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Show 1 FINGER PRINTS AND CRIMINALS 1 How the. New System Works Out in 1 England. I It is now proved by demonstration that, given certain premises, the con- 1 cf-alment of identity is absolutely im- 5 possible. Every man born into this H world brings with biro certain unmis- 1 tnkable and unalterable traits ;by 1 hich. if they are once properly noted 9 find duly recorded, he may be infalla- i h!y recognized without the possibility 1 of mistake. The personal evidence H is deemed good enough in law to insure j a capital conviction. Witness the sen- 3 tenee just passed upon the "mask mur- ' deiers." " S Strange to say, this ancient systern I f identification by finger prints so re- 1 c -i-t 1 v adopted by the police of this X country is so little understood- here 5 that the most absurd mistakes are trade as to its origin and history. One ! Journal in a leading article mistakenly 3-so jates it with M. Bertillon. the French doctor, who discovered the principles of anthropometry. a'l tnP s;.nic mistake is made in an encyclo-p'Mia encyclo-p'Mia just published.. As a matter of fact, there is no sort ' connection between Bertillonage, k tl . p. jcnce of human measurements. ' 1 the marvelous results obtained by tl iiiiprint of the human hand. i thropometry. as most people know, v - a highly ingenious discovery that i V. . are certain lony structures in tV- human frame that remain practi-I practi-I v unchanged during lifetime. These, i 1 : : rly the head length, head breaath.l lie finger length, length of foot, j i " ii some others, do not vary be- 1 "il adolescence and extreme old age. :m this M. Bertillon constructed a ! ' -m of taking these measurements, 'ording them, very perfectly classi-ir'. classi-ir'. s that when again met with in ' :.iduals identification by means of " index became easy. The obvious of this anthropological law in is of criminal detection soon-1 soon-1 oiarized the system throughout the : ' -y.- world. Committee's Findings. -land took it uo tardily, but at ' -: 'i. in 1S94. a small departmental .-. itt.ee (of which I was one) being ;;-. oted to inquire into the system ' i ' cport upon the wisdom of adopt-- adopt-- ' here. At the same time we were ': "1 to examine the results arrived ;'' Mr. Francis Galton in his inves-''ir.n inves-''ir.n of the properties of finger-'': finger-'': as an inalienable testimony of i ' tial identity'. m started from the facts long i i.hd in the east, where from ' immemorial the thumb-print was ' oval sign-manual, and soon es ' i: --bed Iteyond all doubt that the 1 ;i'ssi..ns or imnrints taken from : ' fleshy -parts of the finger-tips are 1 :j .' Iv varied as well as unchange- Hirough life. He estimated, more-i more-i hat the chance of two svts of ' fine, t-prints being identical is less v-.ii. on., in 64.0ii0.wn. The chances '' hanee . between birth and death as l to 700. 1 m im difficulty was in elassif.ea- It was essential to arrive at a ':,;'!' comprehension of the various 1;i"ikii!gs so strangely recorded and I ( s'jucd by the finger-prints, and to ; t!' e on a nomenclature by which "" V c,uld be recognized and read off. committee saw no definite solu-of solu-of this dificulty. and we then I !'" '"nine nded a system which com- lMiir.j anthropometry and finger-prints tot, ther. Tliis was adopted and held '; , 'I'e eround till 1300. j I V Meanwhile the ancient practice had I ynmi croat favor in India, a country 1 1,1 which false nersonation-in a rom-; rom-; ri,..,, f,.Hud Q fjx identity beyond doubt before the courts a -i3tter. J. of extreme importance. The fingerprint finger-print was used in all transfers of deeds, in all certificates, and so on. j Custom in India. B' degrees the superior value of j the finger-prints to Bertillonage ex-tended ex-tended to this country, where the latter process had been found most disappointing, disap-pointing, and a second committee Vas charked to report upon existing method, meth-od, with the result that the system of measurements was entirely abandoned. A first condition to the successful use of the finger-prints is the accumulation accu-mulation of a large eolection of records. rec-ords. This is compassed nowadays bv the duplication of the process as far as possible to all who come within the grip of the law. It is now laid down that every person "sentenced to a month's imprisonment for certain crimes shall be "finger-printed." This is a part of the duty of the reception warden at the jail, and the record I sheet when obtained is sent to New-Scotland New-Scotland Yard for classification in the central register. This register is rapidly growiiig, and must ere long contain a nretty complete com-plete list of the criminal fraternity with perfectly inalienable distinctive marks. The index to these archives is exceedingly simple, and a very short reference suffices to compare the new record with those in stock. Something like 100,000 sets of finger-prints are now on hand, and additions are made at the rate of at least 400 per week. , Many Identifications. The identifications made last year amounted to Nmore than 5,000. and these will certainly increase with the larger register. They more than quad-luple quad-luple anything obtained bv Bertillonage." Bertil-lonage." and they had the additional advantage that they take very little time half an hour at most for each ease where, from first to last, the measurements occupied many officers for hours and hours, the instruments used were costly and elaborate, the manipulators needed to be carefully instructed experts, the facts obtained were often liable to error and it was impossible afterward to remedv defective de-fective data. As against these drawbacks, taking the finger-prints requires only the simplest sim-plest apparatus; a square of white paper not too highly glazed, some printer's ink and a roller to spread it on a flat sheet of tin. The necessary skill is soon acquired so as not to over-ink over-ink the fingers and to press them too lightly on the paper. Mayor Arthur Griffiths, in London EExpress. |