Photograph of Julian Hawthorne Affixed to Bertillon Measurement Card
From the Inmate Case file of Julian Hawthorne, Inmate No. 4435
Dated March 26, 1913, this is the Bertillon Measurement Card for Julian Hawthorne, son of American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. Also an author and journalist himself, Hawthorne was sentenced to 1 year in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for his involvement in a stock fraud scheme. Hawthorne maintained his innocence and later wrote about his experience in prison in his work The Subterranean Brotherhood.
A system of physical identification pre-dating the use of fingerprints, Bertillon Measurements used anthropometrics, such as the length and width of the head and the degree of forehead slope to create an individual’s unique profile.
These two men are wearing coats with special pockets designed to hide and steal documents.
Barry Landau and Jason Savedoff posed as researchers in order to steal documents from archives, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York.
On Thursday, March 7, Mitch Yockelson of the Archival Recovery Team and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Warwick will discuss the Landau case.
during the investigatioitems were seized as evidence, including priceless documents in the hand of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Sir Isaac Newton, and Charles Dickens
Landau was sentenced seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy and theft of historical documents from cultural institutions in four states. Savedoff was sentenced to a year in prison.
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Photograph of John Welshouse Affixed to Bertillon Measurement Card
From the Inmate Case File of John Welshouse, Inmate No. 4816.
The Bertillon Card for John Welshouse, an inmate of the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, states he was examined on January 26, 1914. A system of physical identification pre-dating the use of fingerprints, Bertillon Measurements used anthropometrics, such as the length and width of the head and the degree of forehead slope to create an individual’s unique profile. Welshouse’s file indicates that he was convicted in New Orleans, Louisiana for violation of the White Slave Act, although his sentence was later commuted.
John Dillinger was the nation’s top public enemy in 1934. He was charged in a string of bank robberies and for the murder of a police officer after being released from prison on parole for robbing a grocery store. Once again in police custody, Dillinger broke out of prison and fled the scene in a stolen car. He drove the car across state lines, violating the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act (a federal offense). The investigation was then turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This wanted poster was printed by the government in June 1934. Dillinger was located and surrounded by FBI agents at the Chicago Biograph Theater on July 22. Dillinger reached for his gun, and was shot and killed at the scene.
FBI Wanted Poster of John Dillinger, 06/25/1934, Publications of the U.S. Government (ARC 306713)
Notorious gangster Alphonse “Al” Capone was born on January 17, 1899. At the time he filled out this World War I draft registration card he was still living in Brooklyn, prior to his move to Chicago.
“…Coming to the end of a career of crime, Baby Face Nelson…”
As depicted in this cheesy reenactment from YOUR FBI, notorious gangster Lester Joseph Gillis, aka George “Baby Face” Nelson, was killed following a shootout with Federal agents on November 27, 1934.
Crimes Against Butter
These three men spent time at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth for violating the Oleomargarine Act of August 2, 1886.
Read more about their story on the Prologue Blog.
