INSTRUCTIONS FOR TAKING FINGER PRINTS.
Instruments required: A piece of tin, ordinary printer's ink, and a 10-cent rubber roller are all the tools necessary for getting the impression. It requires no special training to take finger impression, and any rural constable can, with ten minutes' practice, take a set of good finger prints in five minutes. After having a week's practice he could take them in three minutes.
Scotland Yard Method.
At Scotland Yard a metallic brace is in use for the purpose of forcing refractory prisoners to leave correct impressions upon the records. One application of this brace is persuasive enough to cause the culprit to hasten to comply with a request for his signature.
A small slab stone is covered with ink, which is distributed with a sprayer, and the prisoner is compelled to place his fingers in the ink and then firmly implant them upon paper.
On a regular prescribed form impressions are taken so that the flexure of the last joint shall be at a given point on the record.
The digits are taken singly and then an imprint is made of all of them simultaneously.
When the prisoner has finished imprinting the record he is called upon for his signature, and immediately underneath the name, as written by himself, an imprint is left of the right forefinger.
For the edification of American police, Mr. Ferrier demonstrates that upon a sheet of paper you may sprinkle some charcoal dust and press it upon the paper with your thumb and then blow the dust off and the imprint of the digit will remain.
Most Positive Identification.
But this thumb print possibility in commercial papers has its greatest future in the positive identification which either thumb or finger print carries with it. Criminologists all over the world have satisfied themselves of the absolute accuracy of the finger print identification. It would be hard to figure just how many Constantines were arrested or kept under surveillance following the horrible murder in Chicago, the suspicions aroused by personal resemblances to the criminal's photograph and especially by the prominent gold tooth of the man. But in a criminal's finger print the merest novice anywhere in the world may take an ink impression of the fingers of the suspected criminal, and if these prints should be in the bureau of identification at Scotland Yard, with its 100,000 records of individuals, the man would be identified positively within half an hour—identified not only by the experts of the bureau, but an ordinary citizen would be an authority in attesting the proof.
This is a suggestion of the absolute accuracy of identifications on commercial paper. At the present time traveling salesmen who spend much money and who wish to carry as little as possible of cash with them, have an organized system by which their bankable paper may be cashed at hotels and business houses over the country.
Applied to Immigrants.
Major R. W. McClaughry, warden of the federal prison at Leavenworth, sees in the finger print system a possibility which might be taken cognizance of by the government at Ellis Island. With the millions of immigrants who have come and who still are to come to these shores, the finger print requirement would simplify many of the tangles of many kinds which result from this inrush of foreign population.
Aside from the fact that many of this country's criminals are foreign born, it remains that civil identifications of such people are matters of great moment. Titles and estates have hung in the balance of incomplete identifications of persons who are claimants in the United States. Fifty years after a finger print is registered that same finger, or group of fingers, will prove the personality of the one registering. In case of accidents of many kinds one hand or the other is most likely to escape mutilation, and a post-mortem imprint of the fingers still is proof of identity.
The finger print system is being taken up more rapidly than was the Bertillon, largely owing to the fact that police departments, recognizing that a scientific system gives far greater results and can in no way be compared with the old method of describing criminals, by color, age, height, weight, eyes, hair, etc., are more willing than formerly to intelligently investigate and test new methods.
Under the Bertillon system it is contended that the bones of the human anatomy stop growing after the age of twenty-one years. In consequence measurements taken of juvenile offenders under that age are practically of little use, as they show too wide a variance with measurements taken in after years, and are not a certain source of identification.
The identification from imprint taken from the finger tips of both hands can be recorded as soon as the child is born, and no matter at what time of life a record is again taken of the subject, absolute identification can be had, as the papillary ridges of the palmer surface of the finger tips present the same formation until death, and even though some of the fingers become mutilated, amputated or lost, sufficient prints would remain on the other fingers to produce identification.
While it is claimed that the finger print system is sufficient unto itself for all identification, after working each system side by side for a number of years, I believe that both systems should be installed in all cities, penitentiaries, etc., especially as they both will be given an impartial and thorough test here, with the result that it will be the survival of both, or of the fittest.
Keep Bad Men Out of Service.
In these government departments it is expected that the finger print records will serve to keep undesirable people out of the service, as well as to afford a complete method of identifying every member, or past member, in years to come.
Both branches of the War Department, the army and navy, had first installed the Bertillon system, and within the last year the finger print system, thereby recognizing both, but apparently giving the finger print system the preference; owing to the many ways it can be applied in the service, and especially as to recording all enlisted men and to the identification of those who might be maimed or killed in battle, whose identity might be sought afterward, or to identify deserters; or if a soldier or sailor has lost his honorable discharge paper, he can go to any enlisting office, have his finger prints taken, his identity established, and new papers issued, thereby avoiding red tape or having about one dozen affidavits from different people to substantiate his claim.
Not only as a means of detecting and identifying criminals may the finger print be used, but its usefulness in various ways is easily demonstrated.
It is clearly within the range of possibility that the traveler a few years hence may be called upon to imprint an identifying finger mark upon his letter of credit or certified check.
As a means of preventing-fraud or securing the signatures of those who cannot write, the finger print system is invaluable, as the mark may be easily forged, but the finger's impress can be only made by the proper party and cannot be duplicated by others.
The thumb or finger tips will leave an imprint upon glass, polished metal or wood, owing to the moisture and natural oil oozing from the cuticle. It is a simple matter to procure such imprints when wanted, and they can be turned over to the authorities for identification of a suspect.
Secure Prints of All Criminals.
If peace officers throughout the country would secure finger prints of all criminals passing through their hands and forward them to a central bureau it would facilitate the apprehension and identification of malefactors.
As a preventive of repeating at elections, the finger print identification would serve an admirable purpose. When an elector registered he could leave an imprint of his fingers upon the registration book, and when he went to vote a glance at the registration list and comparison of the imprint made at the polls would readily establish his identity if the prints tallied.
The natives of India decline to recognize the validity of any document beneath the signature of which is not imprinted a reproduction of the whorls or loops of the thumb of the signer, alleging that a person might deny his own signature, but that the finger prints afford incontrovertible evidence, as no two people can make the same impression with their thumbs upon paper.
Upon opening an account with a bank in India the depositor leaves the impress of his right thumb upon the roll of depositors and none of his paper will be honored unless checks are thus imprinted.
In the same country pensioners are compelled to imprint their thumbs upon receipts for pension money, and thus obviate the likelihood of other persons drawing the stipend rightfully belonging to the veteran.
The best test of a system is its practical use and the results derived, and one of the most important matters is uniformity in all branches of work, classification, filing, size of cards, etc., so that, as the system becomes universal, it will be operated on identical lines in all countries. From my observation of the practical workings of the system, I believe that at New Scotland Yard, London, to be the best.
Finger Print System Furnishes Complete Identification.
In Paris a public house or saloon was broken into one morning, and it was found that the owner had been murdered and that apparently there was no clew to the murderer.
On arriving at the saloon they found a table on which drinks had been served, and on which were found a number of glasses. On close investigation finger prints were discovered on each. Finger prints were also found on a knife by the side of the body and on a decanter. On comparison it was found that the prints were made by the same person. On causing the arrest of the different people who had been seen to visit the saloon they were finger-printed and a comparison made, with the result that the murderer was arrested and a confession obtained within ten days, followed by conviction.
At New Scotland Yard, London, a little boy was brought in and two sets of his finger prints taken and filed away in separate steel deposit vaults. The boy was an orphan and an heir to a very large fortune in Africa. His finger prints were taken as a protection, so that if anything happened to him, or he disappeared, or he had to prove his identity to claim his estate, or provided he died and proof of the identity of the body was required, such proof could be shown with absolute certainty.
An interesting case nearer home is that of a recent arrest in Chicago of a man that the authorities were convinced was a professional criminal, and from his accent and other indications they believed him to be an English professional crook.
His Bertillon measurements and finger prints were taken at the Bureau of Identification by Captain M. P. Evans, superintendent of the bureau, and a copy of the photograph and finger prints given to Mr. William A. Pinkerton, of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
Mr. Pinkerton, who is a personal friend of Frank C. Froest, superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department of New Scotland Yard, London, mailed the finger prints to him without any other memorandum, data or the picture, simply making the test on the finger prints. He received a reply from Inspector Frank C. Froest, giving the name of the criminal, and a long record of some fourteen arrests and the picture, so as to authenticate the identification, and also a statement from Superintendent Froest that the identification was made inside of three minutes from a collection of over 70,000 records.
The identification was absolutely correct. The prisoner, on being shown the letter, admitted his guilt.
If a clerk handles papers or letters on his employer's desk, it is a very easy matter of detection. By means of a little syringe filled with a powder blown on the paper, the finger prints are reproduced with startling clearness.
Broken Glass Proves Guilt.
Some pieces of broken glass had been taken to Scotland Yard, four days previous to the Ward, Lock & Co. burglary. These fragments of glass had been picked up at the London City Mission, where a burglar had broken through a window and carried off a clock and other articles. No one could be connected with the crime after a most thorough detective hunt.
The one remaining source was a bit of glass on which finger prints had been noticed. These were photographed and compared with the finger prints of all the recent records. Surprisingly enough, they corresponded exactly with those of the young clerk who had been found stealing books from the publishers' warehouse. Instead of being a clerk, he was a very adept young burglar. On this new evidence the prisoner was sentenced to twelve months at hard labor.
About a month before this a similar case occurred in London. A man was arrested on Tower Hill carrying a pair of boots wrapped up in a brown paper. He said he had been employed to carry the parcel to Fenchurch Street Station. He was held on suspicion. Later in the day it was discovered that the boots had been stolen from a neighboring store, and that on the transom, which had been broken, there was a perfect imprint of a man's finger.
Inspector Collins, superintendent of the finger print department at New Scotland Yard, examined the print and found it corresponded to the mark of the suspected man's left forefinger made on the brown paper parcel in which the boots were wrapped. The evidence was conclusive, the man pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to nine months at hard labor.
About the same time another interesting case occurred in Staffordshire, England. There had been a wholesale burglary of a large jeweler's shop. The perpetrator had left distinct finger marks on a plate glass shelf in a window. These marks were photographed and sent to New Scotland Yard. They were identified as belonging to William Davis, a notorious burglar who had been confined at Wakefield prison in 1901.
The man was hunted up. He was found living near the place of the recent robbery under the name of John McNally. He at first denied the recent offense, but afterward made a full confession. But for these tell-tale finger marks, he might have continued to ply his trade unsuspected under his new name, in a district where the local police did not know him.
In one of the large banks where the finger print system was introduced, they make it a rule that when a depositor cannot read or write, he shall, in addition to making his mark in the old way on checks or documents, place the finger print of the thumb or index finger on them.
Important in Will Contests.
Finger prints are also used in the making of wills, so that while the signature of the testator may be contested, it is almost impossible to contest the signature of the fingers, for so long as the skin of the fingers of the dead person can be taken up, just so long can the finger print impression be obtained to verify the living imprint.
It is only a question of time before all large transportation companies, like express and railways, whose employes handle packages of money or other valuables, will be required to place their finger prints on file, so that when money or valuables are missing the cover of the package will indicate who handled or tampered with it.
How to Detect a Forger.
How to detect a forger as one of the cleverest of operating criminals has been solved by the "thumb print" method of identification now spreading through the rogues' galleries of the world.
It is quite as interesting as the suggestion that through the same thumb print method in commercial and banking houses the forger is likely to become a creature without occupation and chirographical or other means of support.
The system is not only a great aid in preventing the forgeries of commercial brigands, but the easiest of all means for a person in a strange city to identify himself as the lawful possessor of check, or note, or bank draft which he may wish to turn into cash at a banker's window.
Used in Ancient Times.
A thousand years ago the Chinese were using the thumb print signatures in commercial business. Its practical adaptation today is explained at a glance in the check reproduced here, as it was filled out by Mr. McClaughry himself. In this check the design is that the maker of the check, before leaving home for a distant city, shall draw the check for the needed sum and, in the presence of the cashier of his bank, place one thumb print in ink somewhere over the amount of the check as written in figures. Thereupon the cashier of the bank will accept the check as certified by his institution. With this paper in his possession the drawer of the check may go from his home in New York to San Francisco, stranger to every person in the city, but at the window of any bank in that city, presenting his certified check to a teller who has a reading glass at his hand, the stranger may satisfy the most careful of banks by a mere imprint of his thumb somewhere else upon the face of the check.
Had this simple thumb print been used in the Stensland bank, no handwriting expert would have been needed to establish the genuineness of any note under question.
With the ink thumb print of the cashier of a bank placed on a bank draft over his signature and over the written amount of the draft, chemical papers and the dangers of "raising" or counterfeiting the draft would be an impossibility. The thumb prints of the secretary of the United States treasury, reproduced on the face of greenback, silver certificate and bank note of any series, would discourage counterfeiting as nothing else ever has done.
Safeguard on Seals of Letters and Money Packages.
As an aid in the transmission of sealed packages, the thumb print is invaluable. The print will determine absolutely whether the wax has been broken in transit, and it will also establish the identity of the person putting on the seal.
Packages so protected have been left by train robbers where all other packages in the safe were taken. The thumb print was too suggestive of danger to make tampering with such packages safe.
In the ordinary usage of the thumb print on bankable paper, the city bank having its country correspondents everywhere, often is called upon to cash a draft drawn by the country bank in favor of that bank's customer, who may be a stranger in the city. The city bank desires to accommodate the country correspondent as a first proposition.
The unidentified bearer of the draft in the city, may have no acquaintance able to identify him. If he presents the draft at the window of the big bank, hoping to satisfy the institution and is turned away, he feels hurt. By the thumb print method he might have his money in a moment.
Identifying Strangers.
In the first place, even the signature of the cashier of the country bank will be enough to satisfy its correspondent in the city of the genuineness of the draft. Before the country purchaser of the draft has left the bank issuing the paper he will be required to make the ink thumb print in a space for that purpose. Without this imprint the draft will have no value. If the system should be in use, the cashier signing the draft will not affix his signature to the paper until this imprint has been made in his presence.
Then, with his attested finger print on the face of the draft the stranger in the city may go to the city bank, appearing at the window of the newest teller, if need be. This teller will have at hand his ink pad, faced with a sheet of smooth tin. He never may have seen the customer before. He never may see him again. But under the magnifying influences of an ordinary reading glass he may know, past the possibility of doubt, that in the hands of the proper person named in the draft, the imprint which is made before him has been made by the first purchaser of the draft.
Signing Bonds and Stocks.
In the more important and complicated transactions in bank paper one bank may forward from the bank itself the finger print proofs of identity. The whole field of such necessities is open to adapted uses of the method. Notes given by one bank to another in high figures may be protected in every way by these imprints. Stock issues and institution bonds would be worthy of the thumb print precautions, as would be every other form of paper which might tempt either the forger or the counterfeiter. In any case, where the authenticity of the paper might be questioned the finger print would serve as absolute guarantee. In stenographic correspondence, where there might be inducements to write unauthorized letters on the part of some person with wrong intent, the imprint of finger or thumb would make the possibility of fraud too remote for fears. For, in addition to the security of signatures in real documents, the danger in attempting frauds of this kind is increased.
The beauty of the finger print system is that there is absolutely no chance for error. The finger prints of the child of eighteen months will be the same as the finger prints of the man of eighty. No laceration, wound, or mutilation can disturb the essentials of the outline of the finger print. The only escape for the criminal is to cut off all of his fingers, and even then the toe prints would be as effective.
As to the physical necessities in registering finger prints, they are simple and inexpensive. A block of wood faced with smooth tin or zinc the size of an octavo volume, a small ink roller, and a tube of black ink are all that is required. For removing the ink on the thumb or finger a towel and alcohol cleanser are sufficient. A tip impression or a "rolled" finger signature may be used. Only a few seconds are required for the operation.
The Bertillon System of Identification
Instruments used in the measurement of criminals by the Bertillon system of measurements.
Objects to Having Finger Impressions Recorded.
In one of our prisons recently, a man who had just been sentenced was brought up, and while he made no opposition to being measured by the Bertillon system, he objected strongly to having his finger impressions recorded. This caused the identification expert to be suspicious, and he submitted a duplicate record to the Scotland Yard police, in London, with the result that the man was at once identified as a murderer who had escaped from a prison in England, and was taken back there. When confronted with the English record, the convict at once admitted his identity.
An express company lost a large sum of money which was being sent from one point to another in a sealed package. During transmission the seals were broken, the money abstracted and the package resealed with wax. At first the express company were absolutely unable to locate the thief, but later on it was discovered that in resealing the package, the thief had wet his finger and pressed it on the warm wax, leaving a distinct imprint. The finger impressions of all the agents through whose hands the package passed, were taken, with the result that the thief was easily identified, a confession obtained and the money recovered.
A jewelry store was entered and valuable diamonds that were on display on glass trays in the windows were stolen. In doing this the thieves left the imprints of their fingers on the glass. An expert, on making investigation with a powerful magnifier, discovered the imprints and by a careful photographic process was able to reproduce them on paper. A research being made among a collection of 20,000 finger-print records revealed the fact that the prints left on the glass tray were those of a well-known professional burglar, whose record had been taken some two years previously, while undergoing sentence in State prison. As a result the man was arrested and, through him, his partner in the crime, resulting in a conviction and the recovery of most of the goods.
The London police in investigating a burglary discovered in the pantry of a house a partly empty bottle of ale, which had been full the previous day. There were finger prints on the bottle, which was protected by a cardboard shield and taken to Scotland Yard, where the prints of the photograph, afterwards, were found to correspond with those of McAllister, who had just previously been released from jail. McAllister, on his arrest, in some way learned that they had his finger prints, and, realizing their value as evidence, made a circumstantial admission which led to the recovery of the goods and the conviction of his partner, Alexander Harley, on whose premises the property was found.
A half-empty bottle of wine was discovered in the room of an old woman at Asnieres, France, she having been murdered. A close examination of the bottle revealed finger prints, which were submitted to M. Bertillon, the great identification expert, who caused large photographs to be made, and who, after research, declared they were the imprints of a hospital attendant named Gales, who has since been arrested, charged with the murder, and convicted.
Murder Revealed by Finger Prints.
Recently in London a murder was committed, and in order to destroy any chance of detection, the murderer took the tin of his shoe lace and cut the tips of his fingers in all directions. He was suspected of the crime and arrested. The officers found blood prints on the furniture and other things in the house where the murder was committed, and when the man's fingers healed his prints were taken and corresponded exactly with those discovered by the officers; conviction followed.
Where large bodies of Chinese or negroes are employed on government or public work it is often difficult to stop men from representing themselves as being other men and signing the pay roll to obtain the wages due others. Nowadays the thumb print of each employee is taken and when he comes up to draw his money and there is any doubt as to his identity he makes a fresh imprint, which easily disposes of the matter. Rich men disposing of their property by will, in addition to their regular signature, also place the finger prints of both hands on the paper, thereby insuring the authenticity of the document. An easy way to protect a check is to put the thumb print where the figures are written in.
Among the most noted of these is the case of Thomas Wilson, who a few years ago committed a burglary and most atrocious murder near Windsor, England.
Besides the bludgeon with which he felled his unsuspecting victim, Wilson carried a lantern which was blackened by smoke, and, after accomplishing his design of robbery, the fiend took his departure.
As he made his escape after the foul murder, Wilson picked up the smoke-begrimed lantern and left upon it an imprint of a thumb wet with the blood of his victim.
Sent to Gallows by Bloody Thumb Print.
With the cunning of the criminal he covered his tracks, and as a last resort Chief Henry of Scotland Yard secured the lantern bearing the tell-tale print and resolved to try the efficiency of the ancient Chinese method of fixing responsibility by finger tracks.
This astute detective had paid some attention to the fact that no two hands would leave a similar imprint, and, working upon this theory, he pursued a still hunt until he found a man whose right thumb made an imprint identical with that upon the lantern. When found, vigorous denial followed accusation, but measurements were drawn to such a fine point that the culprit finally confessed and expiated his heinous crime upon the gallows.
Recently the perpetrator of an extensive burglary in the jewelry shop of Mr. Bickley, Lord Mayor of Staffordshire, England, left the imprint of his fingers upon a plate glass shelf. The shelf was sent to Scotland Yard and the finger-print record disclosed a duplicate in the records left by the digits of William Davis, well known to the authorities. When confronted with the mute evidences of guilt the culprit confessed.
In a police court at London a few months ago a man appeared who declined to give any name or address. A detective thought he recognized him as John White, wanted for a jewel robbery some time before, though his facial appearance had changed and did not tally with photographs held by the police. However, the imprint left by his fingers when in custody before had not changed a particle and his identity was established.
After the success attained in numerous instances the authorities at Scotland Yard decided to adopt the system and have now so perfected it that no malefactor who leaves a finger print can hope to escape ultimate punishment.
Mr. Wm. A. Pinkerton, of the famous Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, and without doubt one of the greatest criminal experts, on his return from Europe, in an interview published recently, says: "During my visit at New Scotland Yard, London, I was greatly interested in the high state of efficiency which the finger print system of identification has reached in the police service of London. The Bureau of Finger Prints there is one of the most marvelous departments I ever examined. Identification of criminals has been reduced practically to a matter of bookkeeping. You get the finger print and then simply turn up your indexes, and you know your man at once. A criminal may shave or grow his beard, become stout or thin, alter his appearance to a considerable extent, but the one constant feature of his makeup is his finger prints.
"The only safe way for criminals nowadays is to wear gloves when they go out on a job, for the impressions they leave of the fingers are found by detectives on glasses, newspapers, dusty tables, and the slightest impression of the fingers on a damp table or paper can, by the process in use at the Yard, serve as an adequate means of identification."
Government to Keep Watch on Criminals.
The United States government at Washington, D. C., has established a criminal identification bureau, or what may be called an "Habitual Criminal Registry," for keeping the records of all men convicted of crimes against the federal laws, and also all indicted by grand juries of the United States courts. The bureau is to be under the supervision of the department of justice, and all prisons in the United States where government prisoners are or have been confined have been directed to send their records, consisting of photographs, Bertillon measurement cards and finger-print identification sheets immediately to the department of justice.
This bureau is intended to be used for the identification of federal lawbreakers. It has been urged for some time by criminologists. Heretofore each prison in the United States has kept its own records, and a federal lawbreaker could serve a term in one prison and be freed without the fact ever becoming known that he had served a previous term for a similar offense in another penitentiary.
Now all records are to be classified in Washington, and not in any of the federal jails or prisons. The Bertillon measurements, photographs and finger prints of the convicts are to be taken and sent to the central bureau.
Also, the records of all men suspected of being yeggmen, train or postoffice robbers are to be taken. Those held in federal jails under indictment, etc., are to be sent there.
This bureau will ascertain the record of each man from the date he has, and if one not yet given trial proves to be an habitual criminal, this fact will be made known to the prosecuting attorney and the judge previous to the hearing, and if the man is convicted it will mean that he will be given the limit sentence.
At the present time there are about 8,000 known criminals who violate the government laws, and a close tab is to be kept upon these in the future. It will go hard on a known criminal convicted in a United States court hereafter.
[BURGLARY A SCIENCE.]
Up-To-Date Professional Burglar Must Be Skilled in Latest Methods.