Evening journal., 1912-11-11
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
A Famous Detectives Five
Reasons for Murder
BY HOlIand.


The late Thomas ]. Byrnes, who
won an international reputation as
superintendent Of the police force Of
New York from 1888 to 1896, was un~
doubtedly the ablcst detective the
New York police department ever
contained His knowledge OF the un-
derworld Of New York was profound
He made careful study OF crime
and as an expert criminoloeist 1t
was his deep conviction that envir-
onment birth, ana brain trouble ex-
plain many Of the crimes oil The day
and be was one Of the earliest a5yo-
Gates Of a department of police adj
mnistratlon which would make it
possible 10 obtain accurate medical
and physiological Information re-
specting any man or woman whose
life had been ono of crime
was chatting with superintendent
/ Byrnes one day in 1879 about his the
ories as to the calse OF crime ana
was astonisned TO hear him say
In my opinion two-thirds of the
criminal actions arc preyentable, or
were prcventable, and am satisfied
that at least one-third Of an the
crimes that arc committed. especially
those OF violence are due to causes
/ over which The criminal has no con-
troll mean mental defect
asked superintendent Byrnes II
he had ever found a solution of what
was regarded as the most mysier GUS
murder ever committee i'm New York
that OF James Rogers. who WAS found
upon his doorstep on East Twelfth
street one morning stabbed TO the
heart He had stepped 10 the outside
! portic0 TO get his morning newspap-
err, and. not returning. search was
made and he was found dead
"Yes, ! long ago solved that mys-
terry" said superintendent Byrnes.
1T was pure accident for an act >of
violence done NJ a manias Is as
truly an accident as the falling Of
any one under a heavy truck"
/ asked the superintendent how ne
knew il was an accident OF that kind.
We'll, that will require n little ex-
PLANTATION" he replied Il had not
been a captain on the New York po-
lice force very ioue before two or.
three somewhat mysterious murder
occurred IN mas precinct. All Of the
murderers were 40 last apprehended.
My experience set me TO thinking,
nd at last I worked out to my own
satisfaction what believe to be a
correct theory of the causes of muir
der
Human nature. at least in our
tinfe sets strongly against the taking
of human life. There must then be,
! reasoned, some very powerful mo-
tive which causes that natural in
clination to be overcome Starting
with that as a basis and making
study Of all the celebrated murder
cases for fifty years IN New York, /
at last was able TO reduce tho mo-
tlves TO five. First of ALL ambition is
strong motive. II is not as strong
in county like ours as it is in a mon
archical counry. Next, avarice is
motive, and one of the greatest Next,
comes jealousy, next. revenge. and
next, libertinism Now there has not
! been murder committed in New
York of which | have any knowledge
which was not due to one Of these
motives Therefore, i'm any case OF
mysterious murder the FIRST thing a
police officer or a states attorney
must do If he would find the murderer
is to search for some motive strong
enough to impel a person TO take
away a mans life II rarely happens
that if investigation is diligently fol-
lowed. the states attorney or a po-
lice officer is not able to find some
one OF these motives. These account
for every case of capital crime | do
not believe there is an exception.
Now in the case Of Mr.. Rogers OF
whom you spoke. most exhaustive
investigation was made into the char
acter, the life. the associations. the
business career OF this man who was
stabbed to the heart. Not scin-
tilla Of a suspicion was discovered
that he had AZ any time so acted as
to cause any one. for motives Of am
hilton. OF ayaricc. or revenge or
jealousy. or lust, to attack him There
remained, then. but one conclusion.
He was not murdered. He was kill
ed, probably by some man who was
running amuck and who probably
was totally unconscious a moment
after he had struck AR. Rogers down
that he had committed this act"
Copyright. 1912, by +. J. Edwards.
All rights reserved)
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards viii tell
of ~The Incident That Gave America
A II