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Show L Prejudice Fades as Finger Prints Come Into General Use . . System of Identification Gains Recognition as Great Aid in Many Fields Besides That of Criminology NEW YORK. Saturday T "T r HEN, in the year 1006, Inspector of A Police, Faurot returned from a course of finder print study at Scotland Yard In London, hr- was bursting H with such enthusiasm over this means of I detecting criminals, which was to supersede the Intricate Bertlllon system that he had little difficulty In persuading the Police 'om- , , mlsslnnors to adopt It But the Inspector coujcr.'t convince everybody In Headquarters, , and one of the most Incredulous was the B"" veteran custodian of the building This con- firmed doubter would have burned Copernicus 1 and quartered Galileo If he had lived In J either astronomer's century Uving In the nineteenth and twentieth cetTturi.s he mill mi-ll mltlert the Angers of the thief In question then he Is in this folio. It he isn't wo seek no further fur-ther for we haven't got him " "But suppose tho man had three Anger" amputated from his left Innd and one from :(, right hand, then he would be safe from your folio because you couldn't reckon lip the valuation, isn't that so?" This was the question put by the knowledge knowl-edge seeker who thought it was a poser. It wasn't "We allow for the loss of fingers.'" said the expert, "and given the equation we al-avs al-avs . arc able to arrive at the common eenomlnator. ascertain the valuation and class the man where he bcloncs "To-day, "even, we had such a case; j record was -ent to us of a pickpocket arrested ar-rested in Boston on Jul) 3. lie had lost one finger from his right hand and two from his lefl. Here is the record sent t,, us and (he i it m a cabinet took out a portfolio and 1 1 1 pk I, mm I r .emA - j- iwwtwWm I flm f tZu-'y- t! . our s.vshiii jinj ih-it t !; (inli nnum r. . round It, but of one thins he was sure an . J that was this talcing of finger impressions fl Inspector Faurot was so confident would be BU an Infallible means of recording criminal H was piffle! In order to convince the officers In the IH newlj organized department that thev wen- Jm wa.-ting time and the city's money th doubting custodian was willing to sncrifh some ot hi? sk,n; he descended Into ih depths of the Poiioe Headquarters buildln- ijefl , where he had a grindstone and ground off - --rnii yji niiri up i nen ne prc- 8ntcd these aufVrlng extremities for a tejr , gH . bv which Inspector Faurot's Ideas must jlL stand or 'all The experiment proved the gflf former, for "ho Impression of whorls and loops and arches -lines on the finger tips HH r was stronger than If he had not cround off the skin The test showed that these lines Bfl arc not like benutv merely skin deep System Now Ued the World Over ZJ There are no more doubters, says Lieut. p&a Allen, who Is in charge of the finrer lA tlp KljrC;u And William Harnmerlev fin- rg ger tip expert, who has been nt'work therein storing up data since the bureau was started. 51 sail that this method of detecting and cata- TV loculng criminals Is now used all over this 'm country and in most of the other civilized H countries of the world. France, which dr.ted KM on Its Rortlllon system disliked to admit the M supremacy of England which was the first :M to adopt the new plan, but eventually had to oM fall In line. 5 In the New York bureau there are filed iljj moro 300.000 finger tip Imp,.- i,,,, !!M Not all ot these are orlglnnl with New V..rk for they come from police Investigations' PSi made In all parts of tho world. Should a 55eT criminal come before the authorities in HH' Japan. China. Ind'a or even the Islands of Fyf tne India r. Ocean and his finger prints be taken a copy Is sent to bo filed here Uofe gjflt ordinarily hese prints come from England J nrd the European countries, for there rlour- 54 ishes the International rogue Ka Similarly w hen "a bad mm is caucht In BBJ Newark or some more outblng city of New Jersey his finqcr tips are multlgraphcd and r '-i added to the codectlons of nil our cities, jfci Upon receipt ot an inquiry Into the orfend- T's past, accompanied by this pictured rec-jjm rec-jjm ord. Mr Hammersley err another expert H looks him up in the vast cabinet collection Pjrifl of Follce He-adquarters to see If the criminal under Investigation has a metropolitan rcc-jim rcc-jim ord. HJ But out of n collection of over 300.000 how r,n one little set of Impressions of ten "r fj lr dlgltsie aeeura'cly found7 "Eaally arid Infallibly." answers Mr Ham. mersley. "If that particular criminal v. is ever rlo-wn here and had his finger prints tnkn we ran find them In a couple of min- u Ute in this respect the bureau In the thlr- Imi teen venrs I hve been with It never has JfP failed. How ingc Printi Are Cla.iified. "For q case in point, take this notification - from the Chief of Police of Newark f in one jF p'de of this printed paper are two photo- graphs of a thief; on the other are the rec- WM ords of his fingers. Wo pay cursory atten- Hon nowada s to the photographs, and our closest attention to the finger impressions. This man s fingers show whorls and loops; H they count up to a certain number, and by 1. counting under th microscope the complete H or brokn linos (they mjy be cither) from Creek d-.Ita tp delta, that Is where the lines H convcrRe we obtain a common denominator j , TllUI we obtain certain infallible numbers I nrhlch put this j-rlmlnal In a certain class of finger Impressions He can be In no other. H Whorls and loop.-, you understand, have a numerical value, and we go at once to the cabinet nr.d the section where the records of I this valuation are kept There may be five I or ten cr more oi less examples in this folio. I Bach oiiH riifTer!! infallibly from the otheri u I In this folio, and from all other If we have f made a record or received en taken from WHO R. L PATTERN vX'HICH 5JrlTH T?e LOOP IS The COMMONEST r ; -W, v'.:-, " -' - - r -''.-''- Te COMPOSITE PATTERN OF FinGER PR.INTS produced anotber record) here is oure. You s e ih- ngurea, the numerals are the s.ime ir. oolh We can give Boston a complete criminal history of their pickpocket. "VYe an- asked to fin) ;n escaped convict Irom lackBonyllle, Fla.. and the Chief ot Police there has furnished this bureau w.th a het ol ringer prints You v e they are of I he composite type. There are hut four lypcs of ringer marks the composite, 'he Rich, the loop, the whorl Wo call them our four patterns and everybody's fingers fal' Into one (f them The loop may be ulnar or radial, but these classifications cap be distinguished dis-tinguished only with difficulty sae where they are illustrated. As you see. we keep four charts with these patterns gros.lv magnified mag-nified The composite pattern is what Its name Implies and we do not encounter it cflen Now this Infallible record of that Jacksonville convict Is filed hero and If he ever comes In on any charce we hav- only to look at his impressions an 1 we have him Then wo wire the word to Jacksonville 1 v n"t It easy "Are the criminals surprised when we tell them who they aro and recount their exploit ex-ploit performed In distant part of 'he country and pometimes In another hemisphere? hemi-sphere? Surprised Isn't the proper word; they gasp and take us for a oulja board 'They appear under different names with plausible stores In former days lusllce rulsht find It hard to get the truth. Nat si to-day. We read their finger prints, and thee always put us on the right track. ' Most criminals are Indifferent about hav- : DEPUTY POL1 C E COMMISSIONER FMJQOT WHO STUDIED FINGER PR.INTS IN SCOTLAND YARD lug the Impressions taken, while they proles' pro-les' distort their faces and try all means to circumvent the camera when we seek to take their likeness for the Rogue,' Gallon. Once In a w hile we get a wise one who objects o havinn his finder tips impressed. In many case. we do not let him know that It is !-Ing !-Ing done tor why should We invito trouble" I! 1 "o easy to take them. If he will hol.l a ploce of white paper In his hands we have hjm his finger tips are there but not ' Visible Would you like to see how It ir done0 Wall, lav your hands lightly on ibis sheet of common writing paper leave cneui th"rr n fraction of a second only, now place I on this desk. Do you soo anything on th surface of the paper?" i" course not. What was there to see? "'he export then lightly sifted some crdl-narv crdl-narv graphite powder over the sheet of paper and there appeared In strong contrast to th.-white th.-white margin complete Impressions of the finger tips. "This experiment shows how helpless any pCTton Is who would prefer for any reason not to leave o record of bis fingers. A thtei w tnj touches a cash box or a polished surface like a piano, however lightly with his un gloved hand leaves a clear record for the l.1v to trace him by Again I say this method is Infallible, In another field, that of the unidentified dead, the finger print has boon ironderfu1 eid Bank are everywhere using It for purposes pur-poses of Identification, and Illiterate persons If they will but have a record made of their life. The taklns of finger prints Is not a criminal system but an identification s:, s-teni. s-teni. and It Is no more derogator to have your finger prints taken than your photograph photo-graph The marks on the (Inner tips of ;i very young babe ari scarcely fixed enough to make Identification absolute, and In these i ca the marks on the foot are taken, fevery foot differs from every other foot, no matt r how soon after birth the markings are i i ken To afford distinguishing finRer marks the child should be at least a yc:r old. In later life the markings never change. As this prejudice disappears In the more common use of the marks for legal Identl-. Identl-. fb atlon It may come to be ft matter of course that every minor as he reached maturity in the l-vv will have his finger prints on file at I a public bureau for such Identification evl- i dence U There I a bureau of Investigation and Te ARCH PATTTER.N OF FINGER. PRINTS finder tips will be -pari-d h,-- ; of tlm'j ami a i-kvj deal of unpleasantness and even hu-humillatlon. hu-humillatlon. since t li - finger print serves as a signature." The value of finger prints for Identification in criminal Investigation has beep made generally gen-erally known by lecture demonstrations in the public schools, and the official of the Department ot Education have expressed therr.selves as In favor of Its being morr c n.monly discussed. It Is their Idea that g iicral use of finger prints nmor; Illiterates would stimulate a desire t.. learn to read and write. I ri this educational efTort Alfred A. Hart, supervisor or tho Finger Print Bu-reau Bu-reau and Charles O. Tittle, assistant supervisor super-visor of the City Magistrates Courts. .w Ycrk. gave lecture demonstrations last winter win-ter in the public scnool courses. The use of finger prints, as will be seen, fir transcends the criminal field. They hve been and are constantly being taken for all mot per of confidential, Industrial, commercial, commer-cial, civil and character investigations. The rleiks of both New York and Queens counties coun-ties are In favor of accepting finger print signatures to deeds formerly signed by illiterates il-literates with their 'mark." and banking and trust Institutions also approve such signatures. sig-natures. The War Department has a collection col-lection of several million of finger prints of men who served in the world war Beoauso people have heard very little alout finger prints except In connection with criminals many are prejudiced against the us. of them in relation to other tilings in Some Experts Predict Everybody Eventually Will Be Required by Law to Register Digit Marks The LOOP, AS 3-E.NE RALLY SEEN AS the personal identification already working; It Is Incoi porated. licensed and bonded under tho laws of the Slate of New York Its dliec-tora dliec-tora are men with years of experience and experts In finger printing. handwriting, homicidal mati?rs. toxicology. &(. One of the-m is an expert on pistol shot wound. Tal ing hlk'h rank In the data this bureuu has ccllecled Is a vast number of flner prints contained In Its confidential files The bureau does not maintain a criminal file, as It has no connection with police departments de-partments The service of the bureau to its ( llents is as follows. It registers for a small fee man woman u child, and It supplies for every regie! ration a card certificate of subscription sub-scription upon which appear the flio number num-ber and an Impression of three fingers. No name Is used on the card, as Identifications ore made without regard to name age, sex or nationality and whether alive or dead The value of this record Is easily understood under-stood Suppose one has to verify one's iden. Ilty at the post ofiVe In order to claim valuable val-uable mall or a' a bank or hotel. The record is produced nt any time and pUce under any condition requiring verification The bureau sets forth that it can verify or establish Identity by finger prints in approximately approxi-mately five minutes. In case of unconsciousness loss of memorv or accidental death or of children lost or kidnapped the Importance of flncer murk Identification cannot bo overestimated Indeed, In-deed, for such uses these markings when In existence bVe proved their Infallibility tlm- and time again. And as has been said, no Other means of rapidly making personal j Idi ntlflcatlpns has bon found to exjual this Walter Williams until about & year ao was finger print expert for the Co'urt Of Genera) Sessions and he Is Hiithority for mai storlea proving the great value of the system Williams who Is doing patrol duty Ir the Borough of Brooklyn, was regarded as Inspector Faurot'; best pupil when the teni was being Introduced. He has a finger print Impression of his first digit Indelibly In-delibly impressed on the back lid of his wate-h. "Mn who were suffering from aphasia, I amnesia or other forms of loss of memory have teen quickly restored to their families j and saved from deep misery because they P had taken the pre-cautlon nt some time of making this recor i " said Policeman Williams Wil-liams "Such men came up In General Ses- ' j s.ons on a variety of potty charges and then, as It developed that thrir stories wer , li T ie I made Impressions of their finger tips and by applying to certain bureaus 1 was sometimes to Identify them with lltt'.o difficulty. I believe that the use of 'finger i pplng Is yet In Its Infancy so far as the general public is concerned and that It will grow as it gets to be better appreciated. H It Is in tho ordinary benefits that this H general use of tho system finds its best I arguments. Its friends speak of kidnapped children who could be recognized years i ifter their parents last saw them. Who knows hut that Charley Ron might event- H li.'lllv have founrl h's n.ncntt ncatn hnH h.a UU finger prints heen recorded? H "Quite as important are the possibilities I In the case of lost heirs Finger prints H quickly would expose forgeries and im- H postors in fact, if the system became H r-HtabllaHed generally, as I look for It to be. H it would settle numerous puzzling questions that can't bo 'oreseen now or, at any rate, estimated and enumerated H H Finger Print on Documents The question of the general adoption of H thl- system came up again recently when I i di ed signed with the finger prints of I Joseph teinUilts who executed It was of- I fered for re, 0rd in Queens County Clerk's office In lamal I The deed conveyed to Pauline Roth h fourth interest In a burial H plot and was the first Instrument of any H kind so executed in this manner ever filed In H thai county. H The County Clerk did not know how to I transcribe the finger marks upon the record H nn,. was advised to record it as he would a deed that had !"n executed bv signing with a mark This was done The New York State statutes prescribe a method of recording a H deed signed by a mark, hut does not men- H tion finger prints. The latter Is a far better I v . for an illiterate person to sign & deed thai", bv making hi mark, hut as yet the H method has no legal sanction. Tn the opln- H Ion of lawyers generally this sanction will H not be withheld long and the statutes of the H State will stipulate' how deed so signed H hall le transcribed Their opinion Is In line H with the common belief that finger prints H are bound to come Into general use li the temporary absence of County Cleric H Snyder pf New York county the questions In I regard to the use of finger prints as signa- H tures to deeds bv persons unable to write H were put to his deputy. Mr. Beck, who H thought the plan was as yet too novel to H be adopted forthwith. It was his Idea that H Register James A Donegan would be the H proper man to take the Idea under advise- H nil nt ard give nn opinion about the method of recording such a signature. The Register proved to be rather non-com non-com ml 1 1 n I He said: "At firs I blush h would seem that a signature signa-ture which precisely identifies the executor H so much more accurately than his mark or H even his signature oucht to be acceptable to the courts. Uut I confess I have not given j the subject any thought. The difficulty would be when w came tp recording It. How are i wo to record a deed signed In this new wayt" Well, how do you record a deed signed by a mark?" "We saj 'hat It Is so signed.' "Could you not in the same way say thtt a deod was signed by the Impressions taken of the executor's finger tips?'' was tho next query put to the Register, who replied: "Where, then. Is there any difference?" He was reminded that tho "mark" mad by an lilllcrMo executor of a deed might be easily counterfeited, and the finger print absolutely could not be. Admitting this to be a fact the Register said that as the photograph pho-tograph of a ring r print Impression preserved pre-served tho original value it might be possible to use a photograph In the record, but Mr. Dcnegan preferred to go no further In his oomracnt than to say that It was probable the statutes of New York State and other States would bo modified in order to provida tho legal method of transcribing deeds and all legal papers signed with finger print. |