In 1900 Chicago's great building trade strike occurred in which
60,000 men were thrown out of employment. Many acts of violence were
committed. Several men were killed and many maimed and injured.
Detective Wooldridge was placed in charge of thirty picked detectives
from the detective bureau with orders to suppress these lawless
acts and arrest the guilty offenders. Through his vigilance and
untiring efforts law and order were soon restored, and he was highly
complimented by Chief of Police Joseph Kipley and the public press.
Literally speaking, the darkest situation into which his experiences
have led him was the tunnel by which inmates of Mattie Lee's famous
resort at 150 Custom House place escaped when the place was raided.
Mattie had decided that it was a nuisance to go to the station every
time the police wanted to arrest her, so she had the tunnel dug.
After that when the police called on her Mattie greeted them with
an empty house and a sweet smile, while underground the inmates
were crawling on their hands and knees to safety. Wooldridge found
the tunnel and, crawling in, "snaked out" six colored men and women
whom he found in the darkness. Versatility is a requisite with the
successful detective.