Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1912-02-03
Finger Print Test Has Given
Impetus to Development
of Detective System,
Now a Fine Art.


8hA1 DetWcO0 tu9 b6IuAon
NV measurement system, schools
" for detectives, the finger
print method, police mu-
seums and rogues' galleries the PRO
fession' OF crime Is becoming a dis
courag1ng pursuit to those with evil
bents- They say crime Is on the de-
cline In the United States, and a re-
view OF the progress that has marked
the work of tracking 1awbreakers and
bringing them to justice would lead to
an acceptance of the statement as true.
In New York city a school has been
opened for the instruction of newcom-
ers to the detective force, with Cap
tain Joseph A. Faurot, the Bertillon
and finger print expert, as one Of the
principal instructors.
Police Commissioner Rhinelander
Waldo issued orders that in sections of
twenty-five at time every detective
In New York city must undergo a
months instruction in the new school.
1t was when William McAdoo was
New York police commissioner, in 1905,
that George s. Dougherty, who had
Just come from the Pinkerton agency
to be deputy commissioner, suggested
that the department which had so sue
cessfully demonstrated the practical
fly of the Bertillon measurements
branch out into the study of finger
prints as a means of Identification Az
of French parentage and because of
the remarkable capacity he had al
ready shown Faurot was chosen to go
to Paris and learn what the French po-
lice could teach him on the subject.
Outside of the heads of the depart
ment the idea was generally ridiculed
Critics COMPOUNDED.
The chance to silence the critics came
soon after Faurot's return, when an
old man was picked up in Greenwich
village. He was suspected of stealing
5ewelry from a guest at a big hotel
In order more thoroughly to test the
system Faurot sent to Scotland Yard,
the London detective headquarters. no
other description than the prints of
the prisoners two thumbs. Duplicates
of the thumb prints came back from
Scotland Yard by the next steamer,
with the assurance that Johns, alias
Jones and several other assumed
names, was a hotel sneak who had
done time in half a dozen British pris-
ons. The photograph which accom-
panied the letter removed any doubt
as to the identity of the man and vim
dicated the finger print method
The mystery, which involved the rob-
berry of house on Washington square,
New York. further confirmed the use
fitness of finger print study. 1t hinged
upon the sweaty print of a thumb left
by the thief in soup ladle. Faurot
noticed that the imprint contained the
popularity of three deltas-the tri-
angular junction OF a group of the lit
tie ridges which form the prints-but
he could not place 1t among the speci-
mems In his collection. Three months
later a suspect was brought In from
one OF the precincts, caught hanging
around outside a pawnshop. Rather
than stand trial Herman Kaplan plead
ed guilty and was sentenced. He was
the candle burglar" so called because
he always had with him tallow dip.
Dramatic is the tale that centers
around a cut glass bowl in Captain
Faurot's possession. Three years ago
a house in Flatbush, Brooklyn, was en-
tered. Most of the contents OF the din
Ing room were missing. \ canary bird.
freed from its cage. was flying about
the room. The cut glass bowl with
blurred thumb print was taken to
Faurot Three months later in an
other part of F'latbush Mrs. George R.
Staber was killed by one of two bur-
glars who had broken into her home.
and her son wounded one OF them
Both were captured
The wounded burglar protested that
ha was not a professional housebreak-