Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-07-30
MANY LOOK BUT
few REMEMBER
WHAT THEY SEE
Police Find Individuals Fan to Note
Accurately for Descriptions
They Must Have.
BY FRRDFRIC ]. HAsKIN.

Especial Argus Correspondence
Washington, July 30.--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 notations?
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 po-
lice are constantly being asked to
trace and recover lost articles and
missing persons, supplied only with
vague and often misleading descr1p-
tons.
1t is well-known, for instance,
that automobile owners seldom
know the numbers of their license
tage, 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 police department
that his car, which was navy blue
with a green stripe, had been
stolen. The police obtained a furth-
er description of the car from the
agency which sold it, and finally
succeeded in recovering it. But the
stripe on the car was not green put
distinctly yellow.
A few weeks ago, a retail mer-
chant in a middle western city re-
ported to the police the disappear
ance of his senior 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, a
fair complexion The woman who
rented the apartment above the
store and who claimed to have seen
the man leaving it, carrying a SUIT
case late at night, described him as
"a short, stout man with dark
auburn hair, gray eyes ana a
to get on the trail of criminal,
armed with two such descriptions
as these?
Major Raymond w. Pullman,
commissioner of police in Washing
ton, has recently requested every
automobile owner to keep a mem
orandum in his pocket or desk, con-
tanning an exact description Of his
car, including the motor numDer
and any peculiar marks of identifi-
cation. The New York police depart
ment has gone a step further, and
asked every citizen to write a de-
scription of his cherished articles
of personal property, as we'll as one
Of each member of his family, and
keep it where it can be obtained in
case of emergency. 1t has been
found that few individuals can put
down this information without hav-
ing the objects before them. Details
make no impression on his mind
and, besides, the imagination insists
upon interfering and inserting de-
tails that really are not there at
all.
Many See Poorly.
This, added to the fact that the
eyesight of many PEOPLE is not nor
NAL, accounts for the weird exag-
geratfons and contributions which
often get into print. Take the re-
cent fight at Toledo, for example. !
The greatest experts on pugilistic
matters, trained observers, wit
messed and reported this fight for
the newspapers, and every one of |
tuGIl TepOTI6u inherent ueldllS. Oue !
of them declared that Dempsey |
stood with his back to the ring un-
til the call to battle had been |
sounded twice; another said that |
he stood facing Willard, eagerly |
waiting the summons to start. 1t has |
beer impossible to tell from these |
accounts what was the color of the |
umbrella hoisted over the cham
pion's head when he first entered |
the ring. According to the testimony |
II 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. va |
rious authorities disagee on this |
point, also. AS to the result of the !
fight, there was certainly no doubt |
among them, but so far as the de-
tails were concerned, all is con-
fusion.
To demonstrate how little re-
lance NAV be pIaced in the teSti- |