The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-12-22

1EdCluS NFuu0 ny CIlo uHpEluU VI LII.
ger Upon ANY Object Near the
=. Scene Now a Science, and Regard
ed as Infallible in All Courts Of
Law.
Finger prints never lie. The i'm
preston Of fingers upon any object is
far more infallible as a means of
Identification than a photograph Of
that persons features. Give me the
finger print Of an infant in arms and
when that baby grows to ripe old
age I'll prove that his finger prints
then are identical with those taken
while in infancy. AS a means Of de-
tecting the author Of any crime they
are absolutely unerring, as many a
man now doing long stretch Of time
in state prisons will attest.
When the finger print system was
being introduced into the police bu-
reaus of the capitals of Europe I was
sent abroad to study it. Of course,
it was in a primitive stage then, but
there was enough there to convince
me that the science was one well
worthy of development, so I set to
work to absorb all I could learn
there, and then upon my return to
improve upon the methods there en-
ployed and make it even more far
reaching in scope. Close study for a
year convinced me that I had taken
the science to that stage where ]
could prove its usefulness, as well as
its infallibility in any court of justice
should the opportunity present itself.
I shall never forget the first case
called for trial in New York City in
which the finger print was the sole
evidence we, the police, had to base
our case on. Fortunately we had
been able to get an, Indictment on
what then was called the flimsiest OF
evidence. To convince twelve men
tried and true, Of the infallibility OF
this evidence, however, was far dif.
ferent matter and I can tell you as
look back upon 1t all, whereas I was
just as certain of my prisoners guilt
as was of my life, had sore mis-
givings az to my ability to prove this
in court.
Print on Glass Ny Sole Case.
The. case in question had to Dc
with an especially daring loft bur
glary in which " the salesrooms o.
Bernstein Brothers in Wooster street
had been entered and robbed of many
thousands of dollars worth of expen
sive goods. To effect an entrance
the burglars had removed a pane o.
glass from the door Of an office or
thf Joor below that,o the place the!
ex) led to rob and then cut theil
wa, through the ceiling to the loft il
question. New York at that time wa:
infested with an especially daring
band of loft burglars and the police
were put to their wits ends in keep
ing up with them.
AS soon as I learned that a pane
Of glass had been removed I instruct
ed my detectives to bring the glass II
question to police headquarters ant
at the same time to exercise Ode care
that no one handled it with bare
hands. Let the man who picks 81
that piece Of glass; said, "be SURE
to wear gloves" !:
With the glass at headquarters W.
went over it very carefully and sure
enough the tell-tale finger mark!
were still fresh on its surface. These
were carefully photographed and WI
set to work to search our files to SCI
if we had the duplicate on record. Il
less than minute we learned tina
the finger prints were identical will
those of Charles Crispi, a young LOT
burglar, whose reputation for Gun
ming and desperation was second tt
none in his'class. 1t was only a ques
tion Of finding Crispi, / argued, tt
| cinch the case for I knew in my hear
! that the author OF that crime wa
none other than the man had fas
tened it on.
At police headquarters. we have
Impressions of thousands upon thou
sands Of criminals, all indeXed ant
carefully fled. One would imagine
to look at that rack of prints in which
to-day there are upwards of two hun
| dred and fifty thousand impression
that it would be an endless task tt
locate any particular one. But tina
lis a mere detail. Bring US any prin
from any point on the globe and i
we have the duplicate we can find i
in less than a minute at the outside
To learn how to group and classif!
| the prints is science in itself, ye
when one learns how, it is as simple
as learning ones a B C's. All fngel
lines are divided into four classes o.
loops, arches, whorls and composite:
and it is easy to so group and CLASSIFY
them.
Crispi Is Arrested.
After satisfying myself that Crisp
was the man we wanted for the lof
burglary sent my men out to arres
him. We had no difficulty in locat
ing him in his flat in Hoboken ant
| when he was appraised Of his arres
he burst out laughing and told the
| detectives he would make them lool
| foolish as he could account for every
second of his time on the night of the
burglary and that his alibi could be
proven by at least half dozen repu
table witnesses. That made no diff
ference to Crispi's captors, however
for nearly every prisoner, no matter
how guilty he is, can always make {
bluff at proving an alibi. Alibis II
fact, are second nature to all crooks
Crispi was brought before me a
police headquarters and without
mincing words told him that he was
wanted for the Bernstein loft bur
glary and furthermore that I knew he
was the man who had cut out the
pane Of glass from the office dool
and then set it over against the wal
in the hallway. OF course, he pro
tested his innocence. He wasn't in
the least worried, nor did he bluster
Calmly and in a conservational tone
he said:
From what you tell me I car
prove, and easily too, that was al
the theatre with some friends wher
this trick was pulled. I can account
for every second Of my time thai
night and the morning following, and
the word of my witnesses is just as
good as those Of any you can confront
me with
His candor and cool effrontery was
refreshing to say the least. He was