The Bertillon system that cataloged criminals by their physical measurements, 1894

Think about the raw chaos of law enforcement in the late 19th century. No computers, no DNA, no databases. If you were a criminal and clever enough to change your name, maybe grow a beard or move a few miles down the road, you could vanish into the crowd as easily as a ghost. For police and detectives, it was a maddening game of cat and mouse—with the mouse often disappearing for good.











