and Inspector McNaughton Of the con-
vict supervision office has at least 10O,-
900 criminals hands catalogued In his
office
on the top floor Of the gray stone
central office i'm Mulberry street, where
the Bertillon bureau Is placed behind
locked wickets and doors, the local ex-
perlments are being carried on In charge
of Sergeant Faurot He spent six weeks
I'm Scotland Yard learning the method,
and II was he who took the print that
convicted Nolan. The apparatus he
uses is extremely simple, merely sheet
OF galvanized tin or a piece of paper
and printers ink, or n specially pre-
pared powder. If he uses the tin, a thin
coating of the ink is laid on with 81
rubber roller and the suspects hands
are pressed firmly and equally down
on IL and then placed on piece of white
paper Later, If it is wished, they can
be photographed and enlarged. IL the
sergeant wishes to get an impression
without the suspects knowledge, he
merely hands him piece OF paper,
asking him to identify IL or examine
IL for one reason or another afterwards
sprinkling some Especial black powder
over 1t which brings out the Impressions
as clear as life. Another sort of white
powder is used for bringing out inn
pressions on glassware.
Fingers Classified
Opcn Tho i,,,oraeeior ;e saonrad tI,o
fingers are classified according to reg
ular plan. The lines on them are
divided into loops. whirls, arches and
composites the latter class made up of
collection of the first three. Each
pair of fingers, as the index, little and
ring fingers, has a special valuation
which is used to identify them and
facilitate classification. One pair will be
classified according to the number of
little ridges between the delta, or point
where all bifurcate, and the outer ring.
If there are more than nine on one
finger, 1t is classed as an over-nine. 1t
is seldom that two similar fingers would
be an undermine finger, say six. So
there is the first pair classified thus
9-6. The next two fingers may have
rotary lines and are merely cassed as
r; the next two may not have many
lines at all that will count, so are
marked o, while perhaps the last pair
is unmatched, a point being allowed
to one and nothing to the other.
1t is impossible for a man to have
more than thirty-two counts, sixteen for
each finger, so that in classification
there need not be more than thirty
two pigeonholeS or compartments, and
when a collection is too big for thir ty-
two divisions, subdivisions may be
made for the use of the ranks of the
other pairs. While the system sounds
rather complicated, it is, in reality,
much less so than the Bertillon method
and takes up much less space, besides
being easier to get. In view of the sue
cess with which the first trial has met,
it is likely that Inspector Mclaughlin
will decide to adopt it in the near fu-
ture, at least as an addition to the
present Bertillon bureau, If not as
substitute.
AS an argument in it's favor Sergeant
Faurot states that in all his experience
he has never known the fingers of any
two men to be alike. He regards it as
far ahead of the Bertillon system, and
says that the efficiency of the London
metropolitan police is due in no small
part to its use. He thinks they are
ahead of M. Lepine's force who use
both methods and have not reduced
the finger print system to such a. fine
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