The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1912-01-26
Finger Print Test Has Given
impetus to Development
Of Detective System,
Now a Fine Art



!" for detectives, the finger
print method, police mu-
ssums and rogues' galleries the PRO
fsss1on" Of crime II becoming a dis
couraging pursuit to those with evil
pents. They say crime Ii on the de-
eAs In the United States, and a re-
view OF the progress that has marked
the work Of tracking lawbreakers and
bringing them to justice would lead to
IN acceptance Of the statement as true.
In New York city a school has been
opened the instruction Of newcom-
srs to the detective force, with Cap
tain Joseph1oA. Faurot, the Bertillon
TIhd finger mt expSvr, as one of he
principal instructors
Police Commissioner Rhinelander
Waldo issued orders that in sections Of
twenty-five at a 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 commissioners, suggested
that the department which had so sue
cessfully demonstrated the practical
ity Of the Bertillon measurements
branch out into the study Of finger
prints as a means Of Identification. As
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 chanceto silence the critics came
soon after Faurot's return, when an
old man was picked up in Greenwich
village. He was suspected Of stealing
jewelry from a guest at 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 hotel sneak who had
done time In half dozen British pris-
ons. The photograph which accom-
panied the letter removed any doubt
az 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 thumb left |
by the thief In a 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 II 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 |
house In Flatbush, Brooklyn, was en-
tered. Most of the contents Of the din
Ing room were missing. A canary bird,
freed from its cage. was flying about |
the room. The cut glass bowl with a
blurred thumb print was taken to
Faurot. Three months later in an
other part of Flatbush 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 |
he was not professional housebreak-