The Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World, by Clifton R. Wooldridge This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World Author: Clifton R. Wooldridge Release Date: November 23, 2014 [EBook #47445] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 20 YEARS A DETECTIVE *** Produced by Diane Monico and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World. (cover) CLIFTON R. WOOLDRIDGE. CLIFTON R. WOOLDRIDGE. Twenty Years a Detective IN THE WICKEDEST CITY IN THE WORLD. 20,000 ARRESTS MADE 12,900 CONVICTIONS ON STATE AND CITY LAWS 200 PENITENTIARY CONVICTIONS The Devil and the Grafter AND HOW THEY WORK TOGETHER TO DECEIVE, SWINDLE AND DESTROY MANKIND AN ARMY OF 600,000 CRIMINALS AT WAR WITH SOCIETY AND RELIGION By CLIFTON R. WOOLDRIDGE The World-Famous Criminologist and Detective "The Incorruptible Sherlock Holmes of America" After twenty years of heroic warfare and scores of hair-breadth escapes, in his unceasing battle with the devil and the grafter, Mr. Wooldridge tells in a graphic manner how Wildcat Insurance, Fake Mines and Oil Wells, Turf Swindlers, Home Buying Swindlers, Fake Bond and Investment Companies, Bucket Shops, Blind Pools in Grain and Stocks, Pool Rooms and Hand Books, Fake Mail Order Houses, ordinary Gambling Houses, Panel Houses, Matrimonial Bureaus, Fake Underwriting, Fake Banks, Collecting Agencies, Fake Medicine Companies, Clairvoyants, Fortune Tellers, Palmists and other criminals of all classes operate, and how their organizations have been broken up and destroyed by hundreds. THE WORK ALSO CONTAINS Detective Clifton R. Wooldridge's "Never-Fail" System For Detecting and Outwitting All Classes of Grafters and Swindlers COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY CLIFTON R. WOOLDRIDGE. Chicago Publishing Co., 83-91 Plymouth Place, Chicago. PREFACE. In presenting this work to the public the author has no apologies to make nor favors to ask. It is a simple history of his connection with the Police Department of Chicago, compiled from his own memoranda, the newspapers, and the official records. The matter herein contained differs from those records only in details, as many facts are given in the book which have never been made public. The author has no disposition to malign any one, and names are used only in cases in which the facts are supported by the archives of the Police Department and of the criminal court. In the conscientious discharge of his duties as an officer of the law, the author has in all cases studied the mode of legal procedure. His aim has been solely to protect society and the taxpayer, and to punish the guilty. The evidences of his sincerity accompany the book in the form of letters from the highest officers in the city government, from the mayor down to the precinct captain, and furnish overwhelming testimony as to his endeavors to serve the public faithfully and honestly. No effort has been made to bestow self-praise, and where this occurs, it is only a reproduction, perhaps in different language, of the comments indulged in by the newspapers of Chicago and other cities, whose reporters are among the brightest and most talented young men in all the walks and professions of life. To them the officer acknowledges his obligations in many instances. Often he has worked hand-in-hand with them. They have traveled with him in the dead hours of the night, in his efforts to suppress crime or track a criminal, and have often given him assistance in the way of suggestions. He now submits his work and his record to the public, hoping it will give him a kindly reception. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Preface 7-8 Testimonials 11 Biography of the Author 27 Graft Nation's Worst Foe 51 The "Never-Fail" System to Beat the Get-Rich-Quick Swindles 112 The Best Rules for Health 116 Matrimonial Agents Coining Cupid's Wiles 119 The Great Mistake. Our Penal System is a Relic of Early Savagery 192 Vagrants, Who and Why 204 The Young Criminals and How They Are Bred in Chicago 230 Wiles of Fortune Telling 246 Wife or Gallows 267 A Clever Shop Lifter (Fainting Bertha) 272 Front 284 The Criminal's Last Chance Gone 288 Burglary a Science 311 Cell Terms for "Con" Men 341 Panel-House Thieves 348 Gambling and Crime 358 A Heartless Fraud 401 The Bogus Mine 409 A Giant Swindle 418 Quacks 426 Fabulous Losses in Big Turf Frauds 448 Fake Drug Vendors 462 Bucket-Shop 471 On "Sure Things." How to Learn Their Real Character 482 Huge Swindles Bared 487 The Social Evil 500 Suppress Manufacture and Sale of Dangerous Weapons 508 Getting Something for Nothing 517 Want Ad. Fakers 527 Millionaire Banker and Broker Arrested 533 Dora McDonald 551 Mike McDonald 581 PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. The two arch enemies of happiness and prosperity are the Devil and the Grafter. The church is fighting the Devil, the law is fighting the Grafter. The great mass of human beings, as they journey along the pathway of life, know not the dangers that lie in wait from these two sources. Honest themselves, credulous and innocent, they trust their fellow man. Statistics show that four-fifths of all young men and women, and nine-tenths of the widows are swindled out of the money and property that comes to them by inheritance. Every year thousands of laboring men spend their hard earnings and beggar their families by falling in traps laid for them. Thousands of innocent girls and women, struggling for a respectable livelihood, fall victims to the demons who traffic in human honor. The Grafters spend millions upon millions of dollars annually in advertising in America alone. There is not a Post Office in the land where every mail does not carry their appeals and thieving schemes; and they collect hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the trusting public. The State and National Governments spend millions of dollars a year in trying to catch and curb these grafters. Some of Satan's worst grafters are found in the church, working the brethren; and he has them by thousands in every walk of life. The object of this book is to protect the public by joining hands with the church and the government in their work against the Devil and the Grafter. The author reveals and exposes the Grafter with his schemes, his traps, his pitfalls and his victims. The reader of this book will be fortified and armed with knowledge, facts and law, that should forever protect him, his family and his friends from the wiles of the Grafters. It is with the confidence that this work fills an imperative need, and that it should be in the hands of every minister, every physician, every teacher and every mother and father in the land, that the author and publisher send it forth on what they believe to be a mission of good to the world. WORDS OF COMMENDATION. From Chas. S. Deneen, Governor of Illinois: "It is with pleasure that I am able to say that Detective Wooldridge has conducted all his cases with zeal and intelligence." J. M. Longenecker, former State's Attorney, says: "Mr. Wooldridge has thorough knowledge of evidence and is an expert in preparing a criminal case for trial. I have found him to be one of the most efficient officers in the Department." R. W. McClaughrey, Warden of U. S. Prison at Leavenworth, Kans., Ex-Warden of Illinois State [Pg 7] [Pg 8] Penitentiary and Ex-Chief of Police of Chicago, says in a letter to the author: "You were not only subject to bribes, but also frequently a target of perjurers and scoundrels of every degree. You came out from every ordeal unscathed, and maintained a character for integrity and fearlessness in the discharge of your duties that warranted the highest commendation. It gives me pleasure to make this statement." J. J. Badenoch, Ex-General Supt. of Police, writing Mr. Wooldridge, says: "Dear Sir—Before I retire from the command of the Police Department, I desire to thank you for your bravery and loyal service. The character of your work being such that bribes are frequently offered by the criminal class, it becomes necessary to select men of perfect integrity for the purpose, and I now know that I made no mistake in selecting you for this trying duty. It affords me great pleasure to commend you for your bravery and fidelity to your duties." Nicholas Hunt, Inspector Commanding Second Division, says: "I have known Clifton R. Wooldridge for the last ten years. As an officer he is par-excellent, absolutely without fear and with a detective ability so strongly developed it almost appealed to me as an extra sense. If I wanted to secure the arrest of a desperate man, I would put Mr. Wooldridge in charge of the case in preference to any one I know, as, with his bravery, he has discretion." Geo. M. Shippy, Chief of Police, of Chicago, writing Mr. Wooldridge, says: "Your heart is in the right place, and while I have always found you stern and persistent in the pursuit and prosecution of criminals, you were very kind and considerate, and I can truthfully say that more than one evil doer was helped to reform and was given material assistance by you." Luke P. Colleran, Chief of Detectives, says: "His book is most worthy and truthful and commendable; and I take pleasure in commending it to all." SHERLOCK HOLMES IN REAL LIFE. From The Chicago Tribune of November 25, 1906. "Chicago may be surprised to learn that it has a Sherlock Holmes of its own, but it has; and before his actual experiences in crime-hunting, the fictional experiences through which Poe, Doyle, and Nick Carter put their detectives pale into insignificance. His name is Clifton R. Wooldridge. "Truth is stranger even than detective fiction, and in the number of his adventures of mystery, danger and excitement he has all the detective heroes of fiction and reality beaten easily. "He has personally arrested 19,500 people, 200 of them were sent to the penitentiary; 3,000 to the house of correction; 6,000 paid fines; 100 girls under age were rescued from lives of shame; $100,000 worth of property was recovered; 100 panel houses were closed; 100 matrimonial bureaus were broken up. [Pg 9] Disguised as a JEW IN THE GHETTO "Wooldridge has refused perhaps 500 bribes of from $500 to $5,000 each. He has been under fire forty-four times. He has been wounded dozens of times. He has impersonated almost every kind of character. He has, in his crime hunting, associated with members of the '400' and fraternized with hobos. He has dined with the elite and smoked in opium dens. He has done everything that one expects the detective of fiction to do and which the real detective seldom does. "When occasion requires he ceases to appear as Wooldridge. He can make a disguise so quickly and effectively that even an actor would be astonished. Gilded youth, negro gambler, honest farmer or lodging house 'bum,' it requires but a few minutes to 'make-up,' to run to earth elusive wrong-doers." The pictures which appear here are actual photographs taken from life in the garb and disguises worn by the author in several famous cases. [Pg 10] "HECK HOUSTON"—STOCK-RAISER FROM WYOMING IN THIS GARB THE AUTHOR MAKES HIMSELF AN EASY MARK FOR THE CROOKS AND GRAFTERS OF THE STOCK-YARD DISTRICT. THE HOLD-UP MAN—THE CARD- SHARP—THE BUNCO-STEERER—THE GET-RICH-QUICK STOCK-BROKER FALL "easy game" to the detective thus disguised. [Pg 11] ASSOCIATING WITH THE STOCK AND BOND GRAFTERS ASSOCIATING WITH THE STOCK AND BOND GRAFTERS DISGUISED AS AN ENGLISHMAN WHO HAS MONEY AND IS LOOKING FOR A GOOD INVESTMENT, MR. WOOLDRIDGE IS EASILY MISTAKEN FOR A "SUCKER." THE TRAP IS SET. HE APPARENTLY WALKS INTO IT; BUT, IN A FEW MINUTES, THE GRAFTER FINDS HIMSELF ON the way to prison. [Pg 12] POLICY-SAM JOHNSON POLICY-SAM JOHNSON THIS IS A FAVORITE DISGUISE OF THE AUTHOR WHEN DOING DETECTIVE DUTY AMONG THE LOWEST AND MOST DISREPUTABLE CRIMINALS. UNSUSPECTINGLY THE CROOKS OFFER him all sorts of dirty work at small prices for assistance in criminal acts. [Pg 13] WE NEVER SLEEP WE NEVER SLEEP DETECTIVES DISGUISED AS TRAMPS: "I AM MADE ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN," SAYS ST. PAUL. THE DETECTIVE MUST ALSO MAKE HIMSELF ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN, THAT HE MAY FIND AND CATCH THE RASCALS. TO BE UP-TO-DATE IT IS NECESSARY TO BE ABLE TO ASSUME AS MANY DISGUISES AS there are classes of people among whom criminals hide. [Pg 14] POLICY-SAM JOHNSON SHOOTING CRAPS POLICY-SAM JOHNSON SHOOTING CRAPS AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE WAY THE DETECTIVE EMPLOYS HIMSELF IN THE GAMBLING DENS. IT IS OFTEN NECESSARY TO PLAY AND LOSE MONEY IN THESE PLACES THAT HE MAY GET AT THE FACTS. OBSERVE THAT HE IS WATCHING PROCEEDINGS IN ANOTHER PART OF THE ROOM while he is throwing the dice. [Pg 15] SHADOWING ONE OF THE FOUR HUNDRED. SHADOWING ONE OF THE FOUR HUNDRED. SOME OF THE MOST DANGEROUS GRAFTERS IN THE WORLD HOBNOB WITH THE ELITE. HERE WE HAVE OUR AUTHOR IN EVENING DRESS, PASSING AS A MAN OF SOCIETY AT A banquet of the rich, shadowing a "high-flyer" crook. CRAPS AND CARDS CRAPS AND CARDS THE GAMBLING HOUSE IS A STATION ON THE ROAD TO CRIME. IN PROPORTION TO POPULATION THERE ARE, perhaps, more negro gamblers than of any other race. [Pg 16] [Pg 17] A LITTLE GAME IN THE ALLEY AT NOON A LITTLE GAME IN THE ALLEY AT NOON MANY BOYS AND YOUNG MEN SPEND THEIR NOON HOUR IN CULTIVATING BAD HABITS THAT LEAD TO nights of gambling; and then come crimes to get money that they may gamble more. A RESTING PLACE ON THE ROAD TO CRIME. A RESTING PLACE ON THE ROAD TO CRIME. THE GILDED SALOON IS THE CLUB-ROOM OF THE CROOK. HERE HE HATCHES HIS PLOTS; HERE HE DRINKS TO GET DESPERATE COURAGE TO CARRY THEM OUT; AND HERE HE RETURNS WHEN THE CRIME HAS BEEN committed to drown remorse and harden conscience. [Pg 18] [Pg 19]