The Washington herald., 1912-03-24

4
rested. but protested his innocence. He
promptly pleaded guilty. however. after
Capt. Joseph Faurot, finger print ex-
pert. had finished his testimony.
Robbed n Standard OIL Lawyer.
Robbers entered the home Of John
c. MiIburn. the famous lawyer of the
! Standard OIL Company. One OF them, q
professional burglar named Cohen,
meant TO take away a fine clock, but left
It behind after having 1t In his hands
A print OF his fingers at police head
quarters led to his arrest He confessed
on being arraigned In court. A year ago
man at Washington Heights, a suburb
of Chicago, was killed by a thief who
had broken into his house. The burg
lar, In making his escape, touched the
railing Of the porch that had just been
painted. Inside Of an hour. the police
arrested a negro in another part Of the
city for acting suspiciously. They had
not heard OF the murder. The finger
prints of the negro were exactly like
those on the porch railing. and he was
convicted and sentenced to death.
Our bureau OF Identification is get
ting prints from various large cities. and
there is no reason why the prints of
criminals should not be exchanged be-
tween Europe and America. II an un-
recognized criminal is killed or dies in
hospital a print OF his fingers is made,
his identity is learned, and his name
goes OF the list Of our living candidates
for the penitentlary. No more time is
spent in looking for him. So with pho
tographs measurements, and finger i'm
pressions 1t is rather difficult I'm these
days for a burglar. pickpocket, or con-
fidence man to pose as an amateur or
to fool the police, once he is arrested.
In the meantime fashions in crime
have changed. Thievery has been re-
fined like almost everything else. Gold
bricks so-called counterfeit money, three
card monte, and the shell game, fail long
er to lure money from avaricious or
speculative pockets. Now We have the
well-dressed. smooth-taIking confidence
worker, who promotes fake mines, mills.
and factories, forges checks or raises
post-office money orders. A physician
appeared in Washington several months
ago. Prosperity and solidity seemed to
radiate from his benign countenance and
agreeable personality. He bribed the
office boy OF business man. with whom
he had become acquainted, to give him
a Cancelled check. Having the signature.
he wrote a check for 81, 100, forged the
name of the business man and mesmer-
lied the cashier of a bank into paying
him the money. The swindle was work
ed up with so much art that II would
have fooled most anybody.
Don't Dye Their whIskers Now.
The ancient swindler was a vulgar
chap, ordinarily. Sometimes he dyed his
whiskers and wore heavy jewelry. 1t
Is not so any more. Bank robbers. ex-
cept yeggmen, who are tramps and small
men, criminally. couldn't make a living
in these days OF burglar-proof safes
lighted streets. telephones. eleGrio
alarms, and automobiles. The yeggmen
operate in the country, generally in post
Offices. using nitroglycerin and blankets
to deaden the sound. After the robbery
they jump a freight train at a water
tank and fade away into trampdom. Still
there are plenty of burglaries and occa-
sionally a case Of porch-climbtng, but the
well organized robber bands of thirty
years ago have been broken up by death
and the penitentiary.
THE causes OF crime are love, lust, de-
sire for revenge, extravagant living.
ignorance. incidence, poverty, liquor, IL
legitimacy. want Of trades or employ
ment. sensational books and plays and
gun-toting. I do not trace everything to
heredity. Honest parents have bad chill
dren. Bad parents often have good chill
dren. though there are generations Of
thieves, as I know. the trade, and, pos
sibly, the inclination passing from the
father to son and from mother to daugh-
ter. Yet If every child could be brought
up in an honest home, could wear decent
clothing. and could always have plenty
to eat, wrong-doing would grow less and
less and finally disappear. perhaps. 1t is
a fact that criminals, as a class, are ig-
norant. Most of them, dare say, were
neglected when they were young. I be-
lieve in cultivation during the growing
period-in keeping the weeds and thistles
cut down.
MANY coarse crimes result from the
national habit of carrying revoIvers.
Anybody can buy a pistol In thirteen
American cities, and not the largest ones
either, 3,9O4 men were arrested last year
for carrying concealed weapons. During
the same period and in the same cities
SIZE arrests were made for murder.
Chief Perry D. Knapp, of Toledo, SAYS
that the man who has a revolver in his
pocket expects to take human life: other
wise he would not have the revolver.
Knapp states the question bluntly. Each
person may argue It out to his own sat
isfaction. Let any gun-toter ask himself
why he has the habit Most men wilr1
say they want protection for themselves.
their money, on their diamond studs
bate. If attacked, they purpose to shoot
and kill somebody II possible.
"a banker on the street at midnight
with $4,000 in his clothes ought to be
permitted to carry a revolver heard
man say. In that event. Fred Kohler,
chief Of police in Cleveland, replied, the
banker should be arrested. The chances
are that he has stolen the money
Bargain Sales of Pistols.
Pistols Maj. Sylvester continued,
"can be bought for 25 cents apiece. All
kinds are hung in store windows. often
with bargain prices attached. Murder is
thus suggested. More foreigners than
natives carry revolvers. Henry ID.
Cowles, head of the New Haven police,
told me there are 1000 Italians in his
city, and that nine-tenths of them are
armed with pistols or stilettos A man
arrested for having a concealed weapon
on his person. Chief Cowles truly says,
may be let go by the judge because il is
his first offense, only to be taken up later
for murder.
BY the word Of Chief B. ]. Clark, of
Altoona, ninety-nine foreigners out every
hundred in the Pennsylvania mining re-
gion carry weapons of some description.
Fines have not stopped the practice of
toting guns. The money is paid into the
court and another gun Is purchased. A
jail sentence might be effective In South
Carolina a person can carry q revolver
provided II Is twenty-five inches long. A
Jewish detective in New York has de-
veloped a repressive measure of his own.
When nothing else is doing he explains, |