Show A BOOK OF C CRIMINALS R I 1 IIo 0 suca t aels gallery tile the adroit crook and ills ilia Il lu roker at at tile jio chief office of her maj c cotys criminal department at scot land y yard ard parliament street recently reland I 1 v as shown what I 1 regail as the MOS most t extraordinary book in tho the world a t look book which lias has never been bubli published shed ind and never will bo be published its sanctity is so strictly preserved that even when tho authorities want to let a I 1 man eco something in it they only show him tile tho page which will enable him to discover whether tile man mail described on it is tho the man against 0 whom ho he has a fi complaint to make but by a I 1 combination of g good luck on ono one side and good nature on tho the other it was tile the present writers privilege lego to examine the record durina the whole of an all af afternoon when lie ho was waiting v at tho the office coto to identify a gentleman from philadelphia this book is tho the english substitute for the rogues bics tics gallery at police headquarters in new york it is not perhaps as useful nn an arrangement as that yf of the tinged frames in mulberry street for the inquirer is only shown a few such photographs as tho the believe will bo be likely to lie be useful in enabling to liim him to identify tho the man mail lie ho is i after Duton but on the whole it is perhaps a better plan for tho the huge number of ugly faces crowded together gether in the rogues gallery confuse the eye so much that it is 13 not at all uncommon for a man to select half a dozen widely different faces ono one after tho the other as that of liis his despoiler spoiler dc however this may be the lingo huge album in london is much more mole interesting inasmuch as each photograph is pasted on oil a broad page on oil and around the picture and on the reverse of tile tho is written in tile smallest possible hand a detailed history of the subject of the photograph and a colaci concise 10 acco account urit of ills his methods as won well as a S his achievements strange as astl the 0 o statement may mayee decem eni tho the I 1 public know nothing 0 of tho the work of a really clever crook and the lie police them delves gelves knox know very little more the explanation of this ignorance is a very simple one A crook elioso are arc exposed is a second rate crook if lie lets the light of day strike lus ills operations lio lie is no moro more a fir first st late into crook than a card sharper who is detected can really bo be called a good hand at jumping no the cut dut a private detective or confidential inquiring agent as lie is more grandiloquently di styled in england if lie has had bad access to tho the information possessed by tile tho police and lias has also had a wide experience in com comptom comp prom roin aises really does get at a good deal of curious knowledge an ali artist as for convenience an adroit crook ina may y bo be called to distinguish hirn him from the plunderers blunderers ers crR arh who 0 allow themselves to lie be known to tile police Ii olice requires two conditions in a pl plant 1 ut in ill tho the first place there must bo be something I 1 aig i to get awaa with in ill iho ho place the attendant it tend 1 nt circumstances must be such that ill lie man who is iq robbed will bo be moro more than lian willing to cry quits ind and ke keep ep his mouth month shut in consideration of his ba 3 getting back a part of the money now NOT this is in statutory eta language compounding a felony and it is obvious that the man who lias has been robbed and alio is only getting lack back half ins ills loss does docs not want to run tho the aish of being prosecuted in addition to the calamity of being done out of his money so lie lees does not go to the police at all and they therefore only v know about t alie lie ci bolks who are chumps enough not to keep I eel to vi 0 andward of tho the cold state atalo smell of a jail by always studying out tile feasibility of a 1 compromise before they I 1 make tho the riffle there are in london and in every large larga europ european coan city a cliss clisson of private detectives who make maize a profession of arranging these compromises who aro are neither more inore nor less than middlemen between the public euid the predatory cla classes sef in n 1 a I word crooks brokers the avocation is of course open to tile the grave objection that hat t its for practices netice is essentially a continual breaking of the la uw and yet inasmuch as it enables tho the vic victims tinis to get back at any rate a part of their money there is is something to be eaid on behalf of these brokers they know tho the crooks and tile crooks know and trust them if a I 1 crook will make a fair deal and let tile man lie has played get back a fair whack of tile lio bluff I 1 less of C bourse tile agents agent commission the broker will never nener round on oil tile crook no money could hire him hill ty do it tor for it if lio lie were once known to have betrayed we one of his hia crooked clients in ill this way V ay lie ile wo would ld be of no lie further use to liis his honest clients and would lose liis his business connection in ft a moment on the other land hand however if ic tho the crook is obstinate enough to hog bog I 1 it all or as ionic limes happens lio lie goes on oil a bender and blows in all tl alie 0 money gets drunk and I 1 loses oses it or is il in n turn urn robbed of it as by the irony or of fate has sometimes happened to alie writers S illow ledge or lets the object of liis his affections affections com coax it all out of him the flie a agent 0 10 nt will rill pounce on oil him and turn him over to tile the police this lids too wit without lout in ill tile least injuring his ie as a square man mail with alio llio other they have in un nn contempt for 1 a I crook who ex es peats to keep alt all lo he gets away with they look upon imn him just as a skillful theatrical manager 0 would look upon somo some short sighted sp speculator c culaton cu lator who ft got ot a house tull idill of money and lieu held on t to ait it without giving aag to the audience any chow in return cor san francisco chronicle |