Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-11

accurate ioea OF now a murder was COM
mitted. to -'reconstruct the crime for the
benefit Of the arrested person thought -,
De the guilty one. He is taken to the
sovte' where police officials. who havs
carefully rehesrsed their parts. exactly re-
produce the murder as they conceive Il
was committed. AN its lurid details are
portrayed, including a liberal sbeda,ns ~
IKE blood, dying means. conyulsiye
t~witchings, death rattle. horrible fear on
the face OF the victim. followed bv the
iurtive, haunted escape OF the perpetrator
OF the outrage. 1t requires far more Of an
iron VIII than that possessed BY the usuaI
murderer TO keep his nerve while this e.
going on and more than one has then and
uhere placed his neck under the guilotipe
oy offering to tell all IL ne Is cnly carried
away from the sight.
Confronting a supposed murderer with
the body OF his victim Is one OF - olser+
OF third degree" methods. but the
original reason for this gruesome ateet.u Z
mas been forgotten. At present II ia ar
raLBed Tor the purpose Of working on the
fuperstltous sensibilities. which are more
or less inherent in all human beinRs
Originally the suspect was given the bar-
rowing Job OF touching the body because
o. a widespread belief that II tbs muir
derer touched the corpse the wounds woula
bleed atresh. In an age when this alleged
phenomenon was accepted as a fart tha
rev murderers who had the hardihood 10
put n on their victims without break
Ing down scored a great point in their
favor.
Deliberately frightening a confession out
OF a murderer by artificial means has
more than once proved effective with
criminals OF low intellectual caliber. A few
years ago a murder mystery in the south
was definitely solved by suddenly showing
ule negro suspect, who was in a darkened
room, a human skeleton which tangled its
Joints In a most uncanny manner ana ut
Tered supulchral warnings to tell the
uuth' 1t proved too much for the sus-
pect, VINO fell upon his knees, admitted
ne had been lying and pleaded for mercy.
But the third degree is yet to be In
vented which will be consistently success
Iui against the Chinese or against the
Italian secret societies. Under the fiercest
questioning and before the most startling
denouements, the Chinaman maintains an
utterly expressionless. flushless coun-
tenance, always accepting verbal or physi-
cal browbeating with stoIcal Indifference
a Chinaman does appear to weaken
and give up facts discriminating others OF
MS race. It is almost impossible to learn
whether he Is honest in his declarations
or simply using the law OF the "barbar-
lans" to punish a private or tong enemy
without risk to himself.
Inc difficulty of making the third degree
work with Italians is that they fear the
private vengeance Of their secret societies
Iar more than anything the American DO
ice dare do to them. The recent case In
which one Of his co-conspirators turned on
Lupo, The Wolff and caused MIN IN he
sent to the federal penltentiary I'm Atlanta
Tor thirty years for counterfeiting, was a
rare exception. The third degree has NOT
furnished a definite clue to the murderer
OF Detective Petroslno Of the New Yorr
force, who was shot down on a crowded
street In an italian city, although the New
York police would rather lay hands on
MIN than any other five life-takers In
America
The theory of the detectives In the ordI-
mary application OF the third degree Is
'hat a criminal almost invariably has a
secret craving to confide in some one, espe-
caly after he has been locked IN a cell
a day or so and the confinement has begun
to worry him. When he is thought 40 h.
In the proper frame of mind he Is taken
to the office and talked TO kindly at first
Then the quizZer begins to show evidence
against him. hints how dark his future ia
ana suggests that he had better relieve
his mind by an honest confession. He IL
bombarded with startlingly direct cues
tons based on the evidence in hand. or nv
shrewd deductions. If he remains oh
durate, the personality Of another deteo-
tive is tried. Sometimes this is continued
increasingly for many hours.
The chance influence OF the personality
OF the questioner is OTTER remarkable. Two
or three years ago a young, well dressed
woman who had been begging on the
streets Of Washington was arrested on the
suspicion that behind her petty graft she
mad some Matchmaking scheme. At hoad-
quarters she proved a Tartar, refused 70
answer any queries, dcfied the United
States and wound up by swinging a heavy
chatehaine bag on the Jaw OF tho chief Of
detectives. A reporter who was In the
room Clipped in with the remark that she
was making a fool Of herself, whereupon
she Gained down, gave him the sordId but
pitiful story of her life, and, thinking him
a detective, willingly went went with him
to the police station where she was to
stand trial.
ny FRsDHRzo ,. HAsKrN.
TomorrowI 1.-THE west Indios.S