The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-17

1 Armed With this apparatus thel police
 creep up4to the stronghold of the be-
 sieged criminals. taking cover behind
 the protective shields. and when at close range they discharge a number
 of gas shells into the building. The
 rooms are Immediately filled with poisA
 onons fumes which render unconscious
 those around.
 The Paris gendarmes were the first to adopt this clever crime-killing de- | vice of use against the apache. Cheques and bank notes which speak are the latest terrors which forgers have to combat A scheme has been perfected by an rEnglishman by which the edges of bank Totes are cut in a
 jagged line. which is the exact repro duction of the sound vibrations made in
 the air by the voice uttering the par
 ticular sum of money required, and
 when placed in special machine,
 somewhat similar to a photograph the
 note will cry out its value.
 Notes thus doctored are passed be- tween metal rollers; the varying size
 of the zig-zag points along the edge of
 the paper act in much the same way as
 the perforations on a phonograph rec ord, and thus cause the note to speak
 The operator testing the note has two ear tubes which carry to him the sounds given out by the note
 This device, which is likely to sound the death knell of forgery. Is not at all complicated as the neces- sary edges can be cut on the notes
 with a specially constructed steel knife.
 Smuggling and piracy are by no means as extinct as many people imagine, and one quarted where these branches of crime still exist is around the reefs of the Philippine Islands. To combat these marauders speedy motor boats, armed with quick fire Colt guns are now used by the revenue authori- ties. They cruise about the reefs close to these islands in readiness to give chase to wrongdoers who are lurking in the vicinity.
 Being very high powered. these yes sels seldom fail to overtake suspicious craft whose movements suggest evil in- tentions on commercial vessels passing near
 growing practice, which originated in America, is that of erecting signal stations on the highest buildings in large residential towns, whose object is to assist the police in various ways.
 These stations are equipped with powerful searchlights whose beams are sufficiently strong to throw small objects into prominence as far away as four miles.
 When possible the scenes of night are illuminated by these searchlights. but more often the rays are concentrated near to the scene of the trouble as a guide to the police which tells them the locality at which to mobilize.
 These lofty searchlights. however, are principally used for carrying out operations by means of the Morse code Being In close telephonic with the head police l department, orders can be flashed l across the housetops to police squads l in distant parts of the town, a system | which proves especially useful in cases l of serious rioting in the town, or when | criminals are being run to earth, and | he speedy mobilization of police off l cers Is necessary at moments notice. |
 The modern burglar has dozens of | alarms strewn in his path, but few are | So effective and disconcerting as that l invented by well-known | switch which in a momen can turn on | every light in the house or factory in. | which it Is fixed. When a burglar l breaks into residence so equipped his | entry at any of the windows or doors | S notified to the occupant in his bed 'oom by means of an electric alarm. He at once turns on the main switch | dose at hand, which immediately floods | he house with light, including the | 'oom in which the housebreakers hap pens to be at the moment. In most | :ases the sudden illumination so un- l lerves the intruder that he bolts out | ,f the house a great deal faster than le came in.