_From The Chicago Tribune of November 25, 1906._
"Chicago may be surprised to learn that it has a Sherlock
Holmes of its own, but it has; and before his actual
experiences in crime-hunting, the fictional experiences
through which Poe, Doyle, and Nick Carter put their
detectives pale into insignificance. His name is Clifton R.
Wooldridge.
"Truth is stranger even than detective fiction, and in the
number of his adventures of mystery, danger and excitement
he has all the detective heroes of fiction and reality
beaten easily.
"He has personally arrested 19,500 people, 200 of them were
sent to the penitentiary; 3,000 to the house of correction;
6,000 paid fines; 100 girls under age were rescued from
lives of shame; $100,000 worth of property was recovered;
100 panel houses were closed; 100 matrimonial bureaus were
broken up.
[Illustration: Disguised as a JEW IN THE GHETTO]
"Wooldridge has refused perhaps 500 bribes of from $500
to $5,000 each. He has been under fire forty-four times.
He has been wounded dozens of times. He has impersonated
almost every kind of character. He has, in his crime
hunting, associated with members of the '400' and
fraternized with hobos. He has dined with the elite and
smoked in opium dens. He has done everything that one
expects the detective of fiction to do and which the real
detective seldom does.
"When occasion requires he ceases to appear as Wooldridge.
He can make a disguise so quickly and effectively that even
an actor would be astonished. Gilded youth, negro gambler,
honest farmer or lodging house 'bum,' it requires but a few
minutes to 'make-up,' to run to earth elusive wrong-doers."
The pictures which appear here are actual photographs taken from life
in the garb and disguises worn by the author in several famous cases.
[Illustration: "HECK HOUSTON"--STOCK-RAISER FROM WYOMING
In this garb the author makes himself an easy mark for the crooks
and grafters of the Stock-Yard district. The hold-up man--the
card-sharp--the bunco-steerer--the get-rich-quick stock-broker fall
"easy game" to the detective thus disguised.]
[Illustration: ASSOCIATING WITH THE STOCK AND BOND GRAFTERS
Disguised as an Englishman who has money and is looking for a good
investment, Mr. Wooldridge is easily mistaken for a "sucker." The
trap is set. He apparently walks into it; but, in a few minutes, the
grafter finds himself on the way to prison.]
[Illustration: POLICY-SAM JOHNSON
This is a favorite disguise of the author when doing detective duty
among the lowest and most disreputable criminals. Unsuspectingly
the crooks offer him all sorts of dirty work at small prices for
assistance in criminal acts.]
[Illustration: WE NEVER SLEEP
Detectives disguised as tramps: "I am made all things to all men,"
says St. Paul. The Detective must also make himself all things to all
men, that he may find and catch the rascals. To be up-to-date it is
necessary to be able to assume as many disguises as there are classes
of people among whom criminals hide.]
[Illustration: POLICY-SAM JOHNSON SHOOTING CRAPS
An illustration of the way the detective employs himself in the
gambling dens. It is often necessary to play and lose money in these
places that he may get at the facts. Observe that he is watching
proceedings in another part of the room while he is throwing the
dice.]
[Illustration: SHADOWING ONE OF THE FOUR HUNDRED.
Some of the most dangerous grafters in the world hobnob with the
elite. Here we have our author in evening dress, passing as a man of
society at a banquet of the rich, shadowing a "high-flyer" crook.]
[Illustration: CRAPS AND CARDS
The gambling house is a station on the road to crime. In proportion to
population there are, perhaps, more negro gamblers than of any other
race.]
[Illustration: A LITTLE GAME IN THE ALLEY AT NOON
Many boys and young men spend their noon hour in cultivating bad
habits that lead to nights of gambling; and then come crimes to get
money that they may gamble more.]
[Illustration: A RESTING PLACE ON THE ROAD TO CRIME.
The gilded saloon is the club-room of the crook. Here he hatches his
plots; here he drinks to get desperate courage to carry them out; and
here he returns when the crime has been committed to drown remorse and
harden conscience.]
[Illustration: YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE]
[Illustration: A GAME OF POKER FOR "A SMALL STAKE"
This is a clangorous stop. Many a ruined man traces his downfall
to the day he began in youth to "bet" a little "to make the game
interesting."]
[Illustration: Emma Ford (Sisters) Pearl Smith