The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-28
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HAEKnJ. DirSctSx.
WAahlngtsa. d. q
DO YOU SEE WHEN YOU LOOK

DO YOU SEE WHEN YOU LOOK?
Washington. d. c.. July 25.-Are
you a good observer? Could you, if
requested, tell the color of the eyes
of your three best friends. or whether
the numerals on your watch are in
figures or Roman notation? 1t would
be of great assistance to your police
department If you and other people
could report simple details like these.
As it is, the police are constantly be-
ing asked to trace and recover lost
articles and missing persons, supplied
only with vague and often misleading
descriptions.
1t is well-known, for instance, that
automobile owners seldom know the
numbers of their license tags, much
less the number of the cars motor.
Sometimes they are even uncertain on
! the point of color. The other day,
man telephoned the Washington po-
lice department that his car, which
was navy blue with green stripe,
had been stolen. The police obtained
n further description of the car from
| the agency which sold 1t, and finally
succeeded in recovering 1t. But the
stripe on the car was not green but
distinctly yellow.
Few weeks ago. a retail merchant in
a middle western city reported to the
clerk, with the contents OF the cash
register. The merchant described the
young man as being above the average
height with black hair and brown
eyes, and a fair complexion. The
woman who rented the apartment
above the store and who claimed to
have seen the man leaving it, carrying
suitcase, late at night, described
him as "a short, stout man with dark
auburn hair, grey eyes and a swarthy
skin" How would you like to get on
the trail of a criminal. armed with
two such descriptions as these?
Major Raymond W. Pullman. COM
missioner of police in Washington, has
recently requested every automobile
owner to keep a memorandum in his
pocket or desk. containing an exact
motor number and any peculiar
marks of Identification. The New
York police department has gone a
step further, and asked every citizen
to write a description of his cherished
articles of personal property, as well
as one of each member of his family.
and keep it where 1t can easily be OBJ
tanned in caseof an emergency. 1t
has been found that few individuals
can put down this information with
out having the objects before them.
Details make no impression on his
sists upon interfering and inserting
details that really are not there at all.
This. added to the fact that the eye
sight of many people is not normal,
accounts for the weird exaggerations
and contradictions which often get
into print Take the recent fight at
Toledo, for example. The greatest ex-
perts on pugilistic matters, trained OBJ
servers, witnessed and reported this
fight for the newspapers and every
one of them reported different de-
tails. One of them declared that
Dempsey stood with his back to the
ring until the call to battle had been
sounded twice; another said that he
stood facing Willard. eagerly waiting
the summons to start. 1t has been
impossible to tell from these accounts
what was the color of the umbrella
Foisted over the champions head
when he first entered the ring. Ac
cording to the testimony. it must have
been either blue or tan or green, but
no one seems to be sure. Then there
is the question as to who struck the
first blow. Various authorities dis
agree on this point. also AS to the
result of the fight. there was certainly
no doubt among them, but so far as
the details were concerned all is con-
| fusion.
To demonstrate how little reliance
may be placed in the testimony of eye
witnesses, a professor in one of our
middle western universities conducted
an experiment for the benefit of his
class He explained that certain in
cldent was about to take place in the
classroom; that the class was to watch
it as carefully as possible and after
wards write a report of what they
had seen.
Scarcely had he finished speaking
when man, introduced as Jones,
with a black mask over his eyes. nose
| and mouth and wearing a grey rain
coat rushed into the room. In his left
| hand he carried a salt bag half full
of nails. and in his right hand a small
wrench. A streak of red paint was
| smeared across his left cheek. Just
inside the door of the classroom he
turned and pointed his wrench at the
pursuing party, shouting, stand back,
or I'll shoot" Then he ran across the
ROOM dropped to his knees and flung
the bag on the floor. There 1t is;
take it," he said, and rushed out of
| the room again. At this point entered
/ Smith in pursuit OF Jones. shouting,
Give it up, you scoundrel," and rush
ing over to the bag, picked it up. The
| professor then jumped from his chair
| and exclaimed in pretended alarm,
Men. what are you up to here?"
This was the way the little drama
was actually enacted, but it was not
| what anyone of the twenty-five wit
nesses present actually saw or report
ed that they saw. The descriptions of
Jones were widely varied. One said
he wore a black coat and a light
mask: another declared that the mask
! was red; another that his mouth was
painted red, and still another asserted
that he carried pistol and a club in
Observation-Disclosures
1.-THE GA0roA N