Hard On Criminals

I HE question often arises as to the methods emplnyed by the pólice in keeping track of professional crimináis, and to the manner of identification when a N criminal is placed s under arrest. At one time it would have required columns to do justice to the subject, but now it can be dispatched in a few lines, the identification of crimináis having been reduced to a science by Clerk Richard Silsbee, of the Detroit detective bureau. When that city makes an arrest their first effort is to secure the criminal record of the prisoner, and to do this much valuable time ie consumed and a }arge amount of money is annually expended. In many cases the prisoner has been known to set the pólice at defiance, refusing to give them the slightest inkling as to his identity, and declining to answer any questions touching on his previous movements. The pólice authorities would then send the man's description broadcast through the country in the hope that he would be wanted at some place or another. Failing to hear from the authorities of other cities, the prisoner would be given his liberty, and the pólice might later hear that he was ■wanted for a senous crime and tnat a large reward was offered for his apprehension. Such an incident is now al most impossible in Detriot especially, owing to the record system recently completed by Clerk Silsbee, and which has proven of great assistance to the detectives as well as a money saver to the pólice department. So complete in its detail is the system that it matters not how long after registration, the criminal, i f again arrested, can be identified within flve minutes after he is brought into the central station. He secured all the criminal papers accessible and from these cut out the photographs of uoted crooks, together with a list of the men's various crimes. All newspaper clippings hearing on the case were secured and these were pasted on the back of cards arranged for the purpose and filed away for future reference. A large quantity of these clippings accumulated, and as he had no suitable place for them Mr. Silsbee made a demand on the department for a large cabinet and a mimber of books, but as yet the pólice . officials took no interest in his work and the demand was not granted. Some three or four years ago a negro, Frank Lawson, shot a pólice ficer in New York, and after being senteneed to prison for ten years managed to escape. On Atwater street, near the Brush street depot, in that city, was formerly a resort known as the Chicago house. One day the local pólice raided the place and brought in a numbor of suspects, who were taken into the detective office and questioned, among them being a colored man. After looking at the man for some minutes Mr. Silsbee remembered the New York case and in looking up his records found a photograph of the man and a hietory of his crime. This was given to Capt. Baker, who closely questioned Lawson, but the latter denied being the man wanted by the New York pólice. The photograph was then shown him and at this point the man weakened, confessed his crime and was held until officers carne here and took him back to New York. This incident led the pólice authorities to think thero was something in Silsbee's plans and he was at once given a requisition for the articles he needed to complete his system. Arnong the articles asked for and received from the department by Mr. Silabee was a folder, which plays an important part in conneotion with the system. On the outside of the folder is printed a brief synopsis of the case, giving the name, alias, date of arrest, and crime imputed to the prisoner; also the Bertillon and index numbers. Within the folder is placed the Bertillon blank, with the prisoner's measurements, the date of his arrest, the offense, and the disposition of the case; then a brief history of the case, together with a photograph and all newspaper clipp"ings bearing on it. The records in the superintendente office are also placed in the folder, which is then indexed and filed away in a cabiEet. That the local record system has a wide reputation is demonstrated by the constant requests from outside cities eslsing for the records of certain crimináis Should a man be arrested at cago and not be known to the polic-e officials of that city, his measurements are taken and sent on to this city with a requost for the man's record, his name being given as Smith. Mr. Silsbee refers to his book of measurements and finds the prisoner recorded as Robinson. Although the names are different, Mr. Silsbee knows there is no mistake in the identity of the prisoner as no two persons have the same measurements, scars and marks. In return he asks for and receives from the Chicago authorities the record held by them, and this is added to the local