MEW WAY TO CATCH CRIMINALS.

Northern Advocate, 6 June 1912, Page 2

MEW WAY TO CATCH CRIMINALS.

IDENTITY FIXED BY PECULIARITIES.

A system for the identification of criminals, which has just. been introduced into the Unted States by Captain Joesph A. Faurot, is exciting great interest . This system, which is known as the 'portrait part©" or descriptive portrait system, and was , originally invented by M. Rertillon of finger-print fame, raises the art of identification to an exact science, especially when employed in conjunction with the fingerprint method. Even Arsene Lupin must have succumbed to it. It consists, broadly, in making a mental picture of certain carefully classified and sub-classified peculiarities and of the physiognomy and physique of a criminal, the elimination of those which may be reconciled giving the final identity. , Detectives all over the world have long been convinced by bitter ex{perience jthat the ordinary photograph is practically valueless for identification purposes, owing to the facility with which any person can alter his general appearance. The descriptive portrait is quite another matter, and has already succeeded where the ordinary photograph has failed. By its means, for instance, twins who could not be told apart by their best friends, were differentiated by the police, who discovered that the head of one of them was a point wider than that of the other. A peculiarity of the lobe of an ear, the , cleft in an eyelid, or even a wrinkle, is sufficient under the new system to establish the identity of a wanted person, however much disguised he may be. Captain Faurot has recently fitted up a school-room at police headquarters, where he is daily engaged in instructing detectives, young and old, in the art of taking a "speaking portrait" of a person* and in the science of-run-ning a man to earth from this "portrait in the mind's eye." The, class consists of 24 men, and about six weeks is needed to learn the system. Eventually tho entire detective force ot New York will have been trained in it. The entire \isible portions; of the human body are classified and subclas&ified under the new system, and the peculiarities of each carefully noted. The possible peculiarities of each individual in this respect include:—Carriage of arms, beard, cheek, chin, ears, /expression, eye-arches, eyeb&lls, eyebrows, eyelids, forehead,- gesticulations, glance, hair, carriage of head, height standing and sitting, lips, mouth, neck, nose, breadth of shoulder, speech, wrinkles. It is the sum total of these pecul-. iarities after the eliminations have been made that furnishes the identity. There are no measurements, for it is absurd to expect to be able to step forward and measure a man in a crowd. If a man, for instance, answers all the requirements memorised or noted by the detective in advance, but has blue eyes instead of brown, the dietC'Ctive knows at once he Is on the v/rong scent.