releasing him, Agent Burger made sure that he’d gone through a
rigorous process known as Bertillonage. Devised by the French
criminologist Alphonse Bertillon in 1879, it was the first scientific
method for identifying repeat criminals. Using a caliper and other
special tools, Agent Burger, with the help of the Dallas police, took
eleven of Morrison’s body measurements. Among them were the
length of his left foot, the width and length of his head, and the
diameter of his right ear.
After Agent Burger informed Morrison of the purpose of these
measurements, he also commissioned a mug shot, another of
Bertillon’s innovations. In 1894, Ida Tarbell, the muckraking
journalist, wrote that any prisoner who passed through Bertillon’s
system would be forever “spotted”: “He may efface his tattooing,
compress his chest, dye his hair, extract his teeth, scar his body,
dissimulate his height. It is useless.”
But Bertillonage was already being displaced by a more efficient
method of identification that was revolutionizing the world of
scientific detection: fingerprinting. In some cases, a suspect could
now be placed at the scene of a crime even without a witness
present. When Hoover became the bureau’s acting director, he
created the Identification Division, a central repository for the
fingerprints of arrested criminals from around the country. Such
scientific methods, Hoover proclaimed, would assist “the
guardians of civilization in the face of the common danger.”
Agent Burger had Morrison’s fingertips dabbed in ink. “We have
his picture, description, measurements and fingerprints in the
event we have cause to apprehend him,” he informed
headquarters.
He then gave Morrison some spending money. Morrison
promised to visit Rose Osage and Joe Allen as well as members of
the underworld, to see what he could learn about the murders.