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For as long as i can remember i have always known the story of Will and William West who had the exact same anthopometric measurements but different fingerprints. Although i am not at work at the moment and cannot check my notes, i am pretty sure that it is taught to us in the fingerprint department.

I mentioned it in my thesis (that these two men had the same measurements and different fingerprints) and have now had one of my examiners come back and tell me that it is a myth. That is the first time i have heard that. Anyone else heard this? Any advice?

I just googled it and it seems to say that the facts are correct but what has been embellished is its significance in the introduction of fingerprints over bertillionage into the USA.

This topic seems to come up regularly on discussion boards.

There were a number of articles in the IAI Identification News in early/late 1980's regarding the Will/William West incident. The most complete account can be found in the following article: "A Fingerprint Fable: The Will and William West Case", Robert D. Olsen, Sr., Identification News, 37:11 (1987).

The myth centers around whether they were twins or not, not whether the event actually occurred. It was originally reported that they were strangers, but family links were later proposed that indicate they were twins separated at birth. The story of duplicate Bertillon measurements would have likely had less impact at the time if it were known they were twins, but it was not. Exactly what affect the case had on the ushering into history of the widespread use of fingerprints is a difficult question to answer a century later. Folks who have studied it recently say it had very little effect - Wentworth and Wilder (1918) published that it had a larger effect.

Thanks. That article came up when i did my google search. It seems that the event actually did occur but what seems to be in dispute is whether it did or did not start off the downfall of bertillionage and the widespread use of fingerprints. This is what i stated in my thesis so perhaps i should leave that part out as it seems to be in dispute.

Hi Christie,

Im glad you are now on the right track as a thesis is an important document to get correct. From my reading of matters relating to Bertillon and the Will West case it was not the situation that the measurements were identical but that the measurements were within the tolerance set by Bertillon that made them the same. My personal view is that if Bertillon himself had taken the measurements he would have been able to differentiate the two men but that would also fall into the catergory of contextual bias since he would have known what it was he was trying to prove/disprove. A modern experiment would be to train/find someone as capable as Bertillon and give them two or more sets of identical twins as a blind test. The Bertillon system had both qualitative and quantitative factors, there was a degree of tolerance for discrepancy and the error rate would have included the limitations of the instrument. It was an accurate system when used properly but it lost its appeal when the effectiveness of fingerprinting was demonstrated with the Will West case. Just a few thoughts for consideration. Regards from oz. Les

In my understanding of this case, Bertillon would not have accepted the measurements. Will West #3246 and Will WesT #2626 were close but beyond the limit of divergence he would allow. Alphonse would indicated that they were two different persons.

Christie, like you when I started in fingerprints I heard and was shown the Will and William West case and how when he was fingerprinted the system of Bertillon was shown it shortcomings and its doom was at hand.

Well I am going to throw some other things in the pot.

Will West was admitted to the Levenworth Penitentiary on May 1, 1903. I think it is interesting that fingerprinting was not performed at that Penitentiary until late of 1904. On October 10, 1905 Will and William West were fingerprinted. Almost 2.5 years after Will West was admitted.

Also if it spoke such a death blow to Bertillionage in this country why did it take so long. From a report by Chief Cassada in 1911 on the National Bureau operations stated that "Over 10,000 metric and 5,000 finger measurements were added to the filings during the past year". Here we are talking 7 years later and Bertillion records are still being received by the IACP National Bureau at 2 to 1 over fingerprint records.

Even in 1919 some agencies were still submitting Bertillion records although as I understand the majority of agencies by 1919-1921 had convereted to fingerprints.

The following is a quote from Robert Olsen Sr.'s article of 1987.

A search of the literature on fingerprint identification reveals that the alleged Will and William West case was not reported in print until Wilder and Wentworth's account in 1918. Please note that twenty-six books and articles listed in the bibliography, eighteen were published prior to the release of Wilder and Wentworth's book and none of the eighteen mention the West case. Of particular note is that two of the items listed in the bibliography were by the records clerk who took the Bertillon measurements and the fingerprints of Will and William West, but who never mentions the incident. One is immediately struck with the thought that a pioneer in the establishment of fingerprint idetification never attached much significance to a case in which he played a very important role. Perhaps the case was not as important as we have been led to believe.

Another thing in the Nickell article that I thought was interesting is quoted below.

"Whatever the actual facts of the matter, one incredible detail remains to be considered. On September 7, 1901, when William West was first admitted to Leavenworth, Will West (as Johnson Williams) was then serving out his term for embezzlement. In other words, the celebrated incident of 1903, in which one West was being admitted while the other was already serving a term, was but a replay of 1901, except that in the earlier instance the amazing resemblance was not noted"

Quote from Robert Olsen Sr.

It makes a nice story to tell over port and cigars, but there is evidence that it never happened

It is a story to impress the Newbies and the want-a-bees or to discuss over a tall cold one.

It is all a manufactured legend for PR purposes.

Read Robert D. Olsen Sr. article and he can even surmise how and who started it.

Just a few other bits of information that supports Olsen's conclusion. John Kenneth Ferrier was asked to visit the Leavenworth prison after addressing a group of prison wardens in the summer of 1904. What prompted the invitation was his display of presumed identical twins found earlier in England, Albert Ebenezer Fox and Ebenezer Albert Fox. (Yes, parents can be cruel.) The Fox brothers' Bertillon measurements were listed and allegedly showed variation in only one measurement, yet their fingerprints revealed difference that Ferrier claimed was "clearly noted." According to Ferrier's accounting, he made the trip to Kansas and introduced fingerprinting to the prison at that time.

I scanned Robert Olsen Sr.'s article and have it in a PDF format if anyone wants a copy, just e-mail me or send me a CLPEX mail.

charlesparker@hughes.net

Are any of you familiar with a version of this story which I think was published in the 1950s that has Will speaking Stepin Fetchit-type black dialect? "No, suh, I ain't nevuh been heah befo'"--something like that. This was actually in some training materials at my agency, though I'm not sure if we have a copy anymore. Hard to believe that was being disseminated in serious law enforcement publications.

Bob referenced such a version in his article. It appears on page 11 of "Fingerprinting: A Manual of Identification", Charles Edward Chapel, Coward McCann-New York, 1941.

Alan, that same kind of language is used in the book "Finger Printing: A Manual of Identification" written by Charles Edward Chapel copyrighted 1941.

I read his account of the West case and he has some statements in his book there that if you read the article by Robert Olsen Sr. they kind of conflict. I personally would agree more with Olsen's account than Chapel's.

I have read some other things in Chapel's book that kind of goes different than other accounts I have read. For example the Rojas Murders.

But----that is history---sometimes kind of indistinct and foggy.

I think Myers book on the "History of Fingerprints in the United States" is probably the best resource as he backs up a lot of what he proposes with letters and quotes from people at the time. Myers booklet came out in the 40's I believe. I do not have it with me at this time as it is at the house.

Interesting stuff, but I'm left with two questions.

1 - Why did M. W. McClaughry print the Wests on 10/10/05? Why both on the same day? Perhaps just printing all prisoners alphabetically? Is there evidence to support that?

2 - How did others learn of the story if neither McClaughry thought it significant? If nothing appears in print about this until 15 years after the second West was arrested, one tends to think that someone was talking about it. I can't imagine Wentworth and Wilder just deciding to go through all the records of Leavenworth to see if something interesting pops up.

George

A couple of good points, George. I believe you answered the first as the establishment of fingerprint records at Leavenworth was probably done alphabetically.

The second answer may be lost in antiquity, but the trail could lead to A.J. Renoe. Bob cites A.J. Renoe as the source for Wentworth/Wilder's account of the incident. You can learn of A.J. Renoe at Michele Triplett's Fingerprint Dictionary (http://www.fprints.nwlean.net/r.htm). Her entry sets forth the timing and position of his association with Leavenworth and his other professional involvements (IAI).

This coincidence involving the West Boys may have been more known among experts long before anything appeared in print. As a British colleague once stated about another matter, "something which was discussed behind the stacks".

An interesting footnote was seen in "Fingerprints: History, Law and Romance" by George W. Wilton (1938).

"La Preuve par les Empreintes Digitales", in Archieves d'Anthropologie, 1911, Vol. XXVI, p. 254. There is considerable confusion in fingerprint textbooks about a case in Kansas, U.S.A., known as that of "the two Wests," in which the superiority of fingerprint identification over that of Bertillonage was demonstrated. Some, including Faulds, narrate it as case over a murder charge. It seems to have concerned only the identity of two individuals. Bertillonage found no difference between them in measurements, appearance, &c. Only fingerprints solved the puzzle. See "Personal Identification," supra, p. 28.

The footnote opens with the cite to a volume in 1911 and ends with the cite to Wentworth and Wilder's work (1918). Did this West case make a published appearance in 1911?

Well, we don't have a whole lot of folklore in this field, and any significant activity can use (if not needs) some folklore. And you can't keep a good story down. Historians strive for detailed and documented accuracy, and in the process usually strip an account of interest to any but other historians who, when the facts are nailed down, promptly lose interest in a problem already solved and an event that doesn't mean much. But the stories that endure are those that distill broader truths and condense the experience of a time into a vivid and unforgettable tale. If you want a real understanding of the formative era of the American Southwest, you go best to the works of J. Frank Dobie who never let disputed facts or lack of them get in the way of a revealing story. The West tale will inevitably live on in its traditional form. It conveys to the casually interested layman the relationship between Signaletics and fingerprint identification and the essence of the transition better than volumes of facts.