Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-12-25
CHEMISTRY USED
BY PARTISAN To
DETECT CRIME
Unique Methods of French
man Have Been Studied
by the Police Depart
ment of New York City

Paris, Dec. 24.--A chemist, or
rcent years has become the best
known detective in~France. Ed
mond Bayle is a small, dark, quiet
man; he works in a modern
equipped laboratory in the palais
dc justice; he is feared by crimi
nails of all classes, and his ulti-
mate fame promises TO surpass
that of Aphonse Berhllon, the
French finger print expert who
| died in 1914,
DR.. Bayle is chief of the techni-
! cal bureau of the Paris police de-
| partment. Here all the criminal
| information OF tho republic is con-
| centrated, classified and studied.
From this bureau the expert chem
ist and pyhysicist gives directions
in the field of criminal detection.
So successful has he been that
| the ignorant criminal classes have
come to regard him as a worker in
black magic. His unique methods
have been studied by the police
| department of New York City. DR..
Bayle rarely gives much attention
| to the personality of criminals or
their particular psychology. He
works rather with material things.
| His workshop consists of many
rooms ane passageways, equipped
with all the paraphernalia Of big
| industrial laboratory, and includes
a photograph gallery. He has
| spectoscopes, microscopes and X
ray machines by the dozen, each
fitted for a special purpose such
as examining blood spots, forged
documents, counterfeit money,
powder burned clothes, and the
wreckage that is picked up on
criminal trail,
Study Lined With Books
DR.. Bayle's study is lined with
/ books on science, and catalogue
records of his work. In the rec
ords of his bureau there are register
I ed no less than eight million names
] Of persons involved in crimes, past
and present.
THE detection OF crime today In
something very different from the
popular conception" said DR..
/ Bayle to the Associated Press cor
respondent. "The Sherlock Holmes
and Arsene Lupin stories Of great
criminals and their feats are no
doubt most entertaining, but that is
all ! can say for them. From my
point of view there is no crime that
cannot be detected, that does not
leave its traces behind, at least
Theoretically. For one thing GRIM
inals, as a rule, are not very ifi~
telligent The uneducated man
usually commits crimes of passion
and brutality; the educated man
runs to fraud.
! Criminals Are Astoundcd
my methods astound the iSnor-
ant criminals, and they have come
/ to fear me when l enter the courts.
! The so-called intelligent profess
! sional criminals seem TO have begun
1 to try 10 thwart me, in small way.
Nowadays they endeavor, by wear
p, ing gloves, not to leave ringer
prints behind, but we have reached
/ the point where their finger prints
/ through gloves can be detected.
"Crime is really not very mystic
rious. The curious point to me IL
that the crimes which interest me
most do not interest the public.
There has been very great
progress made in the detection OIL
crime during the past six or eight
years; particularly through the
. dDDlCdtlOll Oh CHtIllollJ anu paw
Biography to detection.
! 'In my opinion we are not yet IN
sight Of a crimeless civilization.
Crime is part of human nature
Much Of it is spontaneous. The
1 fear of detection and punishment
will not prevent it.
"I would like TO point out that
part of our endeavor has been to
S,.n
vent the miscarriage of justice.
Science does not seek to convict.
1t looks for the truth, no more and
no less.
Cleared JaiIers OF Guilt
During the war q spy case, that
Of q certain Vigo. alias Almereyda,
attracted much public attention.
The man was found dead in his
CELL and there were those who
claimed he had been assassinated
there. The only evidence was two
spots on his shoe laces. By COM
partiye analysis of these, one ]
found to be Of mud and the other
paint off his bed, and 1 was able
TO conclude he had hanged him.
self and thus clear the callers OF
guilt.
"Another case; During the war
a young captain wrote his mother
the night before battle in which
he was killed. A postscript to the
letter revoked a former will in IA
yor of his wife. BY analysis Of the
ink and the handwriting in this
postscript, it was shown that the
mother had forged his signature.
She confessed it, though her con-
fesslon added nothing to the value
of the proof.
Eve are beginning to eliminate
eyewitness proof in crime. we
prefer our own, as eye-Witnesses
distort the facts without sometimes
wishing to. Science cannot lie"