Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-10

~ criminologist that France, and per-
haps the world has yet produced.
Edmund Bayle, successor of AL
phonse Bertillon at the Paris police laboratory,
was the prince of scientific detectives the lead
er of the new school of savantS-no fitting
word has yet been coined to describe this new
professionalism solve the most bathing crimes
with test tubes, X-rays, ultraviolet rays micro
scopes, electro-chemical baths, spectroscopes,
special cameras and all the other aids of mod
eTn science
He was the forerunner of the Sherlock
Holmes of the future-the bespectacled and
besmocked professor who will confound Grim
finals with mysterious reagents and reactives.
ct foresee the day when suspect viii frst
be taken to the police laboratory for examina-
tion" NJ Bayle told me few weeks before
he was aSsassinated. 1T will not be for
strong arm third degree, but for chemical
inQuistion The scientist in charge will place
the accused man under q powerful microscope
and study him as though he were an interest,"
ing insect. After that he may X-ray him and
-vioIet-ray him in an effort to find traces
of the crime. He would probably wash him, too,
I'm order to analyze the water and these would
only be the preliminaries of the physical inspec-
ton
New scientific discoveries, particularly ultra
violet rays and electro-chemistry. have given
the police powerful arm against lawbreakers.
For example we can determine If two drops
of liquid absolutely of the same essence by
seeing if they have the same degree Of electric
conductbility 1t is wonderful process, precise
to one ten thousandth of a milligram. In one
case had a check that had been washed with
acid and the amount raised. There was reason
to believe that a suspect had done this check
washing a sheet of plotting paper on his desk.
The blotting paper showed no signs Of acid to
the naked eye, but placed a small piece Of the
blotter, not much larger than the head Of pin,
In an electro chemical BATH and similar-sized
piece from the washed check in another bath,
and measured their electric conductibility. They
were absolutely identical It was not only the
same acid but acid out of the same bottle"
THE world at large always thinks Of the late
- Alphonse Bertillon as the most famous
French criminologst of modern times.
It Is true that he was one of the pioneers of
criminology, but he was crude bungler COM
pared with the eminent scientists who direct the
Paris, Lyon and Marseille police laboratories
today Contrary to common belief, Bertilon did
not invent the fingerprint system of identif1ca-
ton, which is the outstanding police achieve
ment of the twentieth century. He created an
thropometric Identification which is a system
of taking certain measurements of the body, and
he fought the adoption of the f1ngerprint system
In France for many years There is no COM
parison between the two. The anthropometric
method is complicated, requires much time and
has many weak points, such as the growth of a
young persons body and the subsequent change
in measurements The fngerprint system.
which is generally credited to Sir William
Herschel of England, is quick, simple and never
errS. 1t not only serves to establish the real
identity of criminals already caught, but aids to
run them down, as lawbreakers often leave their
prints behind. Besides the prints easier to
classify. France strapped Bertillons system in
1921 and adopted the fingerprint method. The
other European police laboratories have done
the same.
In Bertillon's time the Paris police laboratory
did little else than spend vast amount of time
taking the anthropometric measurements of
prisoners.
Since 1915 Edmond Bayle has built up a
trained staff of chemists, photographers, cleo
trical experts and other technicians who apply
the very latest discoveries of science to the de-
lection of crime. Bayle himself was the super
detective. the master mind who devoted himself
only to the more difficut problems. When he
rose to testify in trial the guilty trembled AS
a French court reporter wrote during one trial:
"Bayle was the forty-fifth witness, but when he
started to speak all the other A were forgotten.
typical example of his testimony was given
In the Despres murder trial last Summer.
Despres was aged man who went about COL
Iecting money for bank. He suddenly dis
appeared one day, as If the earth had swallowed
him up, and few weeks later his body was
found in a sack in the Seine, with a red-and-
white handkerchief tied over his mouth as gag
The last place Despres had been seen to enter
was the house of Nourric, bricklayer, in the
Partisan suburb of Nogent-sur-M arne Nourric,
his wife and his brother-in-law DuQuesne were
arrested, but the states case was purely circum-
stantial and the public prosecutor was despair
ing of conviction until Monsieur Bayle walked to
the bar.
chief tied around the murdered mans head is
identical with the other five found in Nourrics
home" NJ Bayle declared.
"As you see, this material consists of two red