Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1906-06-21
Tell-Tale Thumb-Prints.


Laughlin of the New York City De-
tective Bureau received remarkable
evidence of the value of thumb-print
Identification. A letter was brought
to him through the mails from Lon
don containing the picture and record
of a noted criminal whose thumb
print, with his name and description,
was sent to London to test the effie-
iency Of this new method of recording
distinguishing marks of criminals.
By means of the thumb-print alone
the English police identified the GRIM
inal captured by the New York po-
lice, whose record in England includes
eight imprisonments on charges of
larceny. The prisoner was caught
by Inspector Mclaughlin in the cor.
ridor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in
April. There were no charges against
him in this country at the time, but
the Inspector decided that his captive
was an English "crook." 1t was
found that two patrons Of the hotel
had been robbed and the prisoner
was detained for thorough investi.
CATION of his case. Meanwhile the
Inspector sent the thumb-print to
London and the reply brought a pho
tograph of the "crook" and dupli.
cate photograph of his thumb-print
and his record.
For some time the criminal bu-
reaus of prominent cities have been
using the Bertillon measurement sys-
tenn which also includes making two
photographs Of the suspicious charac-
ter, but the F.ench system and pho
Biography have fallen short in many
cases, as a schemiDg criminal can
adopt various subterfuges to cheat the
law, but there is no way of changing
the character Of his thumb-print, for
there are no two people whose thumbs
are exactly alike, and each person
has his own individual thumb-print
whose character remains the same
from the day of birth to the end.
There is nothing really new in this
mode of Identification, as from time
immemorial the Chinese have known
the fact that every man carries on
his fnger-tips the proofs Of his iden-
tity, and passports in the Celestial
land have consisted of government
stamped piece of oil paper on which
the traveller has to record his digital-
marks before setting forth on his
Journey. So in India, where deeds
transferring land have for centuries
past been signed among the illiterate
peasantry by thumb-mark. Within
recent years the government of India
has extended this native custom to
postofice savings, bank books, militia
ry and civil pension ce rti6cates, emf.
grants contracts, mortgages on grow.
ing crops, and other transactions
where false personation has to be
guarded against or an authenticated
acknowledgment of money received
has to be made. Naturally, also, the
system was promptly adopted for the
indenti6cation of criminals, and it
was an Indian police officer, E. R.
Henry, inspector-geueral of police in
Bengal, who carried to England his
experiences in the work, and when
appointed chief commissioner of the
police in London, introduced the
method into New Scotland Yard.
Finger marks continue permanent
through life. Injuries may partially
destroy them, but as the injury heals
the original lines reassert themselves
as before. In growing youth the ball
of the finger eDlarges 4; 80 does the
pattern, but its distinctive tracings
are absolutely unchanged, whereas
the Bertillon method is applicable
only to adults, when bone measure
ments have become fixed. Yet youth.
ful criminals, for their own sake, as
we'll as for societys, are worth watch
ing at every stage of their career, and
the fnger-print system is the only
means OF identification yet devised
that makes this practicable.
Not only is it virtually impossible
that any man 8 ten finger prints, one
after the other, should resemble in
mere general mathematical form each
of those of another man, the chance
against any such coincidence being
calculated by Professor Frances Gal
ton, the eminent anthropologist and
mathematician, as one hundred and
sixty.four million against one. but it
is equally impossible that any two
6nger-prints should be identical in
every detail.
Recently the United States govern