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.