El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-10
THE THIRD DEGREE
Old and Modern Methods of Securing Confessions
From Prisoners.

in France. There it is customary. when
enough clews have been left TO give
/ the police a fairly accurate idea o. how
a murder was committed. to recon
/ struct the crime" for the benefit of an
arrested person thought to be the guilty
! one.
| He is taken to the scene, where po-
! lice officials who have carefully re-
! hearsed their parts, exactly reproduce
! the murder as they conceive it was COM
! mitted- All its lurid details are por-
! trayed. including liberal shedding Of
fake blood, dying means, convulsive
! twitchingS, death rattle, horrible fear
/ on the face of the victim, followed by
/ the furtive, haunted escape Of the per-
| petrator of the outrage.
1t requires far more of an iron will
than that possessed by the usual muir
derer to keep his nerve while this is
| going on, and more than one has then
| and there placed his neck under the
! guillotine by offering to tell all If he IS
! only carried away from the sigh.
Exhibit Bodies and Skeletons
Confronting a supposed murderer
with the body of his victim is one of
the oldest of third degree" methods,
| but the original reason for this grue-
| some meeting has been forgotten. At
present it is arranged for the purpose
of working on the superstitious sensi-
bilities which are more or less inherent
: in ali human beings
Originally the suspect was given the
narrowing job Of touching the body.
because of a widespread belief that If
the murderer touched the corpse the
wounds would bleed afresh. In an age
when this alleged phenomenon was ac-
cepted as a fact the few murderers who
had the hardihOOd TO put hands on their
victims without breaking 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 cali
Der. few years ago a criminal as
saut and murder mystery in the south
was definitely solved by suddenly
showing the negro suspect, who was in
a darkened room, human skeleton
which tangled its joints in a most I'M
canny manner and uttered sepulchral
warnings to tell the truth. 1t proved
too much for the suspect, who fell
upon his knees. admitted he had been
lying. and pleaded for mercy.
Unsuccessful With Chinese.
But the third degree is yet to be in
vented which will be consistently sue
cessful against the Chinese or against
fiercest questioning. and before the most
startling denouements, the Chinaman
maintains an utterly expressionless,
fushless cOuntenance, always accept
ing verbal or physical browbeating
with stoical Indifference.
When a Chinaman does appear to
weaken and give up facts discriminating
others of his race, it is almost impos-
sible 10 learn whether he is honest in
11E- ao1o
law Of the "barbarians'' to punish a
private or tong enemy without risk to
himself.
The difficulty in making the third |
degree work with Italians is that they |
fear the private vengeance of their Sc |
cret societies far more than anything |
the American police dare do TO them !
The recent case in which one of his co |
conspirators turned on Lupo The /
Wolf" and caused him to be sent TO !
the federal penitentiary In Atlanta for |
30 years for counterfeiting, was rare |
exception.
Modern Methods.
The third degree has not furnished a |
definite clew to the murderer Of detec-
tive Petrosino, of the New York force. |
VINO was shot down on a crowded street |
IN an italian city, although the New
York police would rather lay hands on l
him than any other five iifetakers in /
America
The theory of the detectives in the or !
binary application of the third degree !
IS that a criminal almost invariably
has secret craving to confide in some /
one, especially after he has been locked
IN cell day or so, and the confine-
ment has begun to worry him.
When he is thought to be in the prop
er frame or mind, he is taken to the
office and talked to kindly at first.
Then the quizzer begins TO show evil
dence against him. hints how darS I.:s
future is and suggests that he had 7 ct
ter relieve his mind by an honest con
fe>sion- He is bOmbarded with start
linSly direct questions based OH thu evil
iznce in hand or on shrewd deductions
L he remains obdurate. the personality
of another detective is tried. Some
times this is continued uncea Singly for
many hours.
Personality of Questioner.
The chance influence of the person ;
Atty OF the questioner is often remark /
able. Two or three years ago a young. :
we'll dressed woman. who had been beg 7
sing on the streets of Washington, was .
Trested on the suspicion that behind '
Ter petty graft she had someA black =
mailing scheme At headquarters she :
proved a Tartar, refused to answer any ,
ueries, defied the United States and J
wound up by swinging heavy chate- :
aine bag on the jaw OF the chief of de- 4
ectives. =
ATeporter who was in the room chip h
ed in with the remark that she was :
laking a fool OF herselg whereupon =,
be Gained down. gave him the sordid :,
ut pitiful story OF her life. and, think Y
lg him detective. willingly went with =
i'm TO the police station where she =
as 10 stand trial. >,
TomOrroW-The West Indies =
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