"America's Sherlock Holmes"
Photo and caption from the University of Minnesota's Law Library: The Clarence Darrow Digital Collection.
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After serving as a secret service agent, William J. Burns became a successful detective, earning himself his famous nickname. He utilized fingerprinting to solve cases after learning of its accuracy for criminal identification in 1911.
Newspaper headline from The Day Book's October 21, 1912 issue.
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The Leo Frank Case (1913)"Mary Phagan, 14 years old, was found murdered...in the cellar of the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta, where she worked...On the testimony of "Jim" Conley, a negro sweeper, Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the factory, was convicted of the murder..." "There was nothing...to suggest the race or nationality of the murderer. But almost immediately the terrible cry arose 'Find the Jew.'" "A reporter found bloody fingerprints on the corpse's jacket and brought it to the attention of the authorities. It was 'stated that these prints are clearly outlined and may prove of importance in establishing the identity of the murderer.'" "No finger prints upon the girl's body or clothes were identified as his...Absolutely nothing was discovered in the search of the detectives that fastened the crime on him." Frank was arrested and convicted of murder based on the testimony of a sole witness. He was unjustly lynched by white townspeople, and Burns' private investigation using fingerprints found on the victim cleared Frank's name after his death. Historians use this case to reveal the anti-Semitic and Nativist tones of the early 20th century since Frank was Jewish.
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Photo and headline taken from NY Times articles (1914).
Photo from Tulsa Daily World's June 12, 1915 Morning Edition.
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The Wilkins Case (1919)Headlines taken from various NY Times articles (1919). Photo from Isabel Ross' article "Strange Features of the Doctor Wilkins Murder Trial" (New York Tribune, June 22, 1919).
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Fingerprinting aided Burns in identifying Dr. Walter Wilkins as the murderer of Wilkins' wife Julia.
"Mr. Burns had a talk yesterday with Dr. Wilkins. The latter, in a statement...said that he had been finger-printed by authorities." "Marks [Fingerprints] found on a lead pipe used in the crime were identified as those of Dr. Wilkins." "Dr. Walter Keene Wilkins was found guilty of murder in the first degree...after the jury deliberated for twenty-two hours and sixteen minutes on the evidence which finally satisfied them that he had beaten his wife to death at their home in Long Beach on Feb. 27 of this year. |
In 1921, Burns became the chief of the Bureau of Investigation, and established a national fingerprint bureau to unite state fingerprinting records into one database after facing setbacks in identification for criminals who crossed state borders. The creation of this bureau led to the establishment of the FBI Identification Division.
Photo from The Herald's The Picture Press (Sept. 29, 1921).
“William J. Burns, Chief of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice, is making plans for the establishment of a National Bureau of Identification. It is his belief that much could be accomplished by a central organization with which officials of every part of the country could be in touch.” "But the International Association for Identification does not intend to stop with assisting Chief Burns to establish one of the greatest bureaus for criminal identification in the world, but they intend to urge Congress and the legislatures of all of the States to enact laws whereby be, by law, fingerprinted, the prints being kept in a centralized bureau here in Washington, independent of the criminal bureau and under Federal control as is the Federal Census Bureau...Members of the association admit that many persons would object to having their fingerprints taken, believing that doing so would make them appear as criminals. Argument against this which is advanced by the fingerprint experts is that any person who is honest and who expects to continue to lead a moral, straight existence has no need to fear for the taking of their fingerprints." |
Photo taken from The Washington Times' "Burns To Have Every Criminal in U.S. Fingerprinted and Records Filed for 'Crime Clearing House' In Capital" (Oct. 16. 1921).
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