In one of our prisons recently, a man who had just been sentenced
was brought up, and while he made no opposition to being measured
by the Bertillon system, he objected strongly to having his finger
impressions recorded. This caused the identification expert to be
suspicious, and he submitted a duplicate record to the Scotland Yard
police, in London, with the result that the man was at once identified
as a murderer who had escaped from a prison in England, and was taken
back there. When confronted with the English record, the convict at
once admitted his identity.
An express company lost a large sum of money which was being sent from
one point to another in a sealed package. During transmission the
seals were broken, the money abstracted and the package resealed with
wax. At first the express company were absolutely unable to locate the
thief, but later on it was discovered that in resealing the package,
the thief had wet his finger and pressed it on the warm wax, leaving
a distinct imprint. The finger impressions of all the agents through
whose hands the package passed, were taken, with the result that the
thief was easily identified, a confession obtained and the money
recovered.
A jewelry store was entered and valuable diamonds that were on display
on glass trays in the windows were stolen. In doing this the thieves
left the imprints of their fingers on the glass. An expert, on making
investigation with a powerful magnifier, discovered the imprints
and by a careful photographic process was able to reproduce them on
paper. A research being made among a collection of 20,000 finger-print
records revealed the fact that the prints left on the glass tray were
those of a well-known professional burglar, whose record had been
taken some two years previously, while undergoing sentence in State
prison. As a result the man was arrested and, through him, his partner
in the crime, resulting in a conviction and the recovery of most of
the goods.
The London police in investigating a burglary discovered in the
pantry of a house a partly empty bottle of ale, which had been full
the previous day. There were finger prints on the bottle, which was
protected by a cardboard shield and taken to Scotland Yard, where
the prints of the photograph, afterwards, were found to correspond
with those of McAllister, who had just previously been released from
jail. McAllister, on his arrest, in some way learned that they had
his finger prints, and, realizing their value as evidence, made a
circumstantial admission which led to the recovery of the goods and
the conviction of his partner, Alexander Harley, on whose premises the
property was found.
A half-empty bottle of wine was discovered in the room of an old woman
at Asnieres, France, she having been murdered. A close examination
of the bottle revealed finger prints, which were submitted to
M. Bertillon, the great identification expert, who caused large
photographs to be made, and who, after research, declared they were
the imprints of a hospital attendant named Gales, who has since been
arrested, charged with the murder, and convicted.