176 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
APPENDIX B. 
THUMB PRINT IDENTIFICATION. 
(a) From World Wide (Montreal), February 18, 1911: 
SoME THUMBS ARE ALIKE. 
(The Springfield Republican.) 
But a short time ago a Chicago man was convicted of murder, 
committed while house breaking, solely on thumb print evidence. The 
veranda railing had wet paint, and the murderer left his thumb and 
finger prints when he vaulted the railing in his escape. The judge 
declared that the exact correspondence between the markings of the 
thumb prints of the prisoner at the bar and those in the wet paint of the 
veranda railing, which had been carefully preserved, proved the guilt 
of the accused beyond the possibility of doubt. At that time, there 
was no case on record of the failure of thumb print identification, and 
the Chicago judge’s strong statement showed how confident the police 
and the courts were becoming that this method was beyond assault. 
The appeal to a higher court from the death sentence imposed, will, it 
now appears, be much strengthened by a recent sensational development 
in England. At last, the thumb print system has broken down in at 
least one case. An accused person, having been identified as the 
criminal by the method, was able to establish a perfect alibi by the 
records of the British army, in which he had been serving, and his release 
was ordered by the court. It is said that the correspondence in thumb 
prints was absolute, and the British criminologists and police authori- 
ties are somewhat shaken by the fact. One such case, fully authenti- 
cated, should make the execution of the death penalty impossible on 
thumb print evidence alone. 
(b) From World Wide, February 25, 1911: 
THuMB PRINT IDENTIFICATION. 
There is still no record of the failure of thumb print identification. 
We are informed by a correspondent that in the case quoted by us in 
the ‘‘ World Wide” of Feb. 18, the English army authorities were able 
later to prove that the criminal was not the man he claimed to be, the 
alibi had broken down, and the inference is that the thumb marks were 
his. 
