Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-24

he has carefully collected. He gives one
of them which he found on the door OF
hotel. Not being able to read 1t himsel1.
but suspecting that 1t was German .I
cipher he sent 1t to Prof. Gross at Gratz,
who read it thus: The upper square
meant that there were banknotes to be
taken in the hotel. The square contain
ing the cross meant that it was dln1cuit
to get at them. The number 66 explained
that these notes were in Room &C. and the
little sign below it was the signature or
the band. Prof Gross was correct In
his Interpretation, because a robbery was
actually committed in Room 66, and the
booty was in the form Of banknotes.
Prof Reiss does not, Of course. confuse
his teaching Of the habits of criminals to
dissertations on characteristics On the
contrary, the main part of ms work IS
taken up in instruction in those details
Of detective work which we all learned
so much about from our friend Sher-
lock Holmes. First of all, there is de-
scription of every known kind OF theft:
All are tagged with special names, ana
then he goes to ways OF detecting THESE
crimes and bringing them home to the
right persons.
There are many things to be done. In
the first place, as Holmes has instructed
u.s. nobody should touch the smallest OBJ
ject or walk about on the scene of the
crime The ground and the floor, WINCH
seem so dumb and uncommunicatlve 10
most of us, are for the detectives full OF
tongues First of all, it has to be decided
how the burglar got into the apartment
tfor just at present the professor is con-
corning himself only with good burglars).
what road he followed to get to thethOnse
and what to get away from 1t. There
are usually answers to these questions on
the spot.
For instance. if a particularly conven-
lent door is chosen and if within the
house there has been little searching, SO
that apparently the burglar went straight
TO the spot, it is possible to hold the
opinion that some one who knew the
premises committed the burglary But
there must always be due allowance made
for the fact that some valuables nave
classic position in the houses, and the
burglar would often naturally infer their
whereabouts at once. But in general, 1t
is not hard to decide whether the thief
fumbled around or went straight. once
in while, in very rare case, thieves
leave everything in order. SO as 10 ms,
lead the police, but usually on seconu
inspection there will be found some little
thing that has not been replaced eA-
actly.
Another way of tracking the move
mentS Of burglars Is by drops OF TAI
low Contrary to the general opinion
among those persons VINO nave MAD
little intercourse with burglars, they
do not often carry dark lanterns. AL
most always they content themselves
with bits of candle as more easily hid
den, but since candles will drop talloW,
it is possible to track steps by these.
In one case drippings of wax alone
brought a criminal to detection. A
theft had been committed in shop.
and a candle had been used, as was
evident by the drippings Of wax on the
table where 1t had been set The thief had
obviously fastened 1t to the table in an
upright position by means of it's own
wax 1t was dark In the shop. and
Prof. Reiss, who was looking over the
field asked for bit of candle to in
spect the premises more carefully.
All the employees had candles in order
TO light them on their way to the eel
lar and the proprietor asked one OF
the boys for his. The young mans
own candle had burned low, SO he
casually put his hand in the pocket Of
a second clerk and handed his to the
detective The quick eye of Prof. Reiss
noted that the tallow had shaped over
this mans candle in such a way as to
fit exactly what remained sticking on
the table. He put the two together
and it was evident that that candle
and no other had been on the table the
night before. He arrested the clerk,
who was convicted.
In using candles. which blow out at
every draft of air. many matches are
struck Thieves never seem to concern
themselves about their burnt-out match
es. and throw them on the floor. In this
way their course of action in house can
often be followed and in addition the
kind OF matches used may sometimes
Riye a clue In countries where the state