Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World

About this eBook

Author

Wooldridge, Clifton R. (Clifton Rodman), 1854-1933

Credits

Produced by Diane Monico and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

Language

English

LoC Class

HV: Social sciences: Social pathology, Social and Public Welfare

Subject

Police -- Illinois -- Chicago

Category

Text

eBook-No.

47445

Project Gutenberg

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47445

Release Date

November 23, 2014

Copyright

Public domain in the USA.

Contents

1. 1.Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World.
2. 2.PREFACE.
3. 3.TABLE OF CONTENTS.
4. 4.PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
5. 5.WORDS OF COMMENDATION. — SHERLOCK HOLMES IN REAL LIFE.
6. 6.CLIFTON R. WOOLDRIDGE AMERICA'S FOREMOST DETECTIVE. — Born in Kentucky. — AN UNPARALLELED RECORD. — Cannot Be Bribed. — Tremendous Amount of Work Done. — Life History of Wooldridge. — Numberless Hair-Breadth Escapes. — Saves Women and Children in Fire. — Rides to Station on Prisoner's Back. — Hangs on Window Sill. — A Plot to Kill Detective Wooldridge. — Detective Wooldridge Roughly Handled. — Fine Work in a Thieves' Resort. — Makes High Dive. — Story Rivals Poe's "Black Cat." — On Duty in Great Strike. — Remarkable Work as a Ragpicker. — Hero of Some Fierce Fights. — Crooked Gambling Trust. — Try to Corrupt Schoolboys. — Detective Wooldridge Secures Evidence in Novel Way. — Acts as Vendor of Fighting "Chickens." — Bribery Tactics of No Avail.
7. 7.GRAFT NATION'S WORST FOE. — THE REIGN OF GRAFT. — ARE YOU A GRAFTER? — Graft is Overlord. — Scores of Proud Names Smirched. — Life of Nation Imperiled. — Nation, States and Cities Aroused. — President Leads Foes of Graft. — Forces of Graft Hard Pressed. — Hideous Peril is Revealed. — Idols Covered with Slime. — The Unconscious Grafter. — War on Graft Just Beginning. — Wholesale Swindling Grafters. — Religious Graft Pays. — Financial Yields Are Large. — Mysticism Draws Many Converts. — American Faker Gets the Coin. — Faith in Charlatan Strong. — Pawn Tickets on Diamonds. — Victim Anxious for Interest. — New Law Badly Needed. — Postage Stamp Grafter. — The Clerk Grafter. — Plays on Tardy Victim. — Fall Guy Takes Bait. — Sucker Digs Out Coin. — FLEECING INVALIDS AND CRIPPLES. — Write Smooth Letters. — Rob Bed-Ridden Women. — "Operators" Cringing Cowards. — SHARKS RUIN BUSINESS MEN. — New Line of Financial Graft. — Offer of Cash Arouses Interest. — Gets $800 for $1,000. — Begins to Show His Teeth. — Loses His 20 Per Cent. — Trade Statements to Customer. — SHREWD BEGGAR GRAFT. — Paralytic a Bad Actor. — Easy Money From Kind Hearts. — For the Benefit of the Heathen. — Gave the Money to Canvas Boss. — Worked the Game Once a Month. — In Name of Charity. — This One Made Fortune. — Often Worth the Price. — Raffles Bank Robbery. — How Skin Raffle is Worked. — Popular Game in Saloons. — Raffle is Lottery by Law. — Raffles That Are Steals. — Graft of Train Butcher Easy. — What Was Hidden Under Seat. — How Three Book Monte Is Played. — Shows Corner of Bill. — All Suckers Not in Day Coaches. — Country Town "Sport" Easiest Mark. — Women Victims of Old Coupon Scheme. — The Old "Wareroom" Tale. — BOOK LOVERS EASY PREY OF FRAUDS. — Bogus Art Works Fine Graft. — Miserable Little Short Measure Thieves. — Crime a Fine Art. — Cities Breeding Spots of Crime. — America's Educated Criminal Class. — Refined Criminals Most Dangerous. — Prison Poor Cure for Crime. — Maconochie's Experiment. — Faces Portray Character. — Criminal Heads Not Extraordinary.
8. 8.DETECTIVE CLIFTON R. WOOLDRIDGE'S "Never-Fail" System
9. 9.The Best Rules for Health, Happiness and Success. — PRIDE COSTS MORE THAN HUNGER, THIRST AND COLD.
10. 10.COINING CUPID'S WILES. — How Matrimonial Agencies Prey on the Public—Their Degeneration Into the Worst Forms of Crime. — Human Derelicts Are Dupes. — Matrimonial Agents' Methods. — No Trust Here. — Working the Double Cross. — Two Well-Defined Forms. — CONCRETE EXAMPLES. — Type No. 1. — Commits Suicide. — Secondary Types. — Matrimonial Agencies' Stock Letters Under the Guise of Ministry. — Wanted a Rich Husband. — Matrimonial Agency Under the Guise of an Attorney-at-Law. — Matrimonial Agency Under the Guise of Employment Exchange. — A Persistent Offender. — Bobs Up Again. — Turns Clairvoyant. — Agents of the Underworld a Nest of Pole-Cats. — Sheriff Duped—Attempts Role of Lothario. — BIGAMY AND THE BUREAU. — Where the Professional Bigamists Find Wives. — The Case of Count Larisch. — Witzhoff's Confession—Bought Fifteen Wives From One Agent—Takes $4,000 From His First Wife. — Deserts Wife After the First Day. — Identified in Chicago; Wedding Stopped. — BREAKING INTO THE NOBILITY. — How Titled Rakes Use the Agencies. — Woes of Count Larisch. — Lord Bertie Cavendish—Champion Matrimonialist. — Market for American Heiresses. — Government Officials Roused to Many Frauds by the Matrimonial Agencies and Bureaux Throughout the Country, "Agencies" to Put Under Ban the Swindling Operations. — Mrs. Jennie Scott, Arrested by Postal Inspectors, Tells Secrets of Her Matrimonial Agency. — Same Literature Used as in Marion Grey Case. — Clients All Wealthy; Take Their Word for It. — Witnesses Need a Shepherd. — Nice Letters Lack Rich Tone. — Southern Beauty Sends $2. — THE HORRIBLE GUNNESS FARM. — The Ripened Fruit of the Matrimonial Agency. — Lombroso Discusses Monster. — List of the Victims. — IN LIGHTER VEIN. — Could Live and Die on Love. — Not a Flirt. — LOVELORN WAILS. — Her Ideal Husband. — This One Is Real Frank. — ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES. — Swift Courtship by Edwards. — The Festive Farm Hand Frivols. — THE FAKER AND THE PRESS. — Some Newspapers Are Buncoed, While Others Willingly Assist Rascals. — MATRIMONIAL AGENCIES' ADVERTISEMENTS FOR RICH WIVES AND HUSBANDS. — Same Thing Nearer Home.
11. 11.THE GREAT MISTAKE. OUR PENAL SYSTEM IS A RELIC OF EARLY SAVAGERY. — Intelligence in Punishing Crime. — The "Silent System" is a Crime Against Criminals. — Extreme Methods Faulty. — Jails Make 50,000 Criminals a Year. — Crime Based on Suggestion. — Suggests Great Prison Farm. — Improving the Public Health. — Road Work for Convicts. — Solves "Good Roads" Problem. — Extend the Parole System.
12. 12.VAGRANTS; WHO AND WHY. — WHAT WILL WE DO WITH THE VAGRANT AND TRAMP? — Tramp a Railroad Problem. — Better Lodgings for Homeless Men. — Tramps Like Jail. — Hobos Classified by Races. — New Foreigner Not a Hobo. — Jew Recruit in Trampdom. — Talks of the Tramp—Why Dilapidated Gentleman Does Not Give Up Wandering and Settle Down—Likes the Care-Free Life—Mingles Among the People and Gets to Know Them Well—Changes in Community. — Get Out Among the People. — Barns Now Locked. — Victims of Fakers. — Hardened by Losses in "Prosperity" Times. — His Feelings Hurt. — Driven to the Cities. — Things Are Changed Now. — Farmers Down on Tramps. — Suspicious of Caller. — Hobo Looks Like Business Man. — Tramp An Artist. — COLONIES FOR TRAMPS. — Teaching Vagrants a Trade.
13. 13.THE YOUNG CRIMINAL HOW HE IS BRED IN CHICAGO. — Preventing Crime Better Than Cure. — The End of the Gamin. — Chicago Has Her Children. — Graduate of the Streets. — 10,000 Boys Worse Than Homeless. — Schools for Pickpockets. — Modern Boys Are Gamblers. — Remedies Suggested by Some. — Failure to Rule Children Makes Criminals. — Respect Rights of Others. — Reformatory After First Crime. — Guide Child of Fifteen Carefully. — Child Like a Plant. — Rear Child in Love. — The Greatest Reform Movement of the Day Is the Chicago Juvenile Court. — Illinois in the Lead.
14. 14.WILES OF FORTUNE TELLING. — FORTUNE TELLERS HAVE EXISTED SINCE RECORDS OF EVENTS BEGAN TO BE KEPT. — Panderers to Depravity. — Prognostications Are Vague. — Predicts Like a Spellbinder. — Warned of the Enemy. — Predictions Change Little. — Make Enough to Retire. — Answers Questions for a Dollar. — Married Two Wives; What Will Happen? — Roomful of Patrons. — Gets Pointers from Customer. — SPOOKS RAIDED. DETECTIVES WOOLDRIDGE AND BARRY DESCEND ON A WEST SIDE MEDIUM'S PLACE. — Plans Are Well Laid. — Detectives Attend Service. — Calling Up the Spirits. — Spirits Begin to Move. — Keys Up the Spectators. — Wooldridge Takes a Hand. — Women Refuse to Talk. — Wooldridge Makes Ghost Walk in Police Court. — "Spook" Wooldridge Demonstrates. — Arrest South Side Mediums. — Officer Serves Papers.
15. 15.WIFE OR GALLOWS? PREFERS HANGING TO LIVING WITH HIS WIFE. — Woman Was Robbed and Murdered. — Devel Confesses to the Crime. — Police Learn He is Not Guilty. — Searching for Motive of Confession.
16. 16.A CLEVER SHOPLIFTER. DETECTIVE WOOLDRIDGE FINDS A FAIR CRIMINAL. — Sleeps All Day; Makes Night Hideous. — Stole $1,000 Worth of Goods in Two Days. — Kept at South Bartonville Without Locks. — History of "Fainting Bertha." — Criticises the Linen Purchased by the State. — Bertha Says Gunther Promised To Marry Her. — Most Unruly Prisoner in Joliet. — Penitentiary Glad to Be Rid of Her. — Pale Blue Color Scheme of Bertha's Ward. — Delighted at Chance of Going to Town. — Took Pie and Candy Back "Home." — Detention Record of "Fainting Bertha."
17. 17.FRONT. — Stanley Field's Buggy. — Fake Pride Leads to Crime.
18. 18.LAST CHANCE GONE. — IDENTIFICATION BUREAU AIDED BY NATURE. — Perfected in London. — INSTRUCTIONS FOR TAKING FINGER PRINTS. — Scotland Yard Method. — Most Positive Identification. — Applied to Immigrants. — Keep Bad Men Out of Service. — Secure Prints of All Criminals. — Finger Print System Furnishes Complete Identification. — Broken Glass Proves Guilt. — Important in Will Contests. — How to Detect a Forger. — Used in Ancient Times. — Safeguard on Seals of Letters and Money Packages. — Identifying Strangers. — Signing Bonds and Stocks. — Objects to Having Finger Impressions Recorded. — Murder Revealed by Finger Prints. — Sent to Gallows by Bloody Thumb Print. — Government to Keep Watch on Criminals.
19. 19.BURGLARY A SCIENCE. — ELECTRICITY NOW A FACTOR. — Old-Time Strong Box. — Jimmy Is Necessary. — Scientific Burglary. — Invent New Devices. — Melts Hardest Steel. — Tests with Electricity. — Some Concrete Examples. Burglars Use Acetylene Flame to Open Safe Door. — The Bank Sneak. — Circus Day Brings a Harvest. — Blinding Victim with Molasses. — Rarely Use Pistols. — The Lord Bond Robbery. — One Man's Bold Operations. — Hire a Band to Help Them. — Importance of Being on Guard. — Looked Like Coleman's Work. — Diamonds Buried in Jar. — Joe Killoran's Smooth Work. — The Hotel Sneak. The Use of False Keys.
20. 20.CELL TERMS FOR "CON" MEN. — FOUR ARE SENTENCED FOR LONG "GRAFT" RECORDS. — Triumph for Wooldridge.
21. 21.PANEL HOUSE THIEVES. — Must Have Pretty Woman. — Male Accomplices Get Busy. — The Photographic Catch. — Scare Money Out of Victim. — Blackmail the Wife as Well. — "Bogus Detective" Game. — Storekeeper Scamps. — How Fake "Journalists" Work. — Few "Beats" Among Reporters. — The New York Way.
22. 22.GAMBLING AND CRIME. — BEST CURE FOR GAMBLING: TEACH PUPILS IN SCHOOL LAWS OF CHANCE. — Why Gambling Makes Men Commit Crimes. — No Basis for Livelihood. — Temptation to Embezzle. — How Commerce Condones Crime. — Wherein Speculation Differs. — When it Will Cease. — Gambling Don't Pay. — How to End Race-Track Gambling. — Learn Early Not to Gamble; Teach Pupils Law of Chance. — Public Lax; Gamblers Active. — Are We Following Rome to the Pit? — Fate's Cards Always Stacked. — Children Throw Away Money. — Confederates Used. — Cheating Device in a Slot Machine. — HOLD OUTS. — Marked Cards. — Cards Marked With Finger Nails. — The Double Discard. — Check Signs. — Uses to Which a Pack of Cards May be Put. — The Bill Hand. — Toothpick or Cigar Signs. — GAMBLING DEVICE SWINDLE IN ARMY AND NAVY. — Try to Corrupt School Boys. — Forts Infected by Evil. — Many Victims Suicides. — KING DEATH. — An Average of 200 Suicides a Year at Monte Carlo—Many Bodies Are Secretly Thrown Into Sea by Authorities of This, the World's Greatest Gambling House. — Bodies Thrown in Ocean. — Banish the Dead Broke. — Bonapartes Big Stockholders. — Prince Owns no Stock. — Receives Enormous Income. — Gambling Kings Go Broke; Often Die in the Poorhouse. — Must Have Fortune to Invest. — Story of One Gambler King. — Dice, Faro and Roulette. — More Nerve to Win Than Lose. — IT'S UP TO YOU, YOUNG MAN.
23. 23.A HEARTLESS FRAUD. — Swindler Jumps Bail.
24. 24.THE BOGUS MINE. — Promoter's Word Valueless. — Investigation Necessary. — Keep Lists of Suckers. — Pecksniffian Tears Delude. — Difficult to Convict. — Power of Uncle Sam. — Wooldridge Finds Smooth Scheme. — "Holy Moses" Rises? — "Holy Moses" Falls. — First Principles in Mining Purchases.
25. 25.A GIANT SWINDLE. — Chicago Concerns Are Victims. — Loses All of Savings. — One Capitalized at $1,000,000. — Sheriff in Charge of Affairs. — List of Bogus Firms. — Opened Many Bank Accounts. — Offer Bond in a Settlement. — Five Men Are Arrested by Detectives Wooldridge and Barry. — Tool Tells Truth—Usher of Church in Crime Cloud. — Cunningham Tells the Story. — Bank Account Overdrawn. — Offer of Bribe Alleged. — Check "Kiters" Heavily Fined—George F. Johnston and C. F. McGuire Assessed $2,000 Each.
26. 26.QUACKS. — Physic to the Dogs. — Unnecessary Operations. — Sleek and Unctuous Church Member. — The "Optician" Fake. — Consumption Cures. — Human Ghouls. — The Morphine Cure. — Encouraging the Morphine Habit. — The Cancer Cure. — Patients from Everywhere. — The Rupture Cure. — Female Diseases. — The Electric Belt Fraud. — The Varicocele Cure. — The "Nervous Debility Specialist." — A Monumental Swindle. — Blackmail an Adjunct. — Swindler a "Dope" Fiend. — Just Plain Fraud.
27. 27.FABULOUS LOSSES IN BIG TURF FRAUDS. — "INVESTMENT" COMPANIES OF LAST FEW YEARS NETTED $10,162,000. — Gigantic Turf Swindle. — Get-Rich-Quick Schemes. — Here Are Plausible Arguments. — The Police, Aroused by Turf Swindlers, Raid and Close Up Their Places. — FAKE TURFMEN INDICTED. — Prey on Chicago Teachers. — How Arnold Inspired Confidence.
28. 28.FAKE DRUG VENDORS. — A MOST DANGEROUS FORM OF RASCALITY. — WHAT THE TEST SHOWED. — DANGER TO THE PATIENT. — HASTENED McKINLEY'S DEATH. — LETTER FROM EDWARD A. KUEHMSTED, THE PRINCIPAL DEALER IN SPURIOUS DRUGS; IT IS SELF-EXPLANATORY. — THE STATE LAWS COVERING THE FRAUDULENT ADULTERATION OF DRUGS AND MEDICINES FOR THE PURPOSE OF SALE, READS AS FOLLOWS.
29. 29.BUCKET-SHOP. — "Speculation" an Unmeaning Term. — "Board of Trade" Falsely Blamed. — What is a Bucket Shop. — Ready to Make All Deals. — Name Coined in London. — Game Neatly Fixed. — How the Suckers Are Skinned. — Other "Fakes" "Boost" the Game. — Big Dividend Promises False. — "Outsider" Has No Chance. — On Level with Lottery and Faro Bank. — Open Gambling Under Ban. — Open Door to Ruin.
30. 30.ON "SURE THINGS." — HOW TO LEARN THEIR REAL CHARACTER. — All "Brite & Fair." — Dodge Uncle Sam and Conspiracy Laws. — Wildcats Give Good Reference.
31. 31.HUGE SWINDLES BARED. — $300,000,000 Capital. — Did Heavy Business. — Scheme of the Company. — The Guarantee Co. Methods. — Good Advice on "Guarantee." — Do Booming Business.
32. 32.THE SOCIAL EVIL. — America Follows Old Lines. — Only Burned Orphan Asylum. — Give All Honest Chance. — Average Evil Life Very Short. — Argument Against Segregation. — Evil Not Necessary. — Nobler Womanhood the Goal.
33. 33.SUPPRESS MANUFACTURE AND SALE OF DANGEROUS WEAPONS—THEY ARE A CONSTANT MENACE TO LIFE AND GOOD ORDER. — MADE SOLELY FOR UNLAWFUL USE—ENGENDER CRIME, INCREASE ACCIDENTS AND MAKE SUICIDE EASY—CARRYING CONCEALED WEAPONS A VICIOUS AND INEXCUSABLE HABIT. — QUEERS THE TOWN.
34. 34.GETTING SOMETHING FOR NOTHING. — HOW THE WORTHLESS CERTIFICATE WORKS. — Trying Their Hand at Life Insurance. — Assurance Given Investors. — Purchases "Guaranteed."
35. 35.WANT AD. FAKERS. — THE PETTY DOLLAR SWINDLERS PUT OUT OF BUSINESS IN CHICAGO BY DETECTIVE CLIFTON R. WOOLDRIDGE. — Home Work Scheme Catches Many. — Money Charged for Fake "Outfits." — A Smooth Scheme. — Financial "Journal" Frauds.
36. 36.MILLIONAIRE BANKER AND BROKER ARRESTED. — List of Branch Offices. — Exclusive Offices for Lady Speculators. — On the "Oil Exchange." — Reasons Which Caused Investigation, Raid and Arrest. — Wooldridge's Raid. — Offices Filled with Patrons. — Names of Prisoners Arrested. — Crowd Gathers. — "Red Letter" Well Known. Patrons Told They Would Not Lose If Advice Was Followed. — Sullivan Has Record.
37. 37.DORA McDONALD. — MILLION-DOLLAR GAMBLER'S WIFE ARRESTED FOR MURDER. — Important Dates in Mrs. McDonald's Life Tragedy. — No Witnesses of Killing. — Woman Cut by Broken Glass. — Mystery Too Much for Coroner. — Friends Get Busy Quickly. — Guerin's Life Story. — Dora McDonald Divorced Wife of "Sam" Barclay. — Beauty of West Side. — Boy of 14 Enters. — Stole Him as a Boy, Slew Him as a Man, Says Archie Guerin. — Mike McDonald Deluded by Wife. — Provides for the Defense. — Dramatic Meeting of McDonald and First Wife. — Trial Begins. — Names of the Jury. — Packed Courtroom. — Dramatic Scene in Courtroom. — Bloom Gone From Cheek. — No Madness in Her Eyes. — Traces of Siren Left. — A "Sappho" and "Salome." — Tragedy of a Soul in Poems of Passion by Dora McDonald. — Written as Tragedy Approached. — Poem Written on Date of the Guerin Tragedy. — "Kill Me If You Will," She Says in a Verse. — Pearls Before Swine. — Another Poem of Passion. — Never Again. — Sought Vindication to Spare Her Aged Mother. — Strong Defense by Lewis. — Strikes Hard at Archie Guerin. — O'Donnell Moves to Tears. — Quotes the Gospel. — Acquittal Creates Thrilling Scenes. — Suspense Frightful. — McDonald Jurors Tell of the Verdict. — Woman Serene as Verdict is Read. — The Vampire.
38. 38.MIKE McDONALD. — Begins Life as "Candy Butcher." — Patriotic for a Price. — Solved Gambling Problem. — Once Ruled All Chicago. — Near to Penitentiary. — Case Finally "Fixed." — Rises in His Profession. — Throne in "The Store." — The Big Courthouse "Job." — Domestic Life Rough. — Sam Barclay Tells "How Mike McDonald's Coin Won Dora Away." — Opens Saloon in Chicago. — Likely Lad of 200 Pounds. — Nothing Like Real Love. — Day of Harrison Funeral. — Deep Game Well Played. — Wife Gets Divorce. — Second Wedding in Milwaukee. — Induces Husband to Disinherit Son. — The Sting and Curse of Ill-Gotten Money. — WIFE NO. 1, WIDOW; NO. 2, REPUDIATED. — Burial of "Mike" McDonald Serves to Open New Chapter in His Troubles—Old Scandals Denied. — Mary Noonan Now Claims Innocence and Fights to Prove Divorce Illegal. — First Wife Denies Charges. — Repudiation of Second Wife. — Church Not Interested in Will. — Mrs. Mary McDonald Changed. — Tells Her Story at Last. — Says Charges Were Invented. — No Chapel in House. — Leaves Husband; Goes to Sister. — Pawns Her Diamonds. — Driven to Hide Identity. — Opposed by Documents. — Joint Letters in Evidence.

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