Before Fingerprinting Was Discovered Another System Was Used - Until It Failed Dramatically
Posted: Friday, February 11, 2011
by Mark Hester
As anyone who enjoys Sherlock Holmes books can probably tell you, using fingerprints to identify and catch criminals is a fairly recent discovery.
Even if law enforcement wasn't using fingerprinting, if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had even suspected it could be done, he would have had the world's greatest detective using the technique. It is exactly the kind of scientific detecting that Holmes was famous for. Yet, not a peep and any of the early original stories. Finally, in 1903 in the story, "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder," fingerprints help solve the case.
Which is true. Instead the detectives of the day used a method of identification called the "Bertillon System." This method was based upon physical descriptions and anatomical measurements taken of different parts of the body. For instance the height, head circumference, the length of the hand, etc.
If one measure was taken, height for instance, the odds were 4 to 1 of someone else having the exact same measurement. Add a second measurement and the odds go to 16 to 1. After 14 measurements were made the odds jumped to and astounding 286,435,456 to 1 against any two people being exactly the same.
If seemed foolproof.
It was. Until it failed.
In 1903 a convicted criminal named Will West was being measured for processing into Leavenworth prison what the officials realized that he was already a prisoner. After double checking the measurements, as well as a photo and the name, they concluded that Mr. West had somehow escaped.
That is until they checked Will West's cell and found him still in it.
The two men, who shared the name Will West, looked like twins and had exactly the same measurements. All 14. A 286,435,456 to 1 shot that hit.
Shortly thereafter, prison officials started using a new system being developed by Scotland Yard - fingerprinting - for positive identification.
Using crime scene fingerprints to solve crimes came later. Except in Sherlock Holmes stories.
I hope you enjoyed this small bit of weirdness.
Here is something that is not so weird. Acid Reflux affects between 60 and 70 million people in America and costs almost $142 billion in total medical bills. In fact, almost 1/5 of the US population suffers from acid reflux disease.
Learn What Is Acid Reflux? and what you can do to prevent and cure it.
This Article has been viewed 266 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.