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Just a few days after the Kelly murder, on 13 Nov, 1888, the Boston Daily Globe send its representatives across the US to interview police chiefs in a number of cities about the Whitechapel murders, and what they would do to catch the killer.
I found this article interesting, as may others.
Chris S
Boston Daily Globe
13 November 1888
HOW TO FIND HIM
What Sir Charles Warren Should Have Done
To Catch the Maniac of Whitechapel.
Interview with Experts Here and Elsewhere.
In view of the mystery surrounding the long series of Whitechapel murders, the failure of the London police to solve the problem or throw the least ray of light upon it, and the consequent resignation of Sir Charles Warren from the office of chief of police in obedience to the popular demand, THE GLOBE instructed its representatives here and elsewhere to interview leading police officials upon the value of the methods already employed in London, and what better methods could have been resorted to in their stead. As a result it presents the opinions given below:
WHAT CHIEF WADE THINKS.
Cast Iron Methods Not to be Depended Upon in the Detection of Criminals.
Rufus R. Wade, the chief of the State police, was busy at work, but found time when interviewed by a Globe reporter this morning to give up some of his valuable time to talk about the mysteries of Whitechapel. He had no criticism to make on the efforts of the London police in their efforts to find out the man who had committed the crimes.
"No man," he said, "can sit in an office and lay out a plan for the detection of any criminal. Although, if we knew the full particulars and all the investigations that have been made, a plan could be made that would answer, yet conditions that arise at any moment would so alter the plans that they would be useless. The state force has some very able men on it, yet when a case occurs we have to be governed solely by the new conditions. No cast iron plans will do in police work. If the London police do not succeed in finding the murderer, it will not be because they have not had experience enough in such cases nor because they have not capable detectives. From all that I have read, I should say that they were doing all in their power to find the man, and it is no fault of theirs that they have not. The chief of police there has resigned probably because he could not stand the unfavorable criticism that has been directed against him. In cases like these you will always find that there are more people who will criticise than there are that will assist the police, and this class will be the ones who will give the least assistance to the police. In the present condition of affairs in London, the excitement must be very great, and every person in the city is virtually a detective, and any information that they may find will be promptly turned over to the police. Although men may not be giving their time to the discovery of the murderer, yet the suspicious action of any stranger would be reported at once. Therefore, we may say that the whole city is one great army of detectives. The crimes have been committed in a section of the city, and among a class where ordinary disturbances or noises would attract no attention. That makes detection doubly difficult. The man that perpetrates these fearful murders is evidently the worst kind of his class - a man insane on that subject and on no other. He appears probably to all his friends as rational on all subjects, and as no third person known of his ideas, even much less his deeds and as he leaves no clew, the case is doubly difficult. He will be discovered in time. If he keeps on he will make some slip that will undoubtedly lead to his identification. We have in this State a half dozen murders that have never been solved, yet it would be a great injustice to say that the police officials have not done everything in their power to discover the persons who committed the deeds. The Bell murder and the Mitchell woman are two cases. In the former case, the murderer was seen to walk up Tremont Street and disappear near the railroad, yet he has never been found. In the Mitchell mystery detectives worked on the case for months without securing evidence that would convict anybody.
"In the mysterious disappearance of Carrie Whitney, the pretty post office type writer, every effort was made to find her, and yet the mystery is as great today as it was the day after she disappeared. Yet in all these instances no one can say that every effort was not made to solve the mystery. The Carlton murder at Watertown has never been cleared up. The smartest detective has not yet formulated a rule that will work in any two cases, and for that reason I forbear to criticise the London police, for we know that they have good men, and then the conditions there are different from any city in the world."
When asked if the French method would have any advantage over the English, Chief Wade was in doubt. The French have a system of espionage over citizens and strangers that would not be tolerated in any English liberty loving country, and for that reason the two could hardly be compared, although he doubted if under the circumstances the French detective would do better work. The greatest publicity that can be given in a case like this helps to discover the murderer, and that plan should be followed always. It does no harm at any rate.
SUPERTINTENDENT SMALL
Has His Plan Down Fine, but Refuses, Sharply Though Modestly, To Give it Away.
Superintendent of the City Police Cyrus Small said that he had a theory of the cause of the Whitechapel murderer's action, and knew what he would do if a similar case happened in this city, but he did not wish to figure in the public prints, and again he thought the case too far from Boston to be of interest to the public; so he declared rather sharply that he would say nothing about it.
CHAIRMAN WHITING
Doesn't Know What Prompts the Fiend, and Wouldn't Tell if He Did.
Chairman Whiting of the Metropolitan Board of police commissioners said:
"If these crimes were committed in Boston, I should certainly say nothing to anybody about my plans and I shall not depart from my custom to say what the London police should do. What causes the fiend to commit all these crimes? I don't know."
And the rotund chairman rushed into his private office and closed the door.
COLONEL DIETSCH OF CINCINNATI
Confesses That the Whole Subject Puzzles Him Greatly.
Cincinnati, O., Nov. 13.
Colonel Phil Dietsch, chief of police of this city, is somewhat puzzled over the fact that the Whitechapel murderer has not been caught.
"It is inexplicable by me," said the chief this morning, "that the incarnate fiend has escaped detection so long. I have no theory to advance on the subject, although I have read carefully every phase of the various crimes committed in that community.
"That the murderer has not been caught undoubtedly reflects on the London officers, and it is no surprise to me that the popular indignation has forced Sir Charles to resign."
Chief Dietsch stated that at one time he was of the opinion that the numerous horrible Whitechapel murders were the work of some man insane from love or jealousy, and that he had taken this means of seeking his revenge, but he has given up this theory because of the slo0wness of the London police in hunting the murderer down.
INSPECTOR BYRNES RETICENT.
He Refuses to Give Murderers the Means of Escaping His Men.
New York, Nov. 13.
Chief Inspector Byrnes, who is acting superintendent in the absence of Mr. Murray, when called upon, said that he had heard of the resignation of Mr. Warren, and when asked how he would act if confronted by such horrible crimes reflected a moment and said:
"In my position as inspector of police and in charge of the detective force of this city I would say that, if we ever had in New York the misfortune of meeting such outrages, or any similar to those which were perpetrated at Whitechapel, I would consider it an act of great imprudence for me to advertise what schemes I should resort to or what action I should undertake with the detective force of this city for the purpose of apprehending and prosecuting the person who committed the offences. Such a course would be precisely what the offender would want. It is not my province or wish to criticise the action, or lack of action, in others who have already a similar position elsewhere, always presuming that they do the very best they can under the circumstances. It is easier always to condemn others than it is to succeed in their special line of work, and appreciating the difficulties that surround the London police in this dilemma, I have no desire or intention of sitting in judgment upon them."
CHIEF MURPHY OF JERSEY CITY
Would Concentrate His Attention Upon the Question of Motive.
New York, Nov. 13.
Chief of Police Benjamin Murphy of Jersey City was not at all averse to talking about the Whitechapel murders to a Globe man, who visited him.
"I have made a close study of the subject of police administration," he said, "and I must confess I don't see how it is that the police authorities in London have failed, after so many daring exploits by this murderer, to discover who he is, or at least to obtain some clew to his identity.
"In my mind there can be no doubt that all those butcheries were committed by one and the same person. From the similarity of the circumstances in each case I should judge that the person was a maniac, but he is evidently a very cunning one, for he knows how to hide himself afterwards.
"In discovering who it is, the probable motive for the crimes should be regarded, and as far as I can judge the London police have paid very little attention to this important consideration. I have held a theory all along that the murderer had become insane, as a result of association with the degraded class of society from which he invariably selects his victims.
"It would seem that his crimes were all perpetrated in the most diabolical spirit of revenge, and the motive must be found in some deep injury which was received from such people as a class. I should think some clew might be found by searching among the medical profession of the great city.
"Besides the step I have suggested, however, there are other effective means which might be taken to prevent a repetition of the crimes, if not to discover the criminal, which I have not heard that the London police have taken, and I have read all the accounts of these murders very carefully. The principal one is to have the district more carefully patrolled.
"I do not mean that the force of uniformed officers should be increased, but that policemen in garb that would completely disguise them should be on duty in that particular locality day and night. Let the force be doubled or quadrupled if necessary, and the murderer would surely be captured, or he would be driven away."
SUPERINTENDENT CAMPBELL
Would Flood the Whole Territory with Officers.
New York, Nov. 13.
Superintendent Patrick Campbell of the Brooklyn police has grown gray in the service, and in his time has unravelled many tangled mysteries.
"If murders had been committed here in Brooklyn similar to those that have happened in the Whitechapel district in London, what course would you pursue in order to catch the murderer?"
A Globe man put this question to the superintendent.
"The question you ask me," responded the officer, "is a hard one to answer. I don't wish to reflect on the method followed by the English police, and I don't wish to appear in the least egotistical, but I will say that I don't think that, if such a crime was committed here, it would go unpunished.
"My first precaution would be to cover the ground with officers in all shapes and forms. The first thing I would do after the crime was reported would be to search everywhere for a clew. My men on the ground would be dressed in all costumes, and they would circulate among the people at all times and watch. It is impossible to say now exactly what I would do if such a case arose. Sometimes our movements depend on what appears on the face as one of the most insignificant clews, and a man can never tell what he would do until the occasion arrives for him to act.
"A man on this side if the water can have no conception of the disadvantages - the density and the character of the population and the fact that no one has seen the murderer - under which the English authorities are working, and therefore it would be unfair for any one here in this country to criticise our English brethren, or compare what they would do here to what is being done there."
CHIEF O'MEARA
Ready to resort to Heroic Measures to Catch the Villain.
Pittsburg, Pa., Nov. 13.
It is the opinion of Chief of Detectives Roger O'Meara that the Whitechapel murderer is a religious fanatic who believes it is his mission to murder abandoned women and mutilate their bodies. But good police work would soon catch him. He cannot commit these crimes without having blood on his clothes. He must be as bloody as a butcher. The crimes were all committed within a space of a couple of squares. The fact that the bodies are yet warm when discovered leads O'Meara to believe that London's big police force could have formed a network around the district and prevented the escape of a single person.
"Every house ought to have been searched and every person examined in view of such crimes. No person would object to such proceedings. They are certainly wonderful crimes, and they place the London police in a very bad light. A policeman ought to know every person living on his beat and ought to know when a stranger comes on it."
PHILADELPHIA OFFICIALS
Not Inclined to Criticise Methods in Vogue 3000 Miles Away.
Philadelphia, Nov. 13.
Chief of Detectives Wood of this city declines to criticise the police of London in connection with the Whitechapel murders.
"London is over 3000 miles away," said Chief Wood this morning, "and without being on the spot, I would not assume to pass an opinion in regard to the efficiency or lack of efficiency of the police. Of course I have an opinion or theory as to the characteristics of the perpetrator of this series of horrible deeds. I think he is a crank who has been injured physically by a fallen woman, and that this physical ailment has resulted in the impairment of his intellect. A monomaniac taking the form of relentless vengeance against this class is an easy transition in a man of this kind, and I have no doubt that the murderer, whetted by his frequent crimes, has become more and more imbued with this idea as he has slain each if his victims."
Chief of Police Lamon is equally disinclined to criticise.
"It is true," said he, "that the London police are supposed to be more efficient than those on this side of the water, and they are said to possess greater facilities for detective work, but I do not know what they have done. If it were here that the murders had occurred, we would use every man on the force and watch every doorway in the city but what we would arrest the murderer and prevent repetition of the crimes. Such a series of butcheries could not place in this city - of that I am sure - without the murderer being caught. I think he is some crazy man who has been wronged, either by disease or robbery, by the class of females among whom he operates with such fearful results."
BUFFALO ON LONDON.
Assistant Superintendent Cusick Characterizes Scotland Yard Methods as Nonsensical.
Buffalo, N.Y., Nov. 13.
Assistant Police Superintendent Cusick said, this morning, to a Globe correspondent:
"It is hard for us to understand how the police there have failed to get any clews. Their force is apparently more or less disorganized, and that may account for it. It would do little good to send American detectives there, for obstacles would be thrown in their way.
"The Whitechapel fiend may be a lunatic, but he is very shrewd. He may be a religious maniac, who thinks he has a mission to exterminate abandoned women. The fiend stays in London all the time. He has got no pals, or he would have been betrayed before this."
Mr. Cusick thought the methods of the London officers all wrong, and the bloodhound business all nonsense.
CHICAGO CONFIDENCE.
The Police Superintendent of That City Would Emigrate if His Name was Warren.
Chicago, Nov. 13.
"It is utterly incomprehensible to me," said Superintendent of Police Hubbard, "that these Whitechapel murders are permitted to go on and not a trace is found of the murderer. With the immense police force of London and the large number and experience of the detectives, spies and secret agents, it is certainly very strange. I see that Sir Charles Warren has resigned. I should think he would resign. If such a series of crimes had happened in a city where I was chief of police I would not only resign, but get out of the country.
"I don't want to boast about Chicago's police force, but I am sure that, if such things had happened here, we would have caught the murderer long ago. I think he would have been in any American city where there is a well organized detective bureau. Of course he is a homicidal maniac, and very cunning, as such creatures always are. But in view of the fact that it has long been certain that he would seek other victims, it is beyond my comprehension why a trap has not been laid for him that would catch him. They must have some pretty antique methods in London police work."
ONE OF A CLASS.
The St Louis Rule is to Lay All Crimes to the Anarchists, But Hunt for a "Wronged Man."
St Louis, Nov. 13.
The Globe correspondent asked Chief Huebler of the St Louis police force for his opinion on London police work in the Whitechapel crimes. The crimes he believed to be the work of a maniac, committed for revenge. The criminal is probably a member of that class of which every large community has many specimens, known as a "wronged man." In this case the man, judging from his class of victims, has been wronged by being terribly injured in health. In every large city there are many of this class of wronged persons constantly under police surveillance. As to the London police and their apparent inability to cope with the criminal, the worst feature I see is their slow systematic process of red tape. Quick action, with as little routine as possible, is what is needed. I don't believe such criminals could long go undetected in any American city. We would plunge right into the matter, making every officer on the force assist in capturing the human monster. Every wronged man or woman in every section of the city would be shadowed. This, in my judgment, is what should be done in London.
I have no comment to make on the capacity of Sir Charles Warren, just resigned from the head of the London metropolitan police. Speaking on the theory of wronged men, I will cite a St Louis case. A little over a year ago we had a series of incendiary fires. Twenty six occurred inside 24 hours. We laid it to anarchists on the surface, but felt the incendiary to be a wronged man. The policy I have mentioned was adopted, and one of the best citizens of St Louis was arrested and proved to have set fire to every one of the buildings. He is now in the State insane asylum. Every section of London, not only the Whitechapel district, but districts far remote from there, should be shadowed by every police officer and detective auxiliaries for known "wronged men or women." The criminal may be, and probably is, of the educated and cultured class, and may live in the most aristocratic part of London, but operates in the slums, seeking revenge on the class of women of whom he is a real or imaginary victim.
I found this article interesting, as may others.
Chris S
Boston Daily Globe
13 November 1888
HOW TO FIND HIM
What Sir Charles Warren Should Have Done
To Catch the Maniac of Whitechapel.
Interview with Experts Here and Elsewhere.
In view of the mystery surrounding the long series of Whitechapel murders, the failure of the London police to solve the problem or throw the least ray of light upon it, and the consequent resignation of Sir Charles Warren from the office of chief of police in obedience to the popular demand, THE GLOBE instructed its representatives here and elsewhere to interview leading police officials upon the value of the methods already employed in London, and what better methods could have been resorted to in their stead. As a result it presents the opinions given below:
WHAT CHIEF WADE THINKS.
Cast Iron Methods Not to be Depended Upon in the Detection of Criminals.
Rufus R. Wade, the chief of the State police, was busy at work, but found time when interviewed by a Globe reporter this morning to give up some of his valuable time to talk about the mysteries of Whitechapel. He had no criticism to make on the efforts of the London police in their efforts to find out the man who had committed the crimes.
"No man," he said, "can sit in an office and lay out a plan for the detection of any criminal. Although, if we knew the full particulars and all the investigations that have been made, a plan could be made that would answer, yet conditions that arise at any moment would so alter the plans that they would be useless. The state force has some very able men on it, yet when a case occurs we have to be governed solely by the new conditions. No cast iron plans will do in police work. If the London police do not succeed in finding the murderer, it will not be because they have not had experience enough in such cases nor because they have not capable detectives. From all that I have read, I should say that they were doing all in their power to find the man, and it is no fault of theirs that they have not. The chief of police there has resigned probably because he could not stand the unfavorable criticism that has been directed against him. In cases like these you will always find that there are more people who will criticise than there are that will assist the police, and this class will be the ones who will give the least assistance to the police. In the present condition of affairs in London, the excitement must be very great, and every person in the city is virtually a detective, and any information that they may find will be promptly turned over to the police. Although men may not be giving their time to the discovery of the murderer, yet the suspicious action of any stranger would be reported at once. Therefore, we may say that the whole city is one great army of detectives. The crimes have been committed in a section of the city, and among a class where ordinary disturbances or noises would attract no attention. That makes detection doubly difficult. The man that perpetrates these fearful murders is evidently the worst kind of his class - a man insane on that subject and on no other. He appears probably to all his friends as rational on all subjects, and as no third person known of his ideas, even much less his deeds and as he leaves no clew, the case is doubly difficult. He will be discovered in time. If he keeps on he will make some slip that will undoubtedly lead to his identification. We have in this State a half dozen murders that have never been solved, yet it would be a great injustice to say that the police officials have not done everything in their power to discover the persons who committed the deeds. The Bell murder and the Mitchell woman are two cases. In the former case, the murderer was seen to walk up Tremont Street and disappear near the railroad, yet he has never been found. In the Mitchell mystery detectives worked on the case for months without securing evidence that would convict anybody.
"In the mysterious disappearance of Carrie Whitney, the pretty post office type writer, every effort was made to find her, and yet the mystery is as great today as it was the day after she disappeared. Yet in all these instances no one can say that every effort was not made to solve the mystery. The Carlton murder at Watertown has never been cleared up. The smartest detective has not yet formulated a rule that will work in any two cases, and for that reason I forbear to criticise the London police, for we know that they have good men, and then the conditions there are different from any city in the world."
When asked if the French method would have any advantage over the English, Chief Wade was in doubt. The French have a system of espionage over citizens and strangers that would not be tolerated in any English liberty loving country, and for that reason the two could hardly be compared, although he doubted if under the circumstances the French detective would do better work. The greatest publicity that can be given in a case like this helps to discover the murderer, and that plan should be followed always. It does no harm at any rate.
SUPERTINTENDENT SMALL
Has His Plan Down Fine, but Refuses, Sharply Though Modestly, To Give it Away.
Superintendent of the City Police Cyrus Small said that he had a theory of the cause of the Whitechapel murderer's action, and knew what he would do if a similar case happened in this city, but he did not wish to figure in the public prints, and again he thought the case too far from Boston to be of interest to the public; so he declared rather sharply that he would say nothing about it.
CHAIRMAN WHITING
Doesn't Know What Prompts the Fiend, and Wouldn't Tell if He Did.
Chairman Whiting of the Metropolitan Board of police commissioners said:
"If these crimes were committed in Boston, I should certainly say nothing to anybody about my plans and I shall not depart from my custom to say what the London police should do. What causes the fiend to commit all these crimes? I don't know."
And the rotund chairman rushed into his private office and closed the door.
COLONEL DIETSCH OF CINCINNATI
Confesses That the Whole Subject Puzzles Him Greatly.
Cincinnati, O., Nov. 13.
Colonel Phil Dietsch, chief of police of this city, is somewhat puzzled over the fact that the Whitechapel murderer has not been caught.
"It is inexplicable by me," said the chief this morning, "that the incarnate fiend has escaped detection so long. I have no theory to advance on the subject, although I have read carefully every phase of the various crimes committed in that community.
"That the murderer has not been caught undoubtedly reflects on the London officers, and it is no surprise to me that the popular indignation has forced Sir Charles to resign."
Chief Dietsch stated that at one time he was of the opinion that the numerous horrible Whitechapel murders were the work of some man insane from love or jealousy, and that he had taken this means of seeking his revenge, but he has given up this theory because of the slo0wness of the London police in hunting the murderer down.
INSPECTOR BYRNES RETICENT.
He Refuses to Give Murderers the Means of Escaping His Men.
New York, Nov. 13.
Chief Inspector Byrnes, who is acting superintendent in the absence of Mr. Murray, when called upon, said that he had heard of the resignation of Mr. Warren, and when asked how he would act if confronted by such horrible crimes reflected a moment and said:
"In my position as inspector of police and in charge of the detective force of this city I would say that, if we ever had in New York the misfortune of meeting such outrages, or any similar to those which were perpetrated at Whitechapel, I would consider it an act of great imprudence for me to advertise what schemes I should resort to or what action I should undertake with the detective force of this city for the purpose of apprehending and prosecuting the person who committed the offences. Such a course would be precisely what the offender would want. It is not my province or wish to criticise the action, or lack of action, in others who have already a similar position elsewhere, always presuming that they do the very best they can under the circumstances. It is easier always to condemn others than it is to succeed in their special line of work, and appreciating the difficulties that surround the London police in this dilemma, I have no desire or intention of sitting in judgment upon them."
CHIEF MURPHY OF JERSEY CITY
Would Concentrate His Attention Upon the Question of Motive.
New York, Nov. 13.
Chief of Police Benjamin Murphy of Jersey City was not at all averse to talking about the Whitechapel murders to a Globe man, who visited him.
"I have made a close study of the subject of police administration," he said, "and I must confess I don't see how it is that the police authorities in London have failed, after so many daring exploits by this murderer, to discover who he is, or at least to obtain some clew to his identity.
"In my mind there can be no doubt that all those butcheries were committed by one and the same person. From the similarity of the circumstances in each case I should judge that the person was a maniac, but he is evidently a very cunning one, for he knows how to hide himself afterwards.
"In discovering who it is, the probable motive for the crimes should be regarded, and as far as I can judge the London police have paid very little attention to this important consideration. I have held a theory all along that the murderer had become insane, as a result of association with the degraded class of society from which he invariably selects his victims.
"It would seem that his crimes were all perpetrated in the most diabolical spirit of revenge, and the motive must be found in some deep injury which was received from such people as a class. I should think some clew might be found by searching among the medical profession of the great city.
"Besides the step I have suggested, however, there are other effective means which might be taken to prevent a repetition of the crimes, if not to discover the criminal, which I have not heard that the London police have taken, and I have read all the accounts of these murders very carefully. The principal one is to have the district more carefully patrolled.
"I do not mean that the force of uniformed officers should be increased, but that policemen in garb that would completely disguise them should be on duty in that particular locality day and night. Let the force be doubled or quadrupled if necessary, and the murderer would surely be captured, or he would be driven away."
SUPERINTENDENT CAMPBELL
Would Flood the Whole Territory with Officers.
New York, Nov. 13.
Superintendent Patrick Campbell of the Brooklyn police has grown gray in the service, and in his time has unravelled many tangled mysteries.
"If murders had been committed here in Brooklyn similar to those that have happened in the Whitechapel district in London, what course would you pursue in order to catch the murderer?"
A Globe man put this question to the superintendent.
"The question you ask me," responded the officer, "is a hard one to answer. I don't wish to reflect on the method followed by the English police, and I don't wish to appear in the least egotistical, but I will say that I don't think that, if such a crime was committed here, it would go unpunished.
"My first precaution would be to cover the ground with officers in all shapes and forms. The first thing I would do after the crime was reported would be to search everywhere for a clew. My men on the ground would be dressed in all costumes, and they would circulate among the people at all times and watch. It is impossible to say now exactly what I would do if such a case arose. Sometimes our movements depend on what appears on the face as one of the most insignificant clews, and a man can never tell what he would do until the occasion arrives for him to act.
"A man on this side if the water can have no conception of the disadvantages - the density and the character of the population and the fact that no one has seen the murderer - under which the English authorities are working, and therefore it would be unfair for any one here in this country to criticise our English brethren, or compare what they would do here to what is being done there."
CHIEF O'MEARA
Ready to resort to Heroic Measures to Catch the Villain.
Pittsburg, Pa., Nov. 13.
It is the opinion of Chief of Detectives Roger O'Meara that the Whitechapel murderer is a religious fanatic who believes it is his mission to murder abandoned women and mutilate their bodies. But good police work would soon catch him. He cannot commit these crimes without having blood on his clothes. He must be as bloody as a butcher. The crimes were all committed within a space of a couple of squares. The fact that the bodies are yet warm when discovered leads O'Meara to believe that London's big police force could have formed a network around the district and prevented the escape of a single person.
"Every house ought to have been searched and every person examined in view of such crimes. No person would object to such proceedings. They are certainly wonderful crimes, and they place the London police in a very bad light. A policeman ought to know every person living on his beat and ought to know when a stranger comes on it."
PHILADELPHIA OFFICIALS
Not Inclined to Criticise Methods in Vogue 3000 Miles Away.
Philadelphia, Nov. 13.
Chief of Detectives Wood of this city declines to criticise the police of London in connection with the Whitechapel murders.
"London is over 3000 miles away," said Chief Wood this morning, "and without being on the spot, I would not assume to pass an opinion in regard to the efficiency or lack of efficiency of the police. Of course I have an opinion or theory as to the characteristics of the perpetrator of this series of horrible deeds. I think he is a crank who has been injured physically by a fallen woman, and that this physical ailment has resulted in the impairment of his intellect. A monomaniac taking the form of relentless vengeance against this class is an easy transition in a man of this kind, and I have no doubt that the murderer, whetted by his frequent crimes, has become more and more imbued with this idea as he has slain each if his victims."
Chief of Police Lamon is equally disinclined to criticise.
"It is true," said he, "that the London police are supposed to be more efficient than those on this side of the water, and they are said to possess greater facilities for detective work, but I do not know what they have done. If it were here that the murders had occurred, we would use every man on the force and watch every doorway in the city but what we would arrest the murderer and prevent repetition of the crimes. Such a series of butcheries could not place in this city - of that I am sure - without the murderer being caught. I think he is some crazy man who has been wronged, either by disease or robbery, by the class of females among whom he operates with such fearful results."
BUFFALO ON LONDON.
Assistant Superintendent Cusick Characterizes Scotland Yard Methods as Nonsensical.
Buffalo, N.Y., Nov. 13.
Assistant Police Superintendent Cusick said, this morning, to a Globe correspondent:
"It is hard for us to understand how the police there have failed to get any clews. Their force is apparently more or less disorganized, and that may account for it. It would do little good to send American detectives there, for obstacles would be thrown in their way.
"The Whitechapel fiend may be a lunatic, but he is very shrewd. He may be a religious maniac, who thinks he has a mission to exterminate abandoned women. The fiend stays in London all the time. He has got no pals, or he would have been betrayed before this."
Mr. Cusick thought the methods of the London officers all wrong, and the bloodhound business all nonsense.
CHICAGO CONFIDENCE.
The Police Superintendent of That City Would Emigrate if His Name was Warren.
Chicago, Nov. 13.
"It is utterly incomprehensible to me," said Superintendent of Police Hubbard, "that these Whitechapel murders are permitted to go on and not a trace is found of the murderer. With the immense police force of London and the large number and experience of the detectives, spies and secret agents, it is certainly very strange. I see that Sir Charles Warren has resigned. I should think he would resign. If such a series of crimes had happened in a city where I was chief of police I would not only resign, but get out of the country.
"I don't want to boast about Chicago's police force, but I am sure that, if such things had happened here, we would have caught the murderer long ago. I think he would have been in any American city where there is a well organized detective bureau. Of course he is a homicidal maniac, and very cunning, as such creatures always are. But in view of the fact that it has long been certain that he would seek other victims, it is beyond my comprehension why a trap has not been laid for him that would catch him. They must have some pretty antique methods in London police work."
ONE OF A CLASS.
The St Louis Rule is to Lay All Crimes to the Anarchists, But Hunt for a "Wronged Man."
St Louis, Nov. 13.
The Globe correspondent asked Chief Huebler of the St Louis police force for his opinion on London police work in the Whitechapel crimes. The crimes he believed to be the work of a maniac, committed for revenge. The criminal is probably a member of that class of which every large community has many specimens, known as a "wronged man." In this case the man, judging from his class of victims, has been wronged by being terribly injured in health. In every large city there are many of this class of wronged persons constantly under police surveillance. As to the London police and their apparent inability to cope with the criminal, the worst feature I see is their slow systematic process of red tape. Quick action, with as little routine as possible, is what is needed. I don't believe such criminals could long go undetected in any American city. We would plunge right into the matter, making every officer on the force assist in capturing the human monster. Every wronged man or woman in every section of the city would be shadowed. This, in my judgment, is what should be done in London.
I have no comment to make on the capacity of Sir Charles Warren, just resigned from the head of the London metropolitan police. Speaking on the theory of wronged men, I will cite a St Louis case. A little over a year ago we had a series of incendiary fires. Twenty six occurred inside 24 hours. We laid it to anarchists on the surface, but felt the incendiary to be a wronged man. The policy I have mentioned was adopted, and one of the best citizens of St Louis was arrested and proved to have set fire to every one of the buildings. He is now in the State insane asylum. Every section of London, not only the Whitechapel district, but districts far remote from there, should be shadowed by every police officer and detective auxiliaries for known "wronged men or women." The criminal may be, and probably is, of the educated and cultured class, and may live in the most aristocratic part of London, but operates in the slums, seeking revenge on the class of women of whom he is a real or imaginary victim.
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