Thomas F. Byrnes

Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes (1842-1910) was born in Dublin, Ireland and emigrated to New York as a child. He was head of the New York City Detective Bureau from 1880 until 1895.

In 1862, Byrnes became a fireman, joining Hose Company No. 21. He remained as a fireman until December 10, 1863, when he was appointed a policeman. [ [http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/state/fire/31-40/ch32pt2.html History of the New York Fire Department, Ch. 32, Part II ] ]

Byrnes rose in the ranks, becoming a sergeant in 1869 and a captain in 1870. He gained renown through solving the Manhattan Savings Bank robbery of 1878. He became Detective Bureau chief in 1880. [ [http://www.nypress.com/14/35/news&columns/oldsmoke.cfm New York Press - WILLIAM BRYK ] ]

To Byrnes' credit, he turned the Police Department into a modern force. He imposed absolute secrecy on the Department. In 1882, he obtained legislative approval of changes in the Department which gave him immense power. In 1886, Byrnes instituted the "Mulberry Street Morning Parade" of arrested suspects before the assembled detectives in the hope they would recognize suspects and link them to more crimes. Also that year, his book "Professional Criminals of America" [Byrnes, Thomas. "1886. Professional Criminals of America". New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1969.] was published. He built up a book of photographs of criminals, which he called the "Rogues Gallery".

Byrnes was renowned as an investigator. Perhaps his methods of questioning suspects contributed to his success as an investigator, since his brutal questioning of suspected criminals popularized the term "the third degree", [http://www.barrypopik.com/article/200/third-degree] which was apparently coined by Byrnes. From the descriptions, the third degree as practiced by Byrnes was a combination of physical and psychological torture. [ [http://www.bartleby.com/207/13.html XIII. Roosevelt comes—Mulberry Street’s Golden Age. Riis, Jacob A. 1901. The Making of an American ] ]

There can be little doubt that Byrnes was corrupt, but whether he was more corrupt than his times is questionable. On a salary of $2,000 a year, he built a fortune of over $350,000, attributing this to sound investment advice from his Wall Street patrons.

In 1891, three years after publicly criticizing London police officials on the way they handled the Jack the Ripper investigations, Byrnes was faced with a similar crime in New York. Amid mammoth publicity, Byrnes accused an Algerian, Ameer Ben Ali (nicknamed Frenchy) of the crime. Although the evidence against him was, to say the least, doubtful, he was convicted but was pardoned eleven years later. [Vanderlinden, Wolf, “The New York Affair” "Ripper Notes" -- part one issue 16 (July 2003); part two #17 (January 2004) [http://rippernotes.com/carrie-brown-murder-part2.html] , part three #19 (July 2004 ISBN 0975912909)]

In 1895, he was compelled to resign by the new president of the New York City Police Commission, Theodore Roosevelt, as part of his drive to rid the force of corruption. [ [http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/faculty/nute/history.html Investigative Historical Timeline ] ]

In later life, Byrnes became an insurance investigator, opening a detective agency on Wall Street.

In fiction

Byrnes, Thomas was born in 1842 and died on May 7, 1910; he was born in Ireland and brought as an infant by his parents, James and Rose Byrnes, to New York. When the Civil War came on he had learned the trade of gas-fitter, who is someone that installs gas pipes, and was at work in New York City. He enlisted with Ellsworth's Zouaves in 1861 and served two years with that unit. In the same year he ended his service with the Ellsworth's Zouaves and became a fireman in Hose Company No.21. He remained a fireman until a year later, on December 10, 1863.

In 1863 he was taken on the New York police force, which was established in 1844, as patrolman, became a rounds man five years later, and eventually gained the rank of captain in 1870. He gained a widespread reputation in 1878 by running down the gang of Manhattan Savings Bank robbers. Two years later, as inspector in charge of the Detective Bureau, and reorganized that branch of the police service, established a Wall Street office, and practically ended the depredations of thieves in that part of the city. As Inspector Byrnes he quickly won national distinction. He increased the detective force from twenty-eight to forty men and soon caused it to be known as the most efficient body of its size and kind in the world. In four years it made 3,300 arrests. Byrnes brought about the conviction of many criminals,--in some cases when the evidence of guilt was far from complete. What became known as the application of "the third degree" in dealing with criminals has been associated to him. He acted on the theory that it is not remorse, but mental strain that leads the hardened criminal to confess his misdeeds.

The practice he adopted in procuring confessions involved far more than sheer brutality. Indeed in many cases no physical pain accompanied the process--not that Byrnes had any scruples against employing bodily torture, but he frequently thought other methods more effective. He was himself a man of powerful imagination. He would reconstruct in his own mind, the scene and incidents of a crime and so vividly reproduce them in conversation with the suspect that the average mentality could not withstand the shock. Jacob A. Riis, who as police reporter for the New York Sun knew Byrnes well, declared that he was "a great actor", and hence a great detective. All agreed that he was a man of unusual intellectual force. He was thought by his contemporaries to have the common failings imputed to the police of his day. Riis called him an unscrupulous "big policeman" and a veritable giant in his time. In 1891, three years after publicly criticizing London police officials on the way they handled the Jack the Ripper investigations, Byrnes was faced with a similar crime in New York. Amid mammoth publicity, Byrnes accused an Algerian, Ameer Ben Ali (nicknamed Frenchy) of the crime. Although the evidence against him was, to say the least, doubtful, he was convicted but was pardoned eleven years later. In 1892 he had been made superintendent and three years later became chief of police. In 1894 Byrnes testified before the Lexow Committee investigating the New York police that he had made $350,000 through Wall Street "tips" from Jay Gould and other important operators who were among his friends. No personal misdemeanor on his part was disclosed. Byrnes had stated repeatedly that he was not a member of any political organization. 1895, he was compelled to resign by the new president of the New York City Police Commission, Theodore Roosevelt, as part of his drive to rid the force of corruption. He later retired in the same month. In later life, Byrnes became the author of Professional Criminals of America (1886) and an insurance investigator, opening a detective agency on Wall Street. Byrnes was featured as a fictional character in Jack Finney's time travel novel, Time and Again, and has now and then been a character in other historical novels. In addition, he was a character in the juvenile detective series, Broadway Billy, as well as a number of other detective "dime novels".At his death he was survived by his wife Ophelia and five daughters.

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