One of the last exploits of Detective Wooldridge before his
completion of the twenty years of service, was the breaking up of the
cock-fighting mains, which infested Chicago during the latter part of
1906 and the early part of 1907.
The story savors of the burlesque. Wooldridge obtained information as
to the whereabouts of a cock-fight which was to be pulled off. Then he
sought out and purchased a pair of decrepit old roosters, that would
not fight an English sparrow, bundled them into a sack and started for
scene of action. Arrived in what he knew to be the neighborhood of the
fight, he declared that he had been sent to deliver some "fightin'
chickuns." He was directed to an old, abandoned building. Here he was
admitted and left the antique roosters. Then he said he was going for
more birds. Instead he went for a patrol wagon. And that was the end
of the chicken fight.
The trapping of the Wildcat Insurance companies furnishes one of the
most dramatic chapters in the financial history of the United States,
if not in the world. It involves millions of stolen dollars, brutal
filching from the poor, heartless commercial brigandage and finally
the running to earth and conviction of the ringleaders and promoters
of the "WILDCAT INSURANCE COMPANIES" OF CHICAGO, by Detective
Wooldridge.
The police and postal authorities worked together. Two thousand eight
hundred letters were sent out asking for information and gathering
evidence.
At the trial of Dr. S. W. Jacobs, on one of these cases, there were
200 witnesses present. Five of these witnesses were victims, and
lived in tents. Three were living in wagons: One, Samuel James, of
Westfield, Illinois, a carpenter, 64 years of age, had a wife and six
children. He had built his house morning and evening.