SECRET OF SCOTLAND YARD.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume III, Issue 189, 26 July 1913, Page 3 (Supplement)

SECRET OF SCOTLAND YARD.

THE END OF “ JACK THE RIPPER." IN T E RES TING DLSCLOS UR E. The fact that “ Jack the Ripper,” the man who terrorised the East End by the murder of seven women during 188 b, committed suicide is now revealed by Sir -Melville Macnaghten, head of the Criminal Investigation Department, who retired after twenty-four years’ service last month. “ Frankly,” lie said, “ I am sorry to leave the force. I love the work, and it will be a wrench to give it up ; but still, v* hen o:io reaches sixty it is time to make room for others.” Although he shrinks from publicity, Sir Melville during the ten years he has been head of tho “ C.1.D.” has broken down tho barrier of secrecy betwee.> rhe police and the Press. “ I realise that live times out of six the Press can be of the greatest assistance to a detective in I.is investigations; I recognise that th© police owe much to the assistance of the Press. J>

There was no case of murder and no important burglary during his time which he did not personally investigate. Sir Melville confessed that the greatest regret of his life was that he joined the force six months after “ Jack the Ripper ” committed suicide. “ That remarkable man,” he said, “ was one of tho most fascinating of criminals. Of course he was a maniac, but 1 have a very clear idea who he was and how ho committed suicide, but that, with other secrets, w J never bo revealed by me. DESTROYED SECRETS. “ I have destroyed all my documents and there is now no record "of the secret information which came into mv’.possession at one time or another. To-day for the first time since I joined the force on May 2-1, 1889, 1 know what it is to bo free from official cares, and I shall certainly not write any reminiscences. During the last ten years,” remarked Sir Melville, “ there have been few crimes for which no one has been brought to justice, although the Camp murder was one. The detectives of to-day are as good as ever they were, and I am proud to say that with the exception of Mr. Patrick Quinn, Superintendent of tho Special Branch, and Mr Jet ' f •- Carthy, Superintendent of the ‘C.I.D.,’ there is not an officer serving at present whom I have not introduced to the force.

“ It is, of course, impossible to compare present-day officers with those of years gone by. for every period has had its good men, but there are two officers without whom tho Criminal Investigation Department would be completely ‘at sea’ ■ — they are ‘Detective-Inspector Luck’ and ‘Detective-Sergeant Chance.’ if these officers are together on a case then there need bo no doubt as to the result. By that I mean that in crime detection, as in everything else, there must be an clement of what is called luck.

“ The attributes of an ideal detective arc to keep his eyes and ears open and his mouth shut-. What class of man makes the best detective it is impossible i o say. A man to be successful must be born with the detective instinct. You can’t make a detective unless he has got the necessary ability in him. One of tn® finest detectives I ever knew was st one time a farm hand.”

Sir Melville regards the development of the system of identification by finger prints as the most notable achievement in crime detection during his experience. This wonderful system is due entirely to Sir Edward Henry, the Commissioner, although many people persist in the belief that it is modelled on that of the Frenchman, Bertitlon. Tho latter is anthropological, and much too introcate to teach to the ordinary prison warder. The first time Sir Edward Henry's svstem came to the front was in the Stratton case, in which two brothers murdered a shopkeeper and his wife. They left what I discovered to be a finger print on a eashbox, and as the result of my discovery they were hanged.”