THE THIRD DEGREE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 354, 4 April 1910, Page 4

THE THIRD DEGREE.

Among the many tales, of horror that have lately been sent by cable from oversea, none is so full of the weird suggestiveness of abandoned wickedness as the story of the New York murders. It is unnecessary to expand the explanation of the alleged crimes of Wolter, except to say that many young girls are supposed to have been murdered and that Wolter is accused of the crimes. It is, however, interesting to note that the New York police have in their examination of this youth used "the third degree." This method was first employed by the most eminent of

Freaoh detectives, whis are credited with being the most competent of all police eflfcers in successfully solving the mysteries of crime. Great criminals, as a general thing, -we able to present an innocent front under the most trying of examinations, simply because they arc proud of their crimes ami have none of the "sgucamishncss" of the ordinary sane individual. A great criminal is always a great actor. The police, in using "the third degree," therefore use the Criminal's own method acting. There is a record stating that a French murderer named Fourchet retained his presence of mind and the appearance of innocence for six weeks, under a daily cross-examination by the most eminent officers. He was perfectly calm until the "third degree" examination was made. Fourchet -was taken to the scene of his crime. The police had worked out in their own minds the exact circumstances of the murder. They acted it, even to ''dressing" the characters, but in their imitation of the actual deed purposely altered the method. Fourchet immediately ■protested that they were wrong in the detail, and, subsequently confessing, was guillotined. Tn the Wolter case the method seems to be to i continually confront Wolter with implements and articles the police sup- | pose him to have used if he committed the crimes. It is only under the most j extreme circumstances, and when the police are quite satisfied in their own minds that the author of a great crime is being dealt with, that they use "the third degree." The police may sometimes err, as they have done before, for, according to a record made by a retired Parisian detective, cases have been known where men have lost their reason .under the examination. In one such case the accused was found afterwards to be innocent, and the horror of the repeated enactment of a dreadful deed drove him to a mental hospital. The ifact that "born" criminals are uncannily clever both in the commission of crime and in protestations of their innocence makes it possible for them to go for years free from the law. Tt therefore seems necessary, where the community has to be protected from monsters, that the horror known as "the third degree" should be a police weapon.