El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-16
By Joseph A. Faurot.
Chief Of New York City's
Detective Bureau.

Chief Of New 1OEk III .
Detective Bureau
Copyright 1913 by the New York Hel4'1
rights reserYedJ
- He old theory tina 1t reg ulie'
thief TO catch thief is about aS
.,+io,oted and out of place IN
modern police methods as many
thor relics of a dead past where
scianca had no place. To-day all
: .z,seo-oD+ and even the old time anu
onca dreaded Rogues' Gallery coUiu o7
disnansed with without material i0ss -. -
.s1,rcb as newer methods OF loen'iLi''
-. -rbicb are infallible have Oeen
looted Photographs are often Inisieau-
re and. as we in police parlance s'y'
of+on Iie. whereas our present day DlelH-
- conno+ vary in the least detail ana d
description once taken and nleo Dy
noIiceman of the New York ocnoOi
Identification is as lasting as the H'ocA u
Gibraltar -. =
A novice might say that while TINS Is
noss7ble It requires the study OF lileIinle
n hiring about such conditions. de "oulu
ho riqbt TOO. for it is the perfection Oh d
study extending through several liVeS anu
nv men VIII, concentrated their enuire
fine and brains upon this new science
When Derfected I, like many other police
men. took it up. only I had the advantage
of all their research work and sought TINS
knowledge when It had been presented IN
a concrete and lucid form. This was.
made possibIe by the several trips 20
Paris and other Old World capitals L
made at the direction of Commissioner
Waldo in order to bring back to New
York and inaugurate there a system that
would place the Department Of Police on
q plane Of equality with the bureaus OF
Europe. think today that New YORK
not only EQUALS these bureaus. but IN many
respects we are far superior.
Not so long ago the first class Of detec-
tives was assembled before me to study
this new system. Among them were mem
who had had but meagre ideas Of the
facial and physical characteristics Of their
fellow men. They had been working &C
cording to old methods, and it was not
only necessary to learn the new system,
but it was equally important for them to
forget the old The first class I in
structed was graduated" in a few
months, although members Of that first
class still belong to my postgraduate"
class, for, having gone so far, they are
eager to gather ever possible scrap Of in /
formation bearing on this interesting and
important science. Just how well one Of I
the first graduates learned his little book
is best told in the narrative of the capture
of a desperate criminal. All pertaining
to this arrest was accomplished through .
latter day and scientific methods.
Early one morning last January, when
the streets of New York were practically
deserted, a binding snOwstOrm having
driven all pedestrians to cover. a short,
thick set man entered a restaurant IN
Eighth avenue and ordered something to
eat As the only customer in the place fin
ished his breakfast and left the cafe the
newcomer arose and, clapping a pistol to
the head Of John Hail. the cashier, ordered
him to hand over whatever money there
happened to be in the cash register. This
the trembling cashier did without hesita-
ton. Keeping his victim covered with his
revolver, the highwayman backed out of
the room and vanished in the storm swept
gloom. The face of the bandit was indeli-
lily photographed on the brain Of the vic
tim, even to the minutest details and pc
culiarities.
An hour OF two later the cashier Of
Louis Becker's saloon, in Tenth avenue, :
was aroused from his reveries to see
stranger standing before him. He awoke
with a start, for the stranger held a re
volver in his hand and its muzzle pointed
squareIy at the head Of the terrified
cashier
Come across with your cash. the
stranger growled, "and be quick about It
- you don't want bullet in your head -
Frank Valentine, the cashier, lost no.
time in complying with the request. and, T
as in the first case, the stranger backed
cut into the street and the storm soon
swallowed Kim. Both cases were almost
simultaneously reported to the police, and
John Scanlon and Charles Dennison, de-
tective sergeants Of the second grade.
were detailed TO look up the cases.
After mterrogating the cashiers the two
detectives at once surmIsed that the jobs
were committed by the same man. His
methods were identical at each place. and
then, too, the descriptions the two victims
vouchsafed aptly corresponded. The de-
scription given by the first victim, how
ever, was much fuller than that supplied
by the second. He could tell without
fba LEAST bpsifaDcv the anDroviul q 70
height of the bandit, his weight. the color
of eyes and hair, the peculiar droop of the
mouth at the corners and several little
pecuIarites that the average person
might have overlooked. Fright had so
quickened the lens of his brain that its
imprint Of the bandits face was indeli-
bly, photographed, and he was confident
he could pick his man from a crowd of a
thousand if he but had the opportunity.