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Murder Made Easy.

[Sydney Paper. | —(Continued.) If the lunatic theory thus peters out, then the “Sian from Texas " the " Man from Sydney ” the “ Man from Russia " theories peter with it, all those being merely imported madmen instead of the local or somemade idiot. The other police theories are beneath serious argument. The idea that the murders were committed by an anatomist for anatomical purposes is disproved by the fact that no real anatomical skill hat been exhibited by the murderer, or none greater than that possessed by a butcher, and the supposition oould only have emanated from a policeman’s weary little brain, sick with too many attempt* at unwonted thinking. Having exhausted theory and deduction, w« turn to fact and induction. What it known about these murders? Not much, certainly, but still something. It Is known that they are murders. It is known that the murderer has continually before, at, and after the commission of the deads, eluded the detectives, the uninformed, and the amateur police on watch. It is known— a most pregnant fact, as showing acquaintance with what happens inside police-stations—-that a few minutes after an unfortunate was kicked out of a police-station she was killed in the usual manner. It ia known that the murderer has a phenomenal knowledge of the Whitechapel district and of the police movements therein. To reason from what is known to what is not known, the first thing that must strike the enquirer is the superhuman skill displayed by tie murderer in passing and re-passing the patrols; To credit any person with “ super, human " skill is. however, to seek a needless y complex explanation for a fact while simple explanations are available. Ths assassin merely passed unsuspected. But he oould only pass because his presence excited no suspicion. On the other hand, every stranger would excite 'suspicion. We therefore at* sume that he is not a stranger to the polio*. But even a] well-known civilian would be . stopped and questioned at such a moment, We consequently conclude that he is not a civilian, To discover, under the oiroum*. stances, a possible murderer, we must search for someone whose right to be anywhere at any time in the Whitechapel district Is be* yond question ; someone who is above or beyond * police interference and espionage I someone who, in wide limits, may do anything, wear any disguise, even, say, the blood stained blouse ’of a Whlteehapel slaughterman ; who might carry arms, who might refuse to be stopped or" questioned by

the police, and might enter his own abode day or night unsuspected. To such a one the perpetrations of the crimes would he preposterously sosy, to anyone else prepqs. terously difficult. Who, then, fulfils the foregoing conditions ? We answer, a man of one class and no other in England, or the world—a detective wUeeman I ■ The murderer's knowledge of the district, his intimate acquaintance with the police arrangements, his evident familiarity with his victims, who would just now fear any stranger, his power of passing the patrols, his disguises, the apparent eass with which he gets rid of his blood-stained clothing, hit power of leaving or returning to his abode at suspicious hours without arousing sue. ploion, are all, In a detective, tho moat ordinary and natural matters possible ; in any other person they are astounding, extraordinary and unnatural, and wo reiterate wo have no logioal right to painfully search out complex and occult explanations when perfectly simple ones are to hand. Those who, by aid of trashy novels and the saponaceous gush of newspaper reporters, have learned to regard the detective as part Aristides and part Solomon will scout our conclusion. Lot them. Wo appeal from the<e innocents to men of the world—to mon acquainted with tho under tow of life in large cities—and ask, do they consider detective police tho white, wise lambs tho Interested and foolish suppose them to be! The supposition is too ridiculous. Those who argue that were the police to commit serious crimes, they would speedily be detected and exposed, make the assertion of blatant ignorance and folly. Who is to expose them ! Who that ever tried, really succeeded, and who that once assayed, would dare repeat the attempt! Who ia bravo enough and pure enough in life and character, to tempt police retaliation and espionage, and the hostility of tho authorities, the natural protectors of the police! Who is rich and at the same time public-spirited enough, to spend the time and money to procure evidence and institute prosecution, and who cunning enough to rebut police ruses, small subtleties, and, above all, tha« solid rook, police testimony—practical testimony, professional testimony—which will ba arraigned against him ’ Bah! Don Quixote de la Manoha is dead ; we of the nineteenth century tilt not at windmills. Motive ! This to the lawyer is indispensable. Not so to the psychologist who recognises that science knows nothing of the hidden springs that move the mind. Criminal motives always scenj absurdly inadequate and will remain so until we can see with tha same oblique mental vision as the criminal him-elf. In searching for motive ws mutt be satisfied with the most reasonable—for here we leave the region of fact for that of supposition. If, however, there be difficulty in fitting a detective with motive, there is ten times the difficulty with a civilian. Ninety-nine per cent of “sane" murder* are prompted by greed pr revenge. Th* status of the victims precludes the plunder theory. It is unreasonable to suppose any but a madman had any cause, real or imaginary, for revenge agrinst nine “ unfortunates." But revenge is not always direct in its operations. C mstance Kent murdered her brother to be revenged on someone else ; servants have murdered children to »pfw employers ; soldiers their officers, who never harmed them, to be avpnged on Governments, The person next to the victims most in;used by these murders is Sir Charles Warren; lat 4 Chief of Police, who, covered with obloquy, has had to resign. With hie reel r)nation the murden have ceaeed I If anyone desired his retirement and humiliation they oould not have chosen a speedier way of inducing them than these murders. No civilian, illused by the police, would flay* a grudge against Str Charles Warren, but against the iuieridt police who had illuted him. The Inferior police have not suffered by th* murders. But had a civilian, capable of murder, a deadly hatred to Sir Charles iu his offiolgt capacity, surely he oould have murdered the Commissioner and there an end! If hi* grudge was of a personal and private nature, why attempt to injure Sir Charles in hi* official capacity, and what dvlllafl knew enough of the domestic economy of the police to foresee these murders would be the cause

of Warren’s degradation ? The e*me arguments apply to a detective. Those acquainted with the bitter jealousies and intrigues, ths professional pride and strivings after precedence and promotion not uncommon in some regiments and rale in police forces, will clearly understand that an unscrupulous, ambitious, and cunning detective who had been degraded, or whose 'f merits " had been neglected by his Chief, might, after long brooding over hl« disgrace, take what have proved to be the surest possible methods te relegate a hostile superior, covered with humiliations, to the background. This, at any rate, is what hat happened, and none bnt a policeman oould have foreseen that it would happen. The motives may not be deemed adequate. Perhaps they are not. But' revenge, disappointed ambition, and wounded pride are the most terrible levers the world yel knows. This 1s an attempt to show that a detective is the Whitechapel murderer. It is more; were it not it would not have been written, for it is not of vital importance to Australasian* whether a police or civil fiend bu'ohired those poor wretches whose rest with th* worm* ha* a peace and decorum denied to such women in life by a cruel “ civilisation ” and an tecursed social system. The true purpose of this essay is to call attention to the monstrous power placed in the hands of men, none of whom are fitted by education, and few by character, to wield it. From governors, judges, magistrates, legislators even, society demands, if it does not always obtain, special training, attainment, and character, and these are eternally under supervision and their public acts are open to public in* spection. In our police, over whom w* have no check and who burrow like mole* In th* dark, we ask only so many pounds avoirdupois of bone and muscle, and neither hraifi*, education, nor character .in the|tru*

* Yet what powers over life and reputation have governors and judges compared with detectives ? Absolutely none. The judge passes a sentence which a governor may confirm or remit, but only after the police have presented their case. The detective may be honest and ignorant, or ignorant and a scoundrel, but whether true man or Satan’s spawn it is he in most cases who really prepares the evidence that imprisons the accused or dangles him broken necked over the gulf of eternity. Of all men in the world the detective’s character, principles, and training should be highest. Practically above the law, free to come and go, to be disguised, armed, and to fraternise with criminals, the magic " On Duty ’’ is his all sufficient stioboleth. Behind him, a solid phalanx, are comrades versed in the art of giving evidence, prepared— conscientiously|often, but stupidly—to swear to what he says. Behind these again, solid and stolid as a wall—often as wooden —range higer police officials, magistrates, judges, frequently juries, who seem to have blinder faith in a policeman than in the prophets and the apostles and all the hosts of heaven. What might an unscrulous detective not do, if so disposed, to any innocent citizen ? “ Murder Made Easy,” indeed ! Why, to the evilly disposed policeman it is murder made pleasant and inviting, and he could “ legally ” kill any man or woman and the law would eulogise end reward him. Dees any reflective man suppose the police, with their dreadful opportunities, have never " legally ” put away enemies of dangerous friends ? There are, we know, hundreds of instances of the wrong man having suffered through the fatuous theories and stupidity of police, but Omniscience alone knows how many innocent men have been murdered by process of law, or are at this present moment dying of prison dry rot because they have offended the police P Said Clive, accused of robbing and murdering Hindoos, and thinking, may be regretfully, of chances to loot and kill let >Hp ; *• My God, at this moment I stand at my own moderation I" When think of the rascalities that might be perpetrated by the police, we are not surprised at what they do, but stand gratefully amazed at the abominations they have left undone.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GSCCG18890406.2.10

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 283, 6 April 1889, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,810

Murder Made Easy. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 283, 6 April 1889, Page 2

Murder Made Easy. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 283, 6 April 1889, Page 2

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