Twenty Years a Detective 1

	Twenty Years a Detective 1

Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World, by Clifton R. Wooldridge 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 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. [Illustration: 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. [Illustration: "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.] [Illustration: 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.] [Illustration: 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.] [Illustration: 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.] [Illustration: 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.] [Illustration: 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.] [Illustration: 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.] [Illustration: 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.] [Illustration: 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.] [Illustration: YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE] [Illustration: A GAME OF POKER FOR "A SMALL STAKE" This is a clangorous stop. Many a ruined man traces his downfall to the day he began in youth to "bet" a little "to make the game interesting."] [Illustration: Emma Ford (Sisters) Pearl Smith Mary White, Flossie Moore FOUR FAMOUS NEGRO WOMEN GRAFTERS As confidence workers, highway robbers, and desperate criminals they were the terror of officers and courts. Together they stole and robbed people of more than $200,000.00. They were finally run to earth and put in prison. Our author followed one of them across the continent and back.] [Illustration: THE DESTINATION OF THE GRAFTER. "The way of the transgressor is hard." "Be sure your sin will find you out." The penitentiary is full of bright men who might have been eminently successful--an honor to themselves and a blessing to mankind, if they had only heeded the old adage--"Honesty is the best policy."] [Illustration: WOOLDRIDGE'S CABINET OF BURGLAR TOOLS. At the police headquarters in Chicago, one of the most attractive curios is the above cabinet of burglar-tools and weapons taken by the author from robbers and crooks during his eighteen years of service.] [Illustration: TURNING THE BOYS FROM CRIMINAL PATHS This is a photograph of the Juvenile Court in Chicago, where boys who commit crimes are tried and sent to the Reformatory, instead of to prison with hardened criminals. The author claims that our prison system is filling the country with criminals.] [Illustration] CLIFTON R. WOOLDRIDGE AMERICA'S FOREMOST DETECTIVE. Clifton R. Wooldridge was born February 25, 1854, in Franklin county, Kentucky. He received a common school education, and then started out in the world to shift for himself. From 1868 to 1871, he held the position of shipping clerk and collector for the Washington Foundry in St. Louis, Missouri. Severing his connection with that company, he went to Washington, D. C., and was attached to the United States Signal Bureau from March 1, 1871, to December 5, 1872. He then took up the business of railroading, and for the following nine years occupied positions as fireman, brakeman, switchman, conductor and general yard master. When the gold fever broke out in the Black Hills in 1879, Mr. Wooldridge along with many others went to that region to better his fortune. Six months later he joined the engineering corps of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad and assisted in locating the line from Canon City to Leadville, as well as several of the branches. The work was not only very difficult, but very dangerous, and at times, when he was assisting in locating the line through the Royal Gorge in the Grand Canon of the Arkansas, he was suspended from a rope, which ran from the peak of one cliff to the other, with his surveying instruments strapped to his back. This gorge is fifty feet wide at the bottom and seventy feet wide at the top, the walls of solid rock rising three thousand feet above the level of the river below. The work was slow and required a great deal of skill, but it was accomplished successfully. Mr. Wooldridge went to Denver in 1880 and engaged in contracting and mining the following eighteen months. He then took a position as engineer and foreman of the Denver Daily Republican, where he remained until May 29, 1883. The following August he came to Chicago and took a position with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway. In 1886, he severed his connection with the railroad and founded the "Switchman's Journal." He conducted and edited the paper until May 26th, when he was burned out, together with the firm of Donohue & Henneberry at the corner of Congress street and Wabash avenue, as well as many other business houses in that locality, entailing a total loss of nearly $1,000,000. Thus the savings of many years were swept away, leaving him penniless and in debt. He again turned his attention to railroading and secured a position with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad and had accumulated enough money to pay the indebtedness which resulted from the fire, when the great strike was inaugurated on that road in February, 1888. The strike included the engineers, firemen and switchmen, and continued nearly a year. On October 5th of that year Mr. Wooldridge made application for a position on the Chicago police force, and having the highest endorsements, he was appointed and assigned to the Desplaines Street Station. It was soon discovered that Wooldridge as a police officer had no superiors and few equals. Neither politics, religion, creed, color, or nationality obstructed him in the performance of his police duties, and the fact was demonstrated and conceded times without number that he could not be bought, bribed, or intimidated. He selected for his motto, "Right wrongs no man; equal justice to all." His superior officers soon recognized the fact that no braver, more honest or efficient police officer ever wore a star or carried a club. The mass of records on file in the police headquarters and in the office of the clerk of the municipal and criminal court demonstrate conclusively that he has made one of the most remarkable records of any police officer in the United States if not in the world. Mr. Wooldridge has seen twenty years of experience and training in active police work. Ten years of this time he was located in what is commonly known as the Levee district, a territory where criminals congregate and where crimes of all degrees are committed. BORN IN KENTUCKY. Mr. Wooldridge is therefore of Southern extraction. And in spite of the "big stick" which this terror of the grafters has carried for twenty years, he still "speaks softly," the gentle accent of the old South. But behind that soft speech there is a determined soul. The smooth-running accents of the South are in this case the velvet which hides the glove of iron. The following are some of the deeds of valor, work and achievements he has accomplished: AN UNPARALLELED RECORD.      20,000 arrests made by Detective Wooldridge.      He keeps a record of each arrest, time, place and      disposition of the case.      14,000 arrests made for violation State and city      misdemeanors.      6,000 arrests made on criminal charges.      10,500 of these prisoners paid fines.      2,400 of these prisoners were sent to jail or the house of      correction.      200 of these were convicted and sent to the penitentiary.      1,000 get-rich-quick concerns were raided and broken up.      60 wagon loads of literature seized and destroyed.      A conservative estimate of the sum contributed annually      by this highly civilized nation to "safe investment" and      "get-rich-quick" concerns is $150,000,000.      300 poker, crap and gambling games raided and closed;      $1,000,000 lost.      200 wine rooms closed up. These wine rooms were the      downfall and ruination of hundreds of innocent girls.      185 wildcat insurance companies raided and closed.      2,500,000 bogus securities and 10 patrol wagon loads of      books, papers and literature seized. These companies paid      no losses, and there were, it is estimated, 1,000,000      persons who had taken out fire insurance policies in these      wildcat companies.      They had sustained fire losses and were not indemnified.      The conservative estimated loss by these wildcat insurance      companies is $10,000,000.      $200,000 of lost and stolen property was recovered and      returned to the owners by Detective Wooldridge.      129 slot machines seized and broken up; valued at $10,000.      130 policy shops raided and closed: $100,000 would be a      conservative estimate of the amount lost by the players.      125 matrimonial agencies raided and broken up.      4,500,000 matrimonial letters seized and destroyed.      1,500,000 matrimonial agencies' stock letters seized and      destroyed.      1,400,000 matrimonial stock photographs seized and      destroyed.      500,000 photographs sent to the matrimonial agencies by      men and women who were seeking their affinities seized and      destroyed.      40 wagon loads of matrimonial literature seized and      destroyed.      110 turf frauds raided and closed: $8,000,000 lost by the      public.      $20,000 bribe was offered Wooldridge by the turf swindlers      to let them run, but he refused to take it.      105 panel houses raided and closed.      $1,500,000 was stolen annually from 1889 to October, 1896.      At that time there were 64 uniformed officers stationed      in front of the panel houses. Detectives Wooldridge      and Schubert were assigned to break them, which was      accomplished in three weeks' time.      100 bucketshops raided and closed; $5,000,000 lost through      them.      July 31, 1900, Detective Wooldridge, in charge of 50      officers, arrested 415 men and landed them in the Harrison      Street Police Station, and dismantled the following      bucketshops:      10 and 12 Pacific avenue, 25 Sherman street, 14 Pacific      avenue, 10 Pacific avenue, 210 Opera House Block, 7      Exchange court, 19 Lyric Building, and 37 Dearborn street.      It was one of the largest and most sensational raids ever      made in Chicago, and will be long remembered. 73 opium joints raided and closed; $100,000 spent, and hundreds of persons were wrecked and ruined by the use of opium. 75 girls under age rescued from a house of ill fame and a life of shame, and returned to their parents or guardians, or sent to the Juvenile School or the House of Good Shepherd. 50 home-buying swindles raided and closed; $6,000,000 lost. 48 palmists and fortune tellers raided and closed; $500,000 lost. 45 spurious employment agencies raided and closed; $200,000 lost. 40 bogus charity swindles raided and closed; $300,000 lost. 38 blind pools in grain and stock raided and closed; $500,000 lost. 35 bogus mail order houses raided and closed; $3,000,000 lost. 34 sure-thing gambling devices raided and closed; $2,500,000 lost. 33 fraudulent and guarantee companies raided and closed; $900,000 lost. 30 fraudulent book concerns raided and closed; $1,000,000 lost. 28 panel-house keepers were indicted and convicted. 15 owners of the property were indicted and convicted. This broke the panel-house keepers' backbone and they never recovered to resume business again.      Emma Ford, sentenced to the penitentiary April 5, 1902,      for five years. Pearl Smith, her sister, sentenced to the      penitentiary June 19, 1893, for five years. Mary White, May      20, 1893, for two years. Flossie Moore, March 27, 1893, for      five years. Seventy-five thousand dollars is said to have      been stolen by her in eighteen months. $8,000 bribe was offered Detective Wooldridge to let Flossie Moore slip through his fingers. $3,000 bribe was offered by the same woman for the address of Sadie Jorden, who was an eye witness of the robbery of E. S. Johnson, a retired merchant, aged 74 years. 28 wire tappers were raided and closed. These men secured the quotations from the Board of Trade and pool rooms, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were secured from the speculators who were victimized; $200,000 lost. 27 dishonest collecting agencies raided and closed; $200,000 lost. 25 swindling brokers raided and closed; $800,000 lost. 23 lotteries raided and closed; $1,700,000 lost. $100 per month bribe to run his lottery was offered Detective Wooldridge, April 21, 1900, by J. J. Jacobs, 217 Dearborn street, who conducted the Montana Loan & Investment Co. He was arrested and fined $1,500 by Judge Chetlain, June 21, 1903. 22 promoters raided and closed; $1,000,000 lost. 22 salted mines and well companies raided and closed; $2,000,000 lost. 20 city lot swindles raided and closed; $1,000,000 lost. 20 spurious medicine concerns raided and closed; $300,000 lost.        *       *       *       *       * $30,000 worth of poison and bogus medicines seized October 29, 1904, as follows:      $12,000 worth of spurious medicines seized by Detective      Wooldridge from Edward Kuehmsted, 6323 Ingleside avenue.      $5,000 worth of spurious drugs seized from J. S. Dean, 6121      Ellis avenue.      $2,500 worth of spurious drugs seized from Burtis B.      McCann, 6113 Madison avenue.      $500 worth of spurious drugs seized from J. N. Levy, 356      Dearborn street.      $2,000 worth of spurious medicines seized from W. G. Nay,      1452 Fulton street.        *       *       *       *       * 17 women arrested for having young girls under age in a house of prostitution. 16 fraudulent theater agencies raided and closed; $100,000 lost.      15 procurists of young girls for houses of ill fame and      prostitution arrested and fined.      $8,000 bribe offered Detective Wooldridge, September 27,      1895, by Mary Hastings, who kept a house of prostitution      at 128 Custom House place. She went to Toledo, O., and      secured six girls under age and brought them in the house      of prostitution.      One of the girls escaped in her night clothes by tying a      sheet to the window. There were six in number, as follows:      Lizzie Lehrman, May Casey, Ida Martin, Gertie Harris,      Kittie McCarty and Lizzie Winzel.      After Mary Hastings was arrested and she found out that she      could not bribe Wooldridge she gave bonds and fled. Some      months later she was again arrested, and the case dragged      along for two years.      The witnesses were bought up and shipped out of the state.      The case was stricken off, with leave to reinstate. It is      said it cost her $20,000.      Four notorious negro women, footpads and highway robbers,      arrested by Detective Wooldridge, whose stealings are      estimated by the police to have been over $200,000. The      following are the names of the women arrested: 5 mushroom banks raided and closed; $500,000 lost. Detective Wooldridge has been under fire over forty times, and it is said that he bears a charmed life, and fears nothing. He has met with many hair-breadth escapes in his efforts to apprehend criminals who, by means of revolver and other concealed weapons, tried to fight their way to liberty. 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 the opium dens; he has done everything that one expects a detective of fiction to do, and which the real detective seldom does. Wooldridge, the incorruptible! That describes him. The keenest, shrewdest, most indefatigable man that ever wore a detective's star, the equal of Lecocq and far the superior of the fictitious Sherlock Holmes, the man who has time and again achieved the seemingly impossible with the most tremendous odds against him, the man who might, had such been his desire, be wealthy, be a "foremost citizen" as tainted money goes, has earned the title given him in these headlines. And if ever any one man earned this title it is Clifton R. Wooldridge. It is refreshing to the citizenship of America, rich and poor alike, to contemplate the career of this wonderful man. It fills men with respect for the law, with confidence in the administration of the law, to know that there are such men as Wooldridge at the helm of justice. The writer of this article has enjoyed intimate personal association with the great detective, both in the capacity of a newspaper reporter, magazine writer and anti-graft worker. The ins and outs of the nature of the greatest secret service worker in Chicago, Clifton R. Wooldridge, have been to me an open book. And when I call him Wooldridge, the incorruptible, I know whereof I speak. I have seen him when all the "influences" (and they are the same "influences" which have been denounced all over the country of late) were brought to bear upon him, when even his own chiefs were inclined to be frightened, but no "influence" from any source, howsoever high, has ever availed to swerve him one inch from the path of duty. CANNOT BE BRIBED. He has been offered bribes innumerable; but in each and every instance the would-be briber has learned a very unpleasant lesson. For this man, who might be worth almost anything he wished, is by no means affluent. But he has kept his name untarnished and his spirit high through good fortune and through bad, through evil repute and good. Wooldridge does not know the meaning of a lie. A lie is something so foreign to his nature that he has trouble in comprehending how others can see profit in falsifying. It has been his cardinal principle through life that liars always come to a bad end finally. And he has seen his healthy estimate of life vindicated, both in the high circles of frenzied finance and in the low levels of sneak-thievery. TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF WORK DONE. But the most remarkable thing to me about Wooldridge is the work he has done. Consider for a moment the record which heads this article. Could anything shout forth the tremendous energy of the man in any plainer terms? There are men in the same line of work with Wooldridge, who have been in the service for the same length of time, who have not made one arrest where he has made thousands. Twenty thousand arrests in twenty years of service, a thousand arrests every year, on an average. A thousand get-rich-quick concerns, victimizing more than a million people, raided and put out of business; thirteen thousand one hundred convictions; hundreds upon hundreds of wine rooms, gambling houses, bucketshops, opium joints, houses of ill fame, turf frauds, bogus charity swindles, policy shops, matrimonial agencies, fraudulent guarantee companies, spurious medicine concerns, thieving theater agencies and mushroom banks brought to the bar of justice and made to expiate their crimes. That is the record of the almost inconceivable work done by Clifton R. Wooldridge on the Chicago police force. The figures are almost appalling in their greatness. It is hard for the mind to comprehend how any one man could have achieved all this vast amount of labor, even if he worked twenty-four hours a day all the time. And yet it is the bare record of the "big" work done by Wooldridge, aside from his routine. LIFE HISTORY OF WOOLDRIDGE. Detective Wooldridge from March, 1898, until April 5, 1907, was attached to the office of the General Superintendent of Police and worked out of his office. During that time over 1,200 letters and complaints were referred to him for investigation and action. April 5, 1907, Detective Wooldridge was relieved of this work and transferred, and crusade and extermination of the get-rich-quick concerns ceased. September 20, 1889, Detective Wooldridge was placed in charge of twenty-five picked detectives, who were placed in charge of the suppression of hand-books and other gambling in Chicago. He remained in charge of this detail for three years. On December 13, 1890, at the residence of Charles Partdridge, Michigan avenue and Thirty-second street, while three desperate burglars were trying to effect an entrance into the house, Detective Wooldridge espied them and in his attempt to arrest them was fired upon by the trio. One shot passed through his cap, clipping off a lock of his hair and grazing his scalp. The next shot struck him squarely in the buckle of his belt, which saved his life.