found on the premises or with blankets brought along. A lookout is usually stationed on the outside to signal in the event of peril. Safe burglars, like burglars who break windows or side lights, wait for the rumble of a passing vehicle to deaden the sound of an explosion.

“Store burglars generally gain entrance through a rear or side window. They travel in gangs of two or three, one always on guard, and steal from the till, cash register or small safes. They, too, have their work planned in advance, and know just what to do when they enter. The loot is seldom removed through the front of the building; it is carried through the rear yards or over the roofs of an adjoining building and thence to the street.

“If the booty is too bulky to transport on their persons, a push cart is hired or stolen for the purpose, or a milk or baker’s wagon is pressed into service, sometimes with the consent of the driver, and the goods moved early in the morning, during the hours when milkmen and bakers are making their deliveries, so as not to excite suspicion. Burglars who break store windows and side lights work in pairs and are very tricky. Their outfit in most instances consists of a long piece of heavy wire and a heavy piece of cloth, such as part of a bed comforter, which they carry wrapped about their bodies.

“A store is selected which displays articles of some value in its windows. The habits of the man on post are learned, and at an opportune moment during his absence they will throw a padded brick or iron through the window or side light, having first placed the comforter on the stoop or walk to catch the broken glass and deaden the sound. Or, they may use a glass cutter to remove a section of the window. This step accomplished, they dart into a nearby hallway and wait to see if the breaking of the glass has attracted attention. If they find it has not, operations are resumed and the contents of the show-window extracted by means of a stiff wire, the tip of which has been bent into a hook. The store selected is often covered by the crooks for hours, sometimes from an adjoining precinct or post, awaiting a suitable opportunity.

“The sharpest and most successful burglars of late have been foreigners, some of whom can not speak English. Their favorite method is to select a residence along some street-car route, enter it during the daytime, if possible, and remain secreted in areaways, back yards or on roofs until night, then force an entrance through a window, door or roof scuttle when the occupants have retired. After securing the plunder they open the front door and wait inside until a car passes. Then they run out and board a moving car, watching meanwhile to see if they are pursued. Sometimes they ride almost to the city line before getting off. They are afraid that if they pass a brightly lighted street corner they will be observed and for this reason they use the street cars.

“If there were no receivers of stolen goods there would be but little burglary of these or any other kinds: A thief will not steal unless he knows that he can make some profitable disposition of his haul. It is comparatively easy to dispose of jewelry, but a thief must know positively where he can immediately dispose of bulky property that he cannot readily conceal. Usually such stuff is immediately sold to unscrupulous dealers who carry goods of the same kind in stock; for instance, a quantity of stolen cloth may be sold to a dishonest dry-goods merchant. In some cases, however, a store or flat is rented in advance of a burglary or theft and the loot stored in it. The receivers are then visited in turn by the thieves, shown samples, and bids are requested. In this way they dispose of the goods more profitably.

“A careful thief destroys, as soon as possible, all marks of identification, but if he has not done so, the receiver takes that precaution as soon as the stolen property comes into his possession. Merchandise handled under unusual conditions should immediately suggest ‘receivers’ to you. For instance, if you saw a large quantity of silk being taken into a small retail store, or saw the delivery being made from a hand-truck or from a wagon not ordinarily used for such deliveries, or by persons who, from their appearance and manner of handling the merchandise, did not seem to be engaged in the business; or if you observed boxes of shoes being taken into a barber shop, or a great quantity of food being delivered to a dwelling, it should arouse your suspicion.

“Remember that persons engaged in a legitimate business are constantly devising ways and means of advertising themselves. They want everyone to know that they are engaged in a certain business, and located at a certain place, and invite inspection of their stock. They do not paint their windows to hide the contents of their store, or arrange the interior so that the stock will not be in plain sight, or deny prospective purchasers the privilege of examining their stock.”

CHAPTER III

IDENTIFICATION OF CRIMINALS

In all up-to-date police and detective bureaus the Bertillon System is now being used whenever practicable for the identification of criminals. I consider it important that detectives be thoroughly familiar with the system, as it is a wonderfully accurate system of identification and quite easy for anyone to become familiar with, as I will show.

The Bertillon System of identification was unknown previous to the year 1880, in which year it was adopted in France as a standard by the police department of Paris, where it was introduced by Alphonse Bertillon, its founder. Since then it has been adopted by police departments of practically all large cities in the United States, Canada and Europe. For the identification of criminals the Bertillon System depends upon accurate measurements of various parts of the human body, having to do especially with the bones, which in adults never change. The parts measured are head, left ear, left foot, left middle finger, extended left forearm, outstretched arms, the trunk and height.

In the Bertillon System the metric measurement is used exclusively. In such measurement we have the meter, which equals 39.37 inches; the centimeter, which is the one-hundredth part of a meter and which equals 0.3937 of an inch; and the millimeter, which is the one-thousandth part of a meter and which equals 0.03937 of an inch.

In order to take the measurements of a criminal in accordance with the Bertillon System it is of course necessary to have and use a metric measure; one can be purchased almost anywhere in the United States for fifty cents. So as to make the matter of measurement more clear, I might state that under our own system of measurement we measure by yards, feet and inches, half inches, quarter inches, etc. Under the metric system we measure by meters, centimeters and millimeters. It will readily be seen that with the metric system it is possible to measure accurately the thousandth part of an inch.

We will take for instance a criminal whose height is five feet and one inch. In Bertillon or metric measurement his height would be one meter and fifty-five centimeters; written thus: 1 M. 55. 0. If a criminal’s height be, for instance, five feet seven and a half inches, it would be, according to Bertillon or metric measurement, one meter, 71 centimeters, and five millimeters, written thus: 1 M. 71. 5. A criminal whose height is five feet and 7/8 inches would be shown in Bertillon in the following manner, with other measurements added: