HOW DISGUISES ARE EFFECTED.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5917, 23 August 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

HOW DISGUISES ARE EFFECTED.

Air. Charles J I. box. the celebrated wig-maker of Convent Oarde.i, has recently explained that he is constantly in the habit of disguising persons for purposes quite unknown to him. I Icing of opinion that a few more details about his ' unholy art■' would not be without interest the I'all Mali I iazelte despatched a. representative to see Air. Fox. who Went Io business at once :— ' You would he astonished,' he began, 'In know the number of people who come here to be disguised. It has U'l'own into a part of our regular business. Men of ail classes n.me— gentlemen. detectives, amateur detectives, and I do not doubt that 1 have disguised on mays occasion- ! some of tic greaie-i

criminals of the day. Of course it is none of my business to enquire into the purposes "for which those disguises are assumed, though sometimes I am told. The people who come generally have some tale to toll on the first occasion, but I fake these tales with a grain or two of salt, A large number of private detectives and even Scotland-yard men come to me. and as I know their business I ask no questions. That they should disguise themselves is perfectly However, as I was saying, sometimes I am told afterwards what the disguise is wanted for. For instance, not. so very long ago, a gentleman from Aberdeen came to me to be disguised, and repeated his visit every day tor some weeks. 1 got rather interested in him. for he was evidently a gentleman, and seemed to have some trouble on his mind. At last, one Sunday morning, he came to me and told me his story. He had been tracing his wife. She had come up to London on the preicxt of visiting her friends, but, after she was gone, he found some very incriminating fetters, so he followed her. He said that several times he had passed her in the street, and that the day previous lie had followed her to Richmond, where she had gone with a companion. The husband got into the hotel where they were, found what room they were in, and gave the man a terrible thrashing, l-.ven then the wife did not recognise him, until, when the thrashing was over, be struck an attitude, pulled oil his wig, and declared himself. He shoved me his knuckles as evidence of tho use they had been put to. Yes, be got his divorce a short while after in Edinurgh. Why. 1 have a customer at the present time who comes in sometimes two or three times a week. He is made up as a middle-aged man, and goes out of the shop so completely disguised that none of his friends know him. I don't know what his object is. He seldom stays away more than two or three hours, then comes back, resumes his natural dress and appearance, and I hoar no more of him till he comes again to be disguised. I fancy it is a case of chervhe: la femme. hut, of course, it is no business of mine." ■ lb) you ever have any ladies to disguise ?' • No. In fact. I think I may say never. You see the art of making up comes natural to almost all women. 1 think it is born in them. They all understand how to beautify themselves. And if they want to disguise themselves they prefer to trust to their own ingenuity. A change of dress, a . veil, an alteration in the mode of • doing the hair, a pair of spectacles. 1 and there you are ; detection is almost i impossible." •Now, Mr Fox. how do you set : about disguising a person .'"

-Oh, it is very easy. We change the expression of tin' face by deepening shadows, alli'i' tin- shape of the evehrows by h'tu-hing with a trifle of odor, ]iut a little hair on with spirit gum, change tho fa.-bioit vi' the hair on tin- head, and sometimes throw into proininence I lie bones and muscles of the neck. Making uj) for the street is totally different to making up for tlii' stage. For daylight use we must employ as little paint as pos-ible. A piece of burnt paper produces a lovely and most delicate color, which we use f..r iiO'-jx'iiiuLC shadows, and if is imperceptible to the naked eye of the ordinary observer. 1 can produce the appearance of a chin which has not hern shaved for three or four days in a I very simple manner. 'The face is j first toned to the requisite shade, then I covered with a thin layer of spirit I'lim then a quantity of very finely chopped hair is dabbed on to the chin and cheeks when (he L-anii is nearly dry. Of course, the things to be avoided arcto leave the gum shiny, and to have the hair dabbed on in patches. I'raetiee makes perfect, and an adept hand never makes these blunders. Crepe hair may he use,] _'■ >r whiskers or beard iv an absolutely undetectable manner. if carefully put on and trimmed afterwards. Hut I prefer, instead >>i using wigs or false hair, to alter the dressing of a man's own hirsute appendages. Tims, in your own case, by turning up your moustache, by showing your upper lip. just altering the set of your eyebrows a little, and by deepening the shadows on your face and neck a little, you would bud your face completely altered, lint there is one very important thine- in eU'eeling a disguise, which you must not forget. It is not alone the head and face which must be al-b-red. The attire, the dress, must, undergo just as complete a change. A turned-down collar, a different suit of clothes. Loots, and hat, and o.en the pocket-handkerchief needs to be different from that you ordinarily carry. Why, do you know, that the very manner of carrying a handkerchief in the pocket has been suilicient before now io detect a person in a clever disguise .'" • flow long does ii take in cft'crt one of your startling disguises '.'" ' From ten minutes to hah' an hour, according to the character to he assumed and ilie amount of work required. This also regulates the ,•,,-•, which is from lialt'-a-yuiiiea upwards. In ten minutes, for half-a-guinea. 1 will disguise you so completely that neither your own mother, your wife, nor the editor of your paper would know you. As 1 have said, I prefer not to use wigs—of course their use increases the cost —and I always demand a deposit if .1. loan them. Yes. sometimes I get suspicious characters ; then I notify I'ow .street. During the

•Jack the Hipper ' scare I must have had hundreds of customers. At last it got such a big thing, and I took such an inte U. in the affair, I sent across to T).iv.- street, and several of my customers were shadowed. One was followed to Meiitone and another io New York. They ali professed to be amateur detectives, but J fancy

.-.■ m- with :iiiyiliin._: I.lit that, and 1 cyen dare say that the gentleman himself may have passed through my hands more than once. It is quite a common thing for large publicans, who own a number of houses, to disguise themselves and visit their various places to watch and see if there is any shady business going on with their responsible representatives : but I think the majority of my customers are jealous husbands, like the gentleman from Aberdeen, who think if necessary to keep a sharp eye on I heir wives.'