Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-27
Master Man-HunterS

blood was on the rug where his head
rested. He had been killed by blow
| on his forehead with some blunt in
strument that broke flesh and bone
with single stroke. The weapon that
| caused the death was gone.
And the one who dealt the blow how
| had he entered the apartment? More
| mysterious STILL how did he leave it:
For the inside bars and chain locks,
when the door was broken down
were found still shot home.
Obviously the murderer could not
have left the apartment by the door
and then slid the bolts and locks
home again on the inside of the door
And the windows were closed, though
| not locked on the latch. For not even
the tenants of that closely guarded
house bothered locking windows four
stories from the street and three be-
| low the roof.
HERE, then, was a murder, anG
there was the machine in Alex
anderplatz with it's vast catalog OF
10000, 900 cards, with its meldwesen
and it's raZzia and its squads of me.
chanical men ready and eager to begin
weaving the rope that would hang the
murderer.
The machine demanded, Under
what category number does the mode
of entry Gomez" AAl the answer was,
1--WE don't know how the entry was
made. The bars and locks on the
inside of the door We're still fastened.
The chimneys would hardly admit a
cat. The windows were not locked.
| it is true.
But the dust on their sills had not
l,..&,,
animation. One might. of course. have
descended from the roof by means
Of a rope and entered by way of the
windows. But the trapdoor leading to
the roof is wired for burglar alarms
and Is still untouched.
Some one could conceivably have
hidden himself In the apartment dur
ing the day. But the servants had
given the house their bi.weekly
thorough cleaning yesterday afternoon
late and would have come across any
one hiding there. The question re-
manned unanswered, how did the muir
derer get out?"
"Fingerprints." clamored the ma
chine. mot one" was the report from
the experts.
Then give me the names of all
servants, house attendants, intimate
friends of the doctor. his business as
sociates. employees at his place Of bust
ness. the names of every one he visited
in the last few days, of every one who
had visited him, even that of the
policeman on beat. I must have some
ting to start working with. protested
the machine.
60 THEY fed it scores and scores of
names. The main part of the ma
chine. the meldwesen. the card cata-
iogue 1t takes $50 rooms to house,
ground out vast deal of information
on the scores of names. But when 1t
got through working on the grist it
was found that nothing came of that.
Like attracts like, and the ultra
respectable Herr Doctor saw no one,
had nothing to do with any one on
whose record the meldweSen could find
the slightest flaw of unrespectability.
What motive for the murder" in
sisted the machine.
I'VE don't know" replied the ex-
perts. Not precious stone had been
taken from the doctors safe. Not a
pfennig. Not a document touched.
For the doctor, a methodical man, had
a complete inventory Of everything
and everything checked up present.
He had not an enemy we can learn of.
''ln short, we have not q single clue
as to the why or the how of the MUIR
der or of the escape. Suicide Is out of
the question. The rug where the body
was found shows that a violent strug-
gle had taken place. The skull was
smashed in by a blunt instrument.
There has been found no such ipstru-
ment. Not a single clue"
Here is where'merely human brains
would have said. Then there IL moth
ing to be done in the case"
But the man-hunting machine of the
Berlin police said:
Very well. then. at least this one
thing is clear: There Is not single
clue. Then we shall start with this
clue-that there is none!
Whereupon the deadly. machinelike
German logic went to work on the
case. Since there are no clues it
means that whoever killed DIR. Kern
stoff was skilled in removing or avoid
nfiliar with the technique of removing
clues would have made such a clean
job of it. But not even such man
acquires his Skill at once.
Therefore the man must have COM
mitted similar crimes before. or parts
OF such crimes, such as his amazingly
mysterious mode Of entry and exit.
IL so, he must be on record some
where; or If he has been too skillful
for the police to get him his crimes
were surely reported. DIR. Schneikert
your kriminal archiv clipping collec-
ton had better get to work.
DIR. Hans Schneikert, one OF the
worlds greatest authorities on hand
writing and the man wh0 devised the
famous clipping bureau In connection
with the kriminal archiv of the Berlin
police, thereupon touched button and
part Of the big machine began to
work.
Part of the machine is a collection
of newspaper clippings from every
part of Germany, and even from news
papers abroad. In every one of them
some crime Is reported and described
Every crime and clipping is catalogued
and indexed, so that word is all that
is needed to set mechanical men
searching in that remarkable record.
|. What DR.. Schneikert looked for came
under these headings:
"Burglaries committed, with doors
found locked on inside" "Burglaries
committed. with no clues left behind"
Murders unmotivated." Murders
unmotivated, with blunt weapon on
head"-and several other similar sub
heads.
a uIUBcHl seal Ch AlAahS HuI oWOu
Dr. Schneikert's interest to a clipping
from a Darmstadt newspaper telling
of a burglary committed in q strongly
guarded apartment house. Entry had
been made by means of painters
scaffold, which had been put up that
day and had remained overnight on
, the level Of the roof. But the bur-
glars had left no clue otherwise: no
fingerprints. no footprints, no marks
OF any kind.
Nothing. at least that the police
of small town could discover" de-
cided the chiefs OF the Berlin detec
tive system. Therefore, although
, this WAS committed three weeks ago