Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World

by Clifton R. Wooldridge

[LAST CHANCE GONE.]

IDENTIFICATION BUREAU AIDED BY NATURE.

The Criminal and the Crooked Members of the Human Race Have a New and Dangerous Enemy in the Finger Print Method of Identification.

The last hope of the enemies of society, the habitual criminals, is gone. The Bertillon system sounded the death knell of the criminal so far as capture was concerned. The finger print system, as first set forth by Sir Francis Galton and elaborated by Sir Edward Henry, has made possible the absolute identification after capture.

One of the first men to see the tremendous possibilities of the finger print system, as applied to the identification of suspects, was Detective Clifton E. Wooldridge of Chicago. Through his efforts and that of others equally interested in the exact identification of criminals, the Chicago Police Department established the finger print method of identification in 1905, as a Supplement to the Bertillon system which was established in 1887.

The Bertillon system catches the suspect. The finger print system makes sure that he is the criminal. The Bertillon system, while a splendid thing for catching the thief, still left some loop-holes which needed strengthening. This was supplied by the finger print system. Like the man and woman referred to in Longfellow's Hiawatha it is a case of "useless each without the other." When the two systems are worked together there is absolutely no possible escape for the apprehended suspect.

The Chicago Police Bureau of Identification is the second largest in the world, and contains over 70,000 pictures.

Trunk Measurement, Head Length Measurement, Left Middle Finger Measurement, Right Ear Measurement.
Measurement of the Stretch and the Left Foot.
The Bertillon System of Identification by Measurement.

By combining the Bertillon measurements with the finger-print system the police department has woven a network of identification around the criminal which makes it practically an impossibility for him ever to disguise himself should he at any future time fall into the hands of the officials of the law.