davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

guilty alike, for examination micro
scopically minute.
The main part of the machine is
catalogue. On millions upon millions
of cards of that catalogue is recorded
a detailed history of every man, wom-
an and child in the country to within
half an hour Of my nightmare.
The cards not only require large
number of cabinets to hold them-so
many are they--but whole rooms,
whole houses, whole block of houses
filled with nothing but catalogue cards,
through which / am being hunted by
peering specialized men, hunted until
the last fact about me is found.
Then when my hiding place itself
is thus dug out a ticker sounds in the
police station nearest where / hide.
A mechanical police official banks out
a military command; a squad of me-
chanical men leap into an automobile
patrol. 1t rolls straight to my hiding
place, and before / can escape, the
mechanical men have me seized and
helpless IN steel.
If all this sounds like a mere night
mare. it must surely feel like one to a
German criminal. For it literally
is a picture of the machine that
hunts criminals in Berlin.
Let us study this machine at work
on case.
. UDOLPH STENGHAL was treas
AZ urer of a fashionable church in
Berlin. At a special evening service
one Sunday night a considerable col
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
Master Man-Hunters

| Shanghai and blew open the safe.
Then the sergeant of the squad
stepped to the telephone and reported
to headquarters the outstanding find
| ings in a sort of code.
Mode of entry was described as
! mo. II AE." Mode of killing as
mo. 23a, razor" Mode of Blowing
| GERM" And so on.
There did not seem to be a detail
OF the crime that was not already
catalogued at detective headquarters
and known by number and symbol to
sergeants of squads of mechanical
men.
Even as these details were coming
in an operator at a switchboard in
the huge headquarters building on
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS granite front
bearing the marks of machine gun
fire and bombs in communist upris-
ings since the war-clicked out in
Morse code q terse command to all
police stations at once.
1t set whirling the wheels of the
Razzia, that part of the main ma
chine which is coordinate with the
card catalogue l spoke Of in the night
mare. The RaZ2ia is something
Anglo Saxon countries know little of
and would tolerate still less were 1t
practiced there.
From every police station automo-
bile patrol wagons started, manned
by mechanical men in uniform and
in plain clothes. 1t was a holiday,
and the dancing resorts, the drinking
places, the cafes and restaurants
were crowded. Upon scores of these
descended these motor patrols.
At one moment the gayety of
music and the dance, of clinking
glasses and the clatter Of dishes of
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

nected with wires TO another device
which registered the speed of heart
beat. Lena regarded uneasily the bit
of rubber and silk-covered wire which
the psychologist bound about her
wrist where her pulse beat. But not
having much knowledge of modern
science Lena put it down to a bit of
f1ummery merely to impress her.
Nov. ready" called the psycholo-
gist. silk
"Waistr' called Lena promptly.
Garden
"Prettyn' responded Lena. She saw
no reason to guard against such limo
cent words and responded quickly
with whatever word came to her mind
first. In this way the psychologist
got her average reaction time" the
Quickness with which her mind apper-
ceived one word and reacted with an
other.
Then he called: "Hider' There
sprang to her mind her hidden lover
and she shut her lips tight. The next
instant she realized that it was still
better to think Of a word that would
throw the psychologist off the scent.
1t took her some seconds to think of
a word farthest from her real thought.
city" she said finally.
Inc psychologist noted tnat IL ndd
taken her three times as long as the
reaction time for the other words:
noted, too, the sudden and rapid in
crease of her heartbeat, as registered
by the dial of his device; interpreted
the workings of her mind and decided
that if city" was the word she finally
gave, country" was perhaps the one
she hid from him. In this way her
very lying was betraying her.
Rapidly he went through a list of
prepared words and got her reactions,
noting down her words, time of reac-
ton, heartbeat and expression of face.
After half an hour of this be rose
THAT will do now, Lena" he said.
II will add only this. If you want to
give up your lover to us the surest
way for you to do it will be to try to
warn him. You will be watched so
closely from now on that any move
you make will only help us!"
He said this with much buster and
Electrically.
Lena in her much simpler way
was doing some psychological analyz-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

gerous d business to warn her lover
She decided to chance it anyway.
Which was exactly what the
psychologist had meant her to think
Lena went home. She knew better
than to go in person to warn her lover
But from a neighbours home in the
same house she cautiously telephoned
to a certain house in a small village
an hour from Berlin. She might just
as well have gone straight to the
hiding place of her lover For the
police had canvassed what telephones
there were in the house and tapped
the wires.
Even while Lena was talking over
the telephone other wires We're hum
ming with activity. From a police
station nearest her lovers hiding place
there rolled an automobile patrol
wagon with a squad of mechanical
men, under a detective sergeant. A
mile from q certain house the squad
got out and scattered, but on foot con
verged on that house. At d signal six
detectives burst into the cottage with
reyolvers drawn.
They found Lena's lover, bandaged,
in bed, being tended by a country
doctor.
Come alongr' the detective ser
geant ordered.
Lenas lover, Hans Kriftel, looked
up surlily.
What have I done?" he muttered.
"You murdered Herr Rudolph
Stenghal"' the detective sergeant told
him. Dress
Over krifters face came a look
of relief Doctor" he said to the
physician, when did you set my
broken Lego"
1.-TWO weeks ago today" the med
ical man said. alarmed at the whole
proceeding.
"And how often have you tended
me since them Kriftel went on.
Twice every day"
And could / have possibly gone
to Berlin five days ago, broken into
house and murdered a man with
out your knowing of it?' Kriftel in.
IL. IL
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

"Bavarian" group gave him a chance
to guam several stems of Muenchneg
brew. Then one of them. himself a
giant, rose and walked unsteadfiy
over to him, stein in hand
You're Fritz Stuben, my school
mattel" he addressed the man. DRINK
with me-
The other shook his head. I'm
not"
"Oh, yes. you are insisted the
other. eff you say you're not, you're
a churl' Isn't he. cOmrades?"
The quiet man did not answer. But
his eyes warned the other. True to
his role of drunken man, however. the
other badgered 'Stuben" until he
growled:
Away from here or I'll" Ills
hand gripped the handle of the heavy
stein.
oh. SOP" the. drunkard cried trucu.
lently. so you viii attack me. eh9
Comrades
At the word the others of his group
jumped from their table and hurried
over to their comrade. Before a
fracas breaks out among Germans
there is usually a great deal of verbal
commotion. The inn was thrown into
an uproar. As if by magic several
policemen appeared on the scene.
II want this man arrested ths
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

floor. its steel door blown off, its con-
tents gone.
Otto ran to the telephone, blundered
some time in getting the police, and
finally managed to make himself
understood. Within five minutes of
the time he got a few words across
the telephone squad of Berlin de-
tectives under a detective sergeant
leaped into an automobile patrol and
was rolling to the home of Rudolph
Stenghal These are the mechanical
men" l spoke of in the nightmare OF
the habitual criminal.
X x x X
I EFT us study them as they sit
~ stolidly in the patrol wagon, look
ing alike and if at all thinking, think
ing alike. We will study them not
from their persons but from their COM
mon past.
Each of these men. according to the
requirements for admission to the de-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

TF were a habitual criminal, no
matter how clever at deceiving
detectives, I might some time
dream the following nightmare: l
would dream 1 am being hunted
not by human beings but by ma
chine. This machine uses mechanical
men, whose very cut of beard and
hair of the head, whose walk and talk
are prescribed for them by military
regulations; out of whom every bit
of individuality has been drilled; who
move not singly, but as military
squads; who individually do not know
what they are doing, but who fit like
Cogs in a machine as delicate as
clockwork, but with the force Of a
stone crusher.
Part of the machine would be a hui
man net into whose meshes, at the
click of ticker, are swept without
warning hundreds of people at time,
sometimes thousands, innocent and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
he Trail of Criminal With Almost Machine-Like System

ridiculous. You never stirred out
of this house since your leg was
broken" the doctor exclaimed.
The police were astounded. And
a thorough Investigation of both the
doctor and the case he was tending
soon convinced the police that Kriftel
had q perfect alibi. 1t could not have
been better if he had broken his leg
purposely. The police even considered
this possibility but found nothing in 1t.
1t looked to the detective sergeant
as though his superiors at police head
quarters had psychological them
selves into a sort of blind alley. But
he was only a sergeant of a squad of
mechanical men, taught To let his SUI
periors do the thinking. He reported
back to Berlin by telephone. His SUI
periors did not seem to he downcast.
Bring him in. broken leg and allr'
came the order. And bring along
the railroad station master. But dont
use him as a prisoner"
Meanwhile headquarters had an
other bit of work for some one
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

lection was taken up for the purpose
OF building an additional chapel stem
ghal. carrying satchel containing
This collection, which amounted 10
several thousand dollars, was ac.
s~npanied to his home by few OF
his friends and the 'underseXton,
a strong youth named Philip.
At the door of his bachelor apart
ment home Stenghals friends and
Philip, having seen him and the funds
safe, as they thought. babe him GOOD
night and went to their several homes.
Stenghal lived alone with only an
old family manservant, Otto, VINO
slept at the other end of his roomy
bacheler apartment When Otto went
tc 4?ake his master next morning, his
knock at the bedroom door was not
answered. The servant tried the door
and found il locked.
Such a thing had never happened
before to his knowledge and any
thing out of ordinary in his master $
life was alarming. After debating
with himself Otto forced the door open
and saw Stenghal on his bed in n
welter of bloody bed clothes, his
throat cut. The small, old-fashioned
safe I'm which Stenghal kept his vaiu.
ables Was out in The middle OF The
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

ing herself She had not meant To-
warn her lover, fearing exactly the
thing this man was threatening. But
his buster now treasured her. II lie
had to threaten and assume a thun-
dercloud expression it must mean that
the police were really helpless before
her; and that it was not so very dan
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

test" a. contribution which the sci
ence of psychology has made to police
arsenals; and that the psychologist on
the Stenghal Commission was one of
the experts in that line of examina-
ton.
Before him was a split second watch
mounted on device which also con-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
By Joseph Gollomb

The Murder of Rudo1bh Stengha1, Church Treas
s4rer Furnished Test Case for Berlns
Famous Police System, With Its PSYCHOLOGY
cal Third Degree" and Gard Index Catalogue
of 24.OOOOOO Items = More Mach;ne-'ke
Than Human, PERHAPS, But 1t Got Its Man.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

THE speech of the police. when ad-
dressed TO a superior, must be short,
definite and clear and should not be
accompanied by explanatory gestures
or motions of hand or body or either.
The hair of the head and the beard
are to be trimmed in accordance with
military instructions"
SO that q crook who has managed
TO secure a copy of the police reg
ulations could not only recognize a
group of Berlin detectives by means
of them, but could tell by their rela-
tive positions as they walk with their
superior which has served longer on
the force! Nothing in such a state
OF affairs to give the criminal in
Berlin nightmares, one would say.
But that would be like judging the
effectiveness of n machine by looking
at its simplest cogs. Let us look
deeper into the machine.
X x X 4
THE mechanical man arrived at the
home of Stengal, did the things
| detectives of other cities do under the
circumstances, looked for fingerprints
and other clues, and made a careful
Astudy of how the criminals had forced
] their way into the house, killed
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

past the detectives in orderly manner,
. each showing his or her police card.
If the date and stamp showed that
the bearer, like a good German citi-
zen. had compiled with regulations
and reported to the police and sup
piled them with the latest information
about himself or herself that person
was allowed to pass out of the place.
But at the end of an hour and a
half So persons were detained. then
bundled into a line of waiting motor
patrol wagons and hustled to the great
bleak structure on Alexanderplatz,
where is housed that main part of
Berlin's man-hunting machine, the
Meldwesen. The great majority of
those brought along from Luna Park
were in the tolls because either their
police cards were not up to date or
they had none at all.
But seven of the men and women
| held owed their detention to the fact
| that they fitted into 'categories l2Ak
sand TAX" as the instructions clicked
| out. by the tickers in police stations
| read.
| THE Meldwesen is a card catalogue,
Il the one | described somewhat in
| nv nightmare of a criminal. Every
man, woman and child in Germany.
| native and foreigner, mas a cdIu-oI
| should have--with the police of what
| ever city he or she happens to be in.
| If for some reason there is no such
| card and a RaZZia scoops the unfortu-
| nate individual into it's net, that indi-
vidual is not likely to repeat the omis-
| sion again.
Punishments ranging from a repri-
| mand to fines and Imprisonment for
neglect to register await the suspect.
! For suspected such a person at once
becomes. IF you have not regis
tered" the police argue, lit means
you have something to conceal. Now
| let's see what that something is!'
And they put the individuals name
into the NAV of that machine of card
catalogues. The Berlin Meldwesen
covers only the city of Berlin. One
would imagine a rather huge steel
cabinet would house that catalogue.
Only in a dream or nightmare. how.
ever, could one see the proportions OF
that cabinet" as it really Is. AWhen
L / saw it last. few months ako. the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

A n hour before Kriftel was arrested
a telephone message reached
Berlin police headquarters. Five
minutes later one of the higher de-
tective officials was dressing up as
Bavarian sportsman. in knee-length
shorts" velvet jacket, little Alpine
cap with the brush of a channels in
the band.
From the office he was whirled to
the railroad station where he took
the train for Dresden. In that city
he was met at the station by several
other men attired as Bavarian
sportsmen. The whole group then
went to an old Bavarian inn on the
bridge in the heart of the old city.
For 10 hours at a stretch that group
drank. ate and sang in that inn.
Then toward midnight a man came
in quietly and sat down in a corner
by himself He was a huge, deep
chested fellow with low forehead and
deep-set little eyes which glittered
with quiet but wolfish intensity. The
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

drunkard roared. pointing at the big
fellow, who had not spoken a word
in all this tumult but whose look Of
readiness as he stood there with his
hands in his pockets put the "Bavari-
ans keenly on edge. AT the word
arrested his face went white and
his arm twitched as if he were about
to whip it out of his pocket and shoot.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

but saw no danger in the experiment.
If it was some sort of trap. she told
herself, she would fool the man by
calling off some word other than the
one that came first into her mind.
She knew enough about the Berlin
police not to want to antagonize them
If little dishonesty would save her
from it.
What she did not know. however,
was that she was being put through
the now famous word association
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

to do. III any ObAASA
This would have been assigned diiioo.
to anv detective. But 1T had just
enough complexity about it to be olt
beyond a mechanical man. SO one Oh
the higher officials in the oetectlVe
service had to do It, 4
For another part of the man-numt-
ing machine had almost automatlcallS
produced a powerful link leading 10
the Stenghal murderers. Immediately
after the first survey of the murder
and robbery there had gone out
circular order to all members OF the
church where the contribution WAS
taken I'D the night of the crime. rms
order instructed all contributors OF
money bills to the church collection
70 trace back as many bills as pos
sible until the serial numbers were
secured. In two days AZ numbers OF
bills of middling sized denominations
were secured.
A paragraph giving these numbers
was printed in the Deutsche Mach
richten, the daily newspaper issued by
the Berlin police, whose circulation is
strictly limited to police. This news
paper was also sent to neighboring
cities and instructed all police to look
for bills bearing the numbers printed
in that paragraph, and to report in
stantly by telephone when one of them
had been traced.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

"TTfEY FOUND
IENA'S LOVER,
BANDACED. IN
BED, BEING
TENDED BY A
COUNTRY DOC
TOR. COME
ALONG THE
/ DETECTIVE
/ SERGEANT
| ORDERED"
The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1927-03-01
shERlEE,s SALE.

by virtue of a writ OF eeri facias. 10
me directed issued out Of the New
Jersey Court of chancery. viii be sold
at public Vcndue, on
Thursday the Tenth Day OF March,
Nineteen Hundred and
Twenty seven,
at two O'Clock i'm the afternoon of said
day. i'll the Board of Chosen Freehold
Floor, Guarantee Trust Building, in
the City of Atlantic City. County Of
Atlantic and State of New Jersey.
An those certain lots. tracts or par
cells of land situate, lying and being in
the village of AfZpah. in the Township
Of Hamilton and County of Atlantic.
in the State of New Jersey. described
as follows:
Lots known and designated as Lots
is and 90 in Block 80 as shown on
Plan No. ] of MiZpah. Atlantic County.
New Jersey. as laid out by Fowler d
Lunmis, Civil Engineers. 1891. Scale
100 feet equals ! inch and which Map
is duly filed in the Clerks Office of
the County of Atlantic. at Mays Land
ing. y. j., and therein known as Map
No. 29l II.
Decree approximately $2.2i6.00, be
sides interest, cost and fees.
Seized as the property of Diego Ia
dalamcnti ct ais. and taken in eXecu-
lion at the suit of Lake d Risley Com
pany and Ia be sold by
JAMES cIMTNo.
Sheriff.
Dated February -. 1929.
Carlton Godfrey Solicitor.
The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1927-03-01
sHERIFF,s SALE.

By virtue of n writ of fferi facias, 10
me directed, issued out of the New
Jersey Court of Chancefy, wifi be sold
at public vendue, on
Thursday, the Tenth Day If March,
Nineteen Hundred and
Twenty seven,
at two O'Clock in the AFTERNOON of said
day. in the Board of Chosen Freehold
ers Assembly Room, on the Seventh
Floor, Guarantee Trust Builcing, in
the City of Atlantic City, County OF
Atlantic and State OF New Icrser.
All those certain lots. tracts or par
GELS of land situate. lying and being
in the village of AIizpah. in the Town
ship of Hamilton and County of At
lantic, in the State of New Jersey.
described as follows:
Lots known and designated as Lots
Nos. II and l6 in Block No. 80. as
shown on Plan No. / of MiZpah. At
iantic County. New Jersey, as laid out
by Fowler q Lumms, Civil Engineers
1891. Scale 100 feet equals ] inch and
which Map is duly filed in the Clerk
Office of the County of Atlantic, at
Mays Landing. n. j., and therein
known as Map No. 291-E.
Decree approximately S2.225.99, be-
sides interest. costs and fees.
Seized as the property of Ora2io
Cataldo ct ais. and taken in execution
at the suit of Lake & RiSley Company
and to be sold by
JAMES CINIINo.
Sheriff
Dated February 70. 1927.
Carlton Godfrey, Solicitor.
Prs fee. $lS.0G.
The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1927-03-01
sHERlFF,s SALE.

BY virtue of a writ of iieri facias. to
me directed. issued out of the New
Jersey Court of ChanccrY, viii be sold
at public Vendue, on
Thursday, the Third Day of March.
Nineteen Hundred and
Twenty Seven.
at two O'Clock i'm the afternoon of said
day. i'll the Board Of Chosen Freehol-
ders Assembly Room. on the Seventh
Floor. Guarantee Trust Building. in
the City of Atlantic City, County of
Atlantic and State of New Jersey.
All thar certain lot. tract or parcel
Of land and premises situate. lying and
being in the Borough OF I.ongport. in
the County of Atlantic and state of
New Jersey. and are described as fol-
lows:
beginning in the Easterly line of
Eleventh Avenue. distant two hundred
and ninet y-one feet Wapdly from
the Northerly line Of Beach Avenue,
and extending thence % EastWardly.
parallel with Beach Avenue. one hum
bred and ten feet TO the Westerly line
of a sixteen feet wide street; thence
90 Nnrthwanil%. along said Westerly
line of said sixteen feet wide street.
fifty feet; thence CD Westwardly par
allcl with Efach Avenue, one hundred
and ten feet To the Easterly line OF
Eleventh Avenue; and thence az
along the EaSterly line
Of Eleventh Avenue, fifty feet to the
place of beginning.
Decree approximately $2.G211J. be-
sides interest. costs and fees.
Seized as the property of Clifton 4.
ct ais, and taken in execution
at the suit Of Elsie n. Hoyt and 10 be
sold by
JAMES CHINO.
Sheriff.
Dated February s. 1927.
Russell l.. Browne, Solicitor.
Prs fee, SCI 90