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Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory
Workbook
Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory
Workbook
Second Edition
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable
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Chapter 2. History.............................................................................................................. 7
2.1 ackground...........................................................................................................................................7
B
2.2 Materials...............................................................................................................................................9
2.3 Exercises................................................................................................................................................9
Part I: Anthropometry—Bertillonage Cards.........................................................................................9
Part II: Paradigm Shifts.......................................................................................................................10
2.4 Post-Lab Questions..............................................................................................................................10
References.....................................................................................................................................................10
vii
viii Contents
Chapter 17. Fingerprint Comparisons: Point Counting, Error Rates, and Statistics.............. 95
17.1 B ackground.........................................................................................................................................95
17.2 Materials.............................................................................................................................................97
17.3 Exercises..............................................................................................................................................97
Part I: Minimum Point Standards........................................................................................................97
Part II: Exploring Probabilities—Rolling the Dice.............................................................................97
Part III: Small-Scale Error Rate Study................................................................................................99
17.4 Post-Lab Questions..............................................................................................................................99
References.....................................................................................................................................................99
Contents xi
Figure 1.1 T
he eight fingerprint sub-pattern types: plain arch, tented arch, right-slanted loop, left-
slanted loop, plain whorl, central pocket loop whorl, double-loop whorl, and accidental
whorl..........................................................................................................................................4
Figure 1.2 A bifurcation, dot, and ending ridge in a magnified portion of a fingerprint............................4
Figure 1.3 art I: Class and Individual Characteristics—Identify the class and individual
P
characteristics for each type of forensic evidence listed............................................................5
Figure 1.4 Part III: Individualizing Characteristics—minutiae: draw a bifurcation, ending ridge,
and dot.......................................................................................................................................5
Figure 2.1 ir Francis Galton’s Bertillonage card was recorded when Galton paid a visit to
S
Alphonse Bertillon’s laboratory in 1893....................................................................................8
Figure 2.2 art I: Anthropometry—Bertillonage Cards: create your own Bertillonage cards with a
P
photo and anthropomorphic measurements...............................................................................9
Figure 3.1 canning electron micrographs of the human embryonic hand (A) and foot (B) at the
S
end of the second month of development. The volar pads are indicated with black
arrows. (Reprinted with permission from Carlson, Bruce M., Human Embryology and
Developmental Biology, (Elsevier: Oxford, 2014), Figure 9.4.)...............................................12
Figure 3.2 he five layers of the epidermis—Stratum corneum, stratum lucidium, stratum
T
granulosum, stratum mucosum, and stratum basale. (From Lewis, Gray’s Anatomy,
20th Edition, 1918.)..................................................................................................................12
Figure 3.3 P
art I: Embryological Development of Friction Ridges—A simple hand-drawn
fingerprint pattern (step 3).......................................................................................................13
Figure 3.4 art I: Embryological Development of Friction Ridges—A simple hand-drawn
P
fingerprint pattern (step 5).......................................................................................................13
Figure 3.5 art II: Friction ridge unit puzzle—Cut out the friction ridge units and arrange them
P
into a fingerprint pattern with minutiae................................................................................... 14
Figure 4.1 Primary Henry Classification—example................................................................................. 16
Figure 4.2 Part I: Name the fingerprint sub-pattern types for each fingerprint pictured.......................... 18
Figure 4.3 art II: Whorl Tracing—For each of the whorl patterns in Figure 4.3, trace the whorl
P
starting at the left-hand delta to a place opposite the right-hand delta.................................... 18
xiii
xiv List of Figures
Figure 11.4 latent print developed on a sheet of paper with indanedione displaying both the
A
visible (left) and fluorescent (right) nature of the reagent......................................................55
Figure 12.1 A latent print on a DVD processed with cyanoacrylate fuming............................................60
Figure 12.2 Processing an AK-47 type rifle in a cyanoacrylate fuming chamber....................................60
Figure 12.3 An improvised cyanoacrylate fuming chamber.................................................................... 61
Figure 12.4 atent prints on a nonporous surface developed with cyanoacrylate fuming (top) and
L
Rhodamine 6G dye staining (bottom)...................................................................................62
Figure 13.1 A latent print on packing tape developed with black fingerprint powder suspension............66
Figure 13.2 A latent print in blood developed with amido black (acid black 1)........................................67
Figure 13.3 A latent print developed with white powder suspension on black vinyl tape........................67
Figure 14.1 lose-up evidentiary photograph of an AK-47 type rifle with an identification card
C
that includes the case number, item number, date, and the photographer’s initials............... 74
Figure 14.2 Adhesive scales...................................................................................................................... 74
Figure 14.3 schematic diagram demonstrating the direct lighting photographic technique
A
(top left), the oblique lighting photographic technique (top right), the back lighting
photographic technique (bottom left), and the front directional lighting technique
(bottom right).........................................................................................................................75
Figure 14.4 arious camera filters for photographing fluorescent latent prints under an alternate
V
light source or laser................................................................................................................75
Figure 15.1 Typical ransacked dresser in the master bedroom of a burglary scene offering multiple
surfaces for a latent print search............................................................................................80
Figure 15.2 The backs of two latent lift cards with associated latent print designations and sketches.........80
Figure 15.3 atent prints (right) lifted from glass fragments picked out of the molding (left) of a
L
window.................................................................................................................................. 81
Figure 16.1 double-loop whorl fingerprint with edge shapes and pores demonstrating level one,
A
two, and three detail..............................................................................................................84
Figure 16.2 A loop fingerprint viewed through a magnifier. Pointers act as “place holders” when
examining prints under magnification...................................................................................84
Figure 16.3 T
he image on the left is a latent print lifted from a beer bottle collected at a crime scene.
The image on the right is the left ring finger of the suspect. The latent fingerprint (left)
and the known fingerprint (right) likely originated from the same source.................................85
Figure 16.4 art I: Fingerprint matching exercise—For each fingerprint in the column (1–4), circle
P
the matching fingerprint (A–D) in the corresponding row....................................................86
Figure 16.5 Part II: Fingerprint grid—Each fingerprint in the grid has one “matching” fingerprint.
Indicate the grid location of the matching fingerprints.........................................................87
Figure 16.6 art III: Fingerprint comparisons—Compare each of the fingerprints (A–L) with the
P
known fingerprints in Figures 16.7–16.11..............................................................................88
Figure 16.7 Part III: Fingerprint comparisons—Exemplars #1 and #2....................................................89
xvi List of Figures
In the pursuit of any scientific endeavor, the mastery of critical skills requires hands-on exploration and
laboratory skills. Forensic science is unique in that it is practiced not only in the laboratory but also in the
field. Fingerprint analysis may be performed as part of many job functions supporting law enforcement
efforts: crime scene technician, latent print examiner, criminalist, latent print technician, forensic special-
ist, or forensic scientist. Regardless of the chosen career path, background knowledge of forensic scientific
practices is critical for success. The best way to learn any science is to perform experiments and hands-on
activities, in order to fully comprehend the principles and concepts learned in the classroom and in training.
The purpose of the Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory Workbook, Second Edition, is to provide the prac-
titioner or student with a set of labs and exercises to put into practice the concepts learned in the accompany-
ing text, Fundamentals of Fingerprint Analysis, Second Edition. The sequence of workbook and laboratory
exercises in the Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory Workbook, Second Edition, is designed to parallel the
textbook entitled Fundamentals of Fingerprint Analysis, Second Edition. The book chapters align with
the laboratory exercises. For example, the laboratory exercises in Lab #13 correspond to the topics covered
in Chapter 13 of the textbook. Many of the laboratory exercises may be completed either at home or in a
laboratory setting.
Health and safety are of utmost importance when working in a laboratory. Wherever possible, the least
toxic and most environmentally safe chemical reagents are recommended. Regardless, it is generally recom-
mended to limit exposure and adhere to all safety precautions. Nitrile gloves and lab coats should be worn
at all times. Safety glasses with side shields or chemical-resistant laboratory goggles protect the eyes. A
particulate mask may be used to prevent inhalation of fingerprint powder particles. A fume hood is always
used when working with chemical reagents.
All chemicals should be properly mixed, labeled, and stored in a cool, dry place away from open flames.
Chemical storage containers should contain, at a minimum, the following information: chemical contents,
preparer’s initials, and the date. Flammable chemicals should be stored in a flammables cabinet. MSDS or
SDS sheets for each reagent used should be available for reference. All chemicals should be disposed of
according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines. Personal safety is a matter
of proper education, due diligence, and common sense.
The second editions of these texts have been updated with the most recent research, concepts, and
nomenclature in the field of fingerprint analysis. Paradigm shifts in the field have been presented along with
emerging research and a look into the future of the science. There is also an international focus and an addi-
tional chapter addressing point counting, error rates, and statistics. The Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory
Workbook, Second Edition, is beneficial for the education and professional development of forensic scien-
tists, college students, legal experts, and law enforcement professionals.
This text utilizes American terminology and colloquialisms; however, it is intended for an international
audience. The word “print” refers to any evidentiary friction ridge impression. This may be a palm print,
xvii
xviii Preface
fingerprint, or any other area of friction ridge skin. What is known as a “fingerprint” in the United States is
referred to as a “fingermark” or “mark” throughout Europe and elsewhere in the world. “Record” prints—
also referred to as exemplars or known prints—are prints that originate from a known source, such as inked
prints taken on a tenprint card. A latent print “identification” is the determination that an evidentiary print
and a record print may have originated from the same source.
Similarly, friction ridge development techniques vary from country to country. The decisions a finger-
print analyst makes when it comes to selection and sequence of chemical reagents are region dependent.
A technique that works well in Virginia may not work, or be available, in the United Kingdom, and vice
versa. Atmospheric and laboratory conditions such as temperature, pressure, and humidity, as well as stor-
age and handling, can affect the success of a particular reagent. Wherever possible, international research
is presented and discussed.
The second edition of the accompanying laboratory manual entitled Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory
Workbook is intended to enhance the topics addressed in the textbook. The textbook chapters align with the
laboratory exercises. The laboratory exercises, introductory materials, and post lab questions give students
hands-on experience and supplemental information that enhances comprehension.
Both editions include teaching tools not found in other professional forensics texts, such as case studies,
chapter review questions, chapter summaries, and introductory scientific material. They also incorporate
optional instructor materials such as PowerPoint lectures for each chapter, a bank of test questions for each
chapter, answers to review questions, and other useful teaching tools that are beneficial to forensic science
students and professionals, criminal justice professionals, attorneys, and laypersons.
I trust the second edition of Fundamentals of Fingerprint Analysis will benefit forensic scientists, col-
lege students, legal experts, and law enforcement professionals as much as authoring it has furthered my
professional development.
Acknowledgments
This project would not have been possible without the love and support of my family. To my husband,
Norberto Daluz: I cannot thank you enough for your optimism, support, and advocacy. To my son, Micah:
not many three-year-olds would be as understanding as you when mommy would write at all hours of the
day instead of playing trains and cars. I would like to thank my mom, Susan Moses, for her tireless and
meticulous editing and for inspiring me as a teacher and as a mom. And to my dad, Ken Moses: you are my
mentor, my advocate, and my favorite colleague. Your passion for science both inspired me to follow in your
footsteps and encouraged me to forge my own path.
Thank you to my editor, Mark Listewnik: thank you for spearheading this project and working tirelessly
to promote my books. Thank you also to Misha Kydd for answering dozens of questions during the writing
process.
I am honored to have had a distinguished group of colleague proofreaders as a part of this project’s
first edition: Ken Moses, Robert Ramotowski, Robert Gaensslen, Mike Stapleton, Mark Hawthorne, Wilson
Sullivan, David Burow, Kathy and Peter Higgins, Kasey Wertheim, Kimberlee Sue Moran, Helen Gourley,
Malory Green, David Haymer, and Ron Smith.
Thank you to the colleagues who have mentored, educated, and inspired me, especially the members of
the International Association for Identification who nurtured my career from its inception.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge my colleagues worldwide—many deployed to battlefield
environments—working tirelessly to make our communities safer places to live.
xix
About the Author
Hillary Moses Daluz is an instructor for Tri Tech Forensics and a Forensic Specialist with Forensic
Identification Services. Daluz began her career as a Police Identification Specialist with the City of Hayward
Police Department in Hayward, California. After earning her Masters of Science degree in Forensic Science
from the University of California, Davis, she deployed to the Joint Expeditionary Forensic Facility at Camp
Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, as a Latent Print Examiner. After returning stateside, she became a member of
the faculty in the Forensic Sciences program at Chaminade University of Honolulu. She then accepted a
position as a Senior Latent Print Technician with American Systems. Daluz serves on the Board of Directors
for the International Association for Identification.
xxi
Part I
Introduction to Fingerprints
Chapter
Introduction
1
Class and Individual Characteristics
Objectives
• Understand the concept of class and individual characteristics and how this applies to the science of finger-
print identification
• Identify the class and individual characteristics of fingerprints
1.1 Background
Any effort to organize and categorize a large group of items begins with observation. Large groups of
things are often organized based on visible characteristics such as color, size, type, or material. Observable
features used to organize a large group of things into smaller categories are known as class characteristics.
Forensic evidence such as trace evidence utilizes class characteristics to determine whether a fiber, hair, or
soil sample is consistent with similar material from a crime scene. While a fiber does not contain individual-
izing characteristics such as DNA, it does contain class characteristics such as length, color, material (natu-
ral or synthetic), and cross-sectional shape. A comparison of class characteristics from evidentiary fibers
and fibers from a suspect’s home, car, or clothing can elucidate an association between the suspect and the
crime scene but cannot conclusively determine the origin of the fibers.
For example, vehicles can exhibit both class and individualizing characteristics. They can be organized
by make, model, color, or type. Individualizing characteristics organize items into a category of one. For
example, individual characteristics of a vehicle may include specific body damage (dents, scratches), a VIN
number, or a license plate number. While many vehicles may share class attributes of color, make, and
model, only one vehicle will have these individualizing characteristics.
Forensic scientists distinguish between class and individual characteristics of forensic evidence in order
to organize large amounts of data or determine the potential source of evidentiary materials. If a single hair
with a root attached is found at a crime scene, the potential source of that hair may be determined with
an analysis of class and individualizing characteristics. People may have black, brown, blonde, or red hair.
While the source of that hair cannot be identified based on class characteristics alone—such as hair color,
eye color, or ethnic origin—it can narrow the potential source or eliminate a subject. In order to further
narrow down the source of the hair, one would need to conduct a DNA analysis. Similarly, friction ridge
impressions provide individualizing characteristics that can narrow down the potential source of forensic
evidence to a category of one.
Friction ridge impressions contain both class and individual characteristics. Pattern types are class char-
acteristics, because they are not unique to an individual. There are three main pattern types: arches, loops,
and whorls. Within those categories are eight subcategories: plain arches, tented arches, ulnar loops, radial
loops, plain whorls, double-loop whorls, central pocket loop whorls, and accidentals (Figure 1.1). Most
3
4 Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory Workbook
Figure 1.1
The eight fingerprint sub-pattern types: plain arch, tented arch, right-slanted loop, left-slanted loop, plain whorl, central pocket
loop whorl, double-loop whorl, and accidental whorl.
Ending Ridge
Bifurcation
Dot
Figure 1.2
A bifurcation, dot, and ending ridge in a magnified portion of a fingerprint.
fingerprints in the population are loop patterns, while whorls are much less common, and arches are rare.
Finding a latent print with an arch pattern at a crime scene is valuable for elimination purposes, because
they are so rare in the population. Conversely, finding a latent print with a loop pattern at a crime scene is
not as discriminating, because loops are very common in the population.
While pattern types can be used to narrow down the population of fingerprints or eliminate a subject as
the possible contributor of a latent print, they do not have individualizing power. Minutiae are individualizing
characteristics. They can be used to narrow down the potential source of a latent print. There are three types
of fingerprint minutiae: bifurcations, ending ridges, and dots (Figure 1.2). While all individuals have ending
ridges and bifurcations present along friction ridges, an analysis of the relative locations of those minutiae
in the impression makes it possible to identify the potential source of a latent print. An analysis of both the
class characteristics (pattern types, ridge flow, level 3 detail) and individual characteristics (minutiae types
and relative locations) contribute to fingerprint identification. In the following laboratory exercises, you will
explore the class and individual characteristics of various types of forensic evidence as well as the three types
of fingerprint minutiae.
Introduction 5
1.2 Materials
• Pen or pencil
• Figure 1.3
• Figure 1.4
1.3 Exercises
Part I: Class and Individual Characteristics
1. Identify the class and individual characteristics for each type of forensic evidence listed in Figure 1.3.
Fiber
Hair
Blood
Fingerprint
Shoeprint
Figure 1.3
Part I: Class and Individual Characteristics—Identify the class and individual characteristics for each type of forensic evidence
listed.
Figure 1.4
Part III: Individualizing Characteristics—minutiae: draw a bifurcation, ending ridge, and dot.
6 Fingerprint Analysis Laboratory Workbook
1.4 Post-Lab Questions
1. Are fingerprint pattern types individual characteristics? Why or why not?
2. What are the eight fingerprint sub-pattern types?
3. What are the three types of minutiae found in fingerprints?
4. Are minutiae class or individual characteristics? Why or why not?
5. Besides narrowing the possible source of a fingerprint, what is another use for class characteristic determination?
Another random document with
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them striped and splashed and dotted with puttycolor and blue and
green of camouflage paint. A man in a motorboat waved his arms.
The men in khaki slickers huddled on the gray dripping deck of the
transport begin to sing
Oh the infantry, the infantry,
With the dirt behind their ears ...
Through the brightbeaded mist behind the low buildings of
Governors Island they can make out the tall pylons, the curving
cables, the airy lace of Brooklyn Bridge. Robertson pulls a package
out of his pocket and pitches it overboard.
“What was that?”
“Just my propho kit.... Wont need it no more.”
“How’s that?”
“Oh I’m goin to live clean an get a good job and maybe get
married.”
“I guess that’s not such a bad idear. I’m tired o playin round
myself. Jez somebody must a cleaned up good on them Shippin
Board boats.” “That’s where the dollar a year men get theirs I guess.”
“I’ll tell the world they do.”
Up forward they are singing
Oh she works in a jam factoree
And that may be all right ...
“Jez we’re goin up the East River Sarge. Where the devil do they
think they’re goin to land us?”
“God, I’d be willin to swim ashore myself. An just think of all the
guys been here all this time cleanin up on us.... Ten dollars a day
workin in a shipyard mind you ...”
“Hell Sarge we got the experience.”
“Experience ...”
Apres la guerre finee
Back to the States for me....
“I bet the skipper’s been drinkin beaucoup highballs an thinks
Brooklyn’s Hoboken.”
“Well there’s Wall Street, bo.”
They are passing under Brooklyn Bridge. There is a humming
whine of electric trains over their heads, an occasional violet flash
from the wet rails. Behind them beyond barges tugboats carferries
the tall buildings, streaked white with whisps of steam and mist,
tower gray into sagged clouds.
Nobody said anything while they ate the soup. Mrs. Merivale sat
in black at the head of the oval table looking out through the half
drawn portières and the drawingroom window beyond at a column of
white smoke that uncoiled in the sunlight above the trainyards,
remembering her husband and how they had come years ago to look
at the apartment in the unfinished house that smelled of plaster and
paint. At last when she had finished her soup she roused herself and
said: “Well Jimmy, are you going back to newspaper work?”
“I guess so.”
“James has had three jobs offered him already. I think it’s
remarkable.”
“I guess I’ll go in with the Major though,” said James Merivale to
Ellen who sat next to him. “Major Goodyear you know, Cousin
Helena.... One of the Buffalo Goodyears. He’s head of the foreign
exchange department of the Banker’s Trust.... He says he can work
me up quickly. We were friends overseas.”
“That’ll be wonderful,” said Maisie in a cooing voice, “wont it
Jimmy?” She sat opposite slender and rosy in her black dress.
“He’s putting me up for Piping Rock,” went on Merivale.
“What’s that?”
“Why Jimmy you must know.... I’m sure Cousin Helena has been
out there to tea many a time.”
“You know Jimps,” said Ellen with her eyes in her plate. “That’s
where Stan Emery’s father used to go every Sunday.”
“Oh did you know that unfortunate young man? That was a
horrible thing,” said Mrs. Merivale. “So many horrible things have
been happening these years.... I’d almost forgotten about it.”
“Yes I knew him,” said Ellen.
The leg of lamb came in accompanied by fried eggplant, late corn,
and sweet potatoes. “Do you know I think it is just terrible,” said Mrs.
Merivale when she had done carving, “the way you fellows wont tell
us any of your experiences over there.... Lots of them must have
been remarkably interesting. Jimmy I should think you’d write a book
about your experiences.”
“I have tried a few articles.”
“When are they coming out?”
“Nobody seems to want to print them.... You see I differ radically
in certain matters of opinion ...”
“Mrs. Merivale it’s years since I’ve eaten such delicious sweet
potatoes.... These taste like yams.”
“They are good.... It’s just the way I have them cooked.”
“Well it was a great war while it lasted,” said Merivale.
“Where were you Armistice night, Jimmy?”
“I was in Jerusalem with the Red Cross. Isn’t that absurd?”
“I was in Paris.”
“So was I,” said Ellen.
“And so you were over there too Helena? I’m going to call you
Helena eventually, so I might as well begin now.... Isn’t that
interesting? Did you and Jimmy meet over there?”
“Oh no we were old friends.... But we were thrown together a
lot.... We were in the same department of the Red Cross—the
Publicity Department.”
“A real war romance,” chanted Mrs. Merivale. “Isn’t that
interesting?”
“Now fellers it’s this way,” shouted Joe O’Keefe, the sweat
breaking out on his red face. “Are we going to put over this bonus
proposition or aint we?... We fought for em didnt we, we cleaned up
the squareheads, didnt we? And now when we come home we get
the dirty end of the stick. No jobs.... Our girls have gone and married
other fellers.... Treat us like a bunch o dirty bums and loafers when
we ask for our just and legal and lawful compensation ... the bonus.
Are we goin to stand for it?... No. Are we goin to stand for a bunch of
politicians treatin us like we was goin round to the back door to ask
for a handout?... I ask you fellers....”
Feet stamped on the floor. “No.” “To hell wid em,” shouted
voices.... “Now I say to hell wid de politicians.... We’ll carry our
campaign to the country ... to the great big generous bighearted
American people we fought and bled and laid down our lives for.”
The long armory room roared with applause. The wounded men
in the front row banged the floor with their crutches. “Joey’s a good
guy,” said a man without arms to a man with one eye and an artificial
leg who sat beside him. “He is that Buddy.” While they were filing out
offering each other cigarettes, a man stood in the door calling out,
“Committee meeting, Committee on Bonus.”
The four of them sat round a table in the room the Colonel had
lent them. “Well fellers let’s have a cigar.” Joe hopped over to the
Colonel’s desk and brought out four Romeo and Juliets. “He’ll never
miss em.”
“Some little grafter I’ll say,” said Sid Garnett stretching out his long
legs.
“Havent got a case of Scotch in there, have you Joey?” said Bill
Dougan.
“Naw I’m not drinkin myself jus for the moment.”
“I know where you kin get guaranteed Haig and Haig,” put in
Segal cockily—“before the war stuff for six dollars a quart.”
“An where are we goin to get the six dollars for crissake?”
“Now look here fellers,” said Joe, sitting on the edge of the table,
“let’s get down to brass tacks.... What we’ve got to do is raise a fund
from the gang and anywhere else we can.... Are we agreed about
that?”
“Sure we are, you tell em,” said Dougan.
“I know lot of old fellers even, thinks the boys are gettin a raw
deal.... We’ll call it the Brooklyn Bonus Agitation Committee
associated with the Sheamus O’Rielly Post of the A. L.... No use doin
anythin unless you do it up right.... Now are yous guys wid me or aint
yer?”
“Sure we are Joey.... You tell em an we’ll mark time.”
“Well Dougan’s got to be president cause he’s the best lookin.”
Dougan went crimson and began to stammer.
“Oh you seabeach Apollo,” jeered Garnett.
“And I think I can do best as treasurer because I’ve had more
experience.”
“Cause you’re the crookedest you mean,” said Segal under his
breath.
Joe stuck out his jaw. “Look here Segal are you wid us or aint
yer? You’d better come right out wid it now if you’re not.”
“Sure, cut de comedy,” said Dougan. “Joey’s de guy to put dis ting
trough an you know it.... Cut de comedy.... If you dont like it you kin
git out.”
Segal rubbed his thin hooked nose. “I was juss jokin gents, I didn’t
mean no harm.”
“Look here,” went on Joe angrily, “what do you think I’m givin up
my time for?... Why I turned down fifty dollars a week only yesterday,
aint that so, Sid? You seen me talkin to de guy.”
“Sure I did Joey.”
“Oh pipe down fellers,” said Segal. “I was just stringin Joey
along.”
“Well I think Segal you ought to be secretary, cause you know
about office work....”
“Office work?”
“Sure,” said Joe puffing his chest out. “We’re goin to have desk
space in the office of a guy I know.... It’s all fixed. He’s goin to let us
have it free till we get a start. An we’re goin to have office stationery.
Cant get nowhere in this world without presentin things right.”
“An where do I come in?” asked Sid Garnett.
“You’re the committee, you big stiff.”
After the meeting Joe O’Keefe walked whistling down Atlantic
Avenue. It was a crisp night; he was walking on springs. There was a
light in Dr. Gordon’s office. He rang. A whitefaced man in a white
jacket opened the door.
“Hello Doc.”
“Is that you O’Keefe? Come on in my boy.” Something in the
doctor’s voice clutched like a cold hand at his spine.
“Well did your test come out all right doc?”
“All right ... positive all right.”
“Christ.”
“Dont worry too much about it, my boy, we’ll fix you up in a few
months.”
“Months.”
“Why at a conservative estimate fiftyfive percent of the people you
meet on the street have a syphilitic taint.”
“It’s not as if I’d been a damn fool. I was careful over there.”
“Inevitable in wartime....”
“Now I wish I’d let loose.... Oh the chances I passed up.”
The doctor laughed. “You probably wont even have any
symptoms.... It’s just a question of injections. I’ll have you sound as a
dollar in no time.... Do you want to take a shot now? I’ve got it all
ready.”
O’Keefe’s hands went cold. “Well I guess so,” he forced a laugh. “I
guess I’ll be a goddam thermometer by the time you’re through with
me.” The doctor laughed creakily. “Full up of arsenic and mercury
eh.... That’s it.”
The wind was blowing up colder. His teeth were chattering.
Through the rasping castiron night he walked home. Fool to pass out
that way when he stuck me. He could still feel the sickening lunge of
the needle. He gritted his teeth. After this I got to have some luck.... I
got to have some luck.
Two stout men and a lean man sit at a table by a window. The
light of a zinc sky catches brightedged glints off glasses, silverware,
oystershells, eyes. George Baldwin has his back to the window. Gus
McNiel sits on his right, and Densch on his left. When the waiter
leans over to take away the empty oystershells he can see through
the window, beyond the graystone parapet, the tops of a few
buildings jutting like the last trees at the edge of a cliff and the tinfoil
reaches of the harbor littered with ships. “I’m lecturin you this time,
George.... Lord knows you used to lecture me enough in the old
days. Honest it’s rank foolishness,” Gus McNiel is saying. “... It’s rank
foolishness to pass up the chance of a political career at your time of
life.... There’s no man in New York better fitted to hold office ...”
“Looks to me as if it were your duty, Baldwin,” says Densch in a
deep voice, taking his tortoiseshell glasses out of a case and
applying them hurriedly to his nose.
The waiter has brought a large planked steak surrounded by
bulwarks of mushrooms and chopped carrots and peas and frilled
browned mashed potatoes. Densch straightens his glasses and
stares attentively at the planked steak.
“A very handsome dish Ben, a very handsome dish I must say....
It’s just this Baldwin ... as I look at it ... the country is going through a
dangerous period of reconstruction ... the confusion attendant on the
winding up of a great conflict ... the bankruptcy of a continent ...
bolshevism and subversive doctrines rife ... America ...” he says,
cutting with the sharp polished steel knife into the thick steak, rare
and well peppered. He chews a mouthful slowly. “America,” he
begins again, “is in the position of taking over the receivership of the
world. The great principles of democracy, of that commercial
freedom upon which our whole civilization depends are more than
ever at stake. Now as at no other time we need men of established
ability and unblemished integrity in public office, particularly in the
offices requiring expert judicial and legal knowledge.”
“That’s what I was tryin to tell ye the other day George.”
“But that’s all very well Gus, but how do you know I’d be
elected.... After all it would mean giving up my law practice for a
number of years, it would mean ...”
“You just leave that to me.... George you’re elected already.”
“An extraordinarily good steak,” says Densch, “I must say.... No
but newspaper talk aside ... I happen to know from a secret and
reliable source that there is a subversive plot among undesirable
elements in this country.... Good God think of the Wall Street bomb
outrage.... I must say that the attitude of the press has been
gratifying in one respect ... in fact we’re approaching a national unity
undreamed of before the war.”
“No but George,” breaks in Gus, “put it this way.... The publicity
value of a political career’d kinder bolster up your law practice.”
“It would and it wouldn’t Gus.”
Densch is unrolling the tinfoil off a cigar. “At any rate it’s a grand
sight.” He takes off his glasses and cranes his thick neck to look out
into the bright expanse of harbor that stretches full of masts, smoke,
blobs of steam, dark oblongs of barges, to the hazeblurred hills of
Staten Island.
Bright flakes of cloud were scaling off a sky of crushing indigo
over the Battery where groups of dingy darkdressed people stood
round the Ellis Island landing station and the small boat dock waiting
silently for something. Frayed smoke of tugs and steamers hung low
and trailed along the opaque glassgreen water. A threemasted
schooner was being towed down the North River. A newhoisted jib
flopped awkwardly in the wind. Down the harbor loomed taller, taller
a steamer head on, four red stacks packed into one, creamy
superstructure gleaming. “Mauretania just acomin in twentyfour
hours lyte,” yelled the man with the telescope and fieldglasses....
“Tyke a look at the Mauretania, farstest ocean greyhound, twentyfour
hours lyte.” The Mauretania stalked like a skyscraper through the
harbor shipping. A rift of sunlight sharpened the shadow under the
broad bridge, along the white stripes of upper decks, glinted in the
rows of portholes. The smokestacks stood apart, the hull lengthened.
The black relentless hull of the Mauretania pushing puffing tugs
ahead of it cut like a long knife into the North River.
A ferry was leaving the immigrant station, a murmur rustled
through the crowd that packed the edges of the wharf. “Deportees....
It’s the communists the Department of Justice is having deported ...
deportees ... Reds.... It’s the Reds they are deporting.” The ferry was
out of the slip. In the stern a group of men stood still tiny like tin
soldiers. “They are sending the Reds back to Russia.” A
handkerchief waved on the ferry, a red handkerchief. People tiptoed
gently to the edge of the walk, tiptoeing, quiet like in a sickroom.
Behind the backs of the men and women crowding to the edge of
the water, gorillafaced chipontheshoulder policemen walked back
and forth nervously swinging their billies.
“They are sending the Reds back to Russia.... Deportees....
Agitators.... Undesirables.” ... Gulls wheeled crying. A catsupbottle
bobbed gravely in the little ground-glass waves. A sound of singing
came from the ferryboat getting small, slipping away across the
water.
C’est la lutte finale, groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale sera le genre humain.
“Take a look at the deportees.... Take a look at the undesirable
aliens,” shouted the man with the telescopes and fieldglasses. A
girl’s voice burst out suddenly, “Arise prisoners of starvation,” “Sh....
They could pull you for that.”
The singing trailed away across the water. At the end of a
marbled wake the ferryboat was shrinking into haze. International ...
shall be the human race. The singing died. From up the river came
the longdrawn rattling throb of a steamer leaving dock. Gulls
wheeled above the dark dingydressed crowd that stood silently
looking down the bay.
II. Nickelodeon
A
nickel before midnight buys tomorrow ...
holdup headlines, a cup of coffee in the
automat, a ride to Woodlawn, Fort Lee,
Flatbush.... A nickel in the slot buys chewing
gum. Somebody Loves Me, Baby Divine,
You’re in Kentucky Juss Shu’ As You’re Born
... bruised notes of foxtrots go limping out of
doors, blues, waltzes (We’d Danced the
Whole Night Through) trail gyrating tinsel
memories.... On Sixth Avenue on Fourteenth
there are still flyspecked stereopticons
where for a nickel you can peep at yellowed
yesterdays. Beside the peppering shooting
gallery you stoop into the flicker A Hot Time,
The Bachelor’s Surprise, The Stolen
Garter ... wastebasket of tornup
daydreams.... A nickel before midnight buys
our yesterdays.
R
uth Prynne came out of the doctor’s office pulled the fur tight
round her throat. She felt faint. Taxi. As she stepped in she
remembered the smell of cosmetics and toast and the littered
hallway at Mrs. Sunderlands. Oh I cant go home just yet. “Driver go
to the Old English Tea Room on Fortieth Street please.” She opened
her long green leather purse and looked in. My God, only a dollar a
quarter a nickel and two pennies. She kept her eyes on the figures
flickering on the taximeter. She wanted to break down and cry.... The
way money goes. The gritty cold wind rasped at her throat when she
got out. “Eighty cents miss.... I haven’t any change miss.” “All right
keep the change.” Heavens only thirtytwo cents.... Inside it was
warm and smelled cozily of tea and cookies.
“Why Ruth, if it isn’t Ruth.... Dearest come to my arms after all
these years.” It was Billy Waldron. He was fatter and whiter than he
used to be. He gave her a stagy hug and kissed her on the forehead.
“How are you? Do tell me.... How distinguée you look in that hat.”
“I’ve just been having my throat X-rayed,” she said with a giggle.
“I feel like the wrath of God.”
“What are you doing Ruth? I havent heard of you for ages.”
“Put me down as a back number, hadn’t you?” She caught his
words up fiercely.
“After that beautiful performance you gave in The Orchard
Queen....”
“To tell the truth Billy I’ve had a terrible run of bad luck.”
“Oh I know everything is dead.”
“I have an appointment to see Belasco next week.... Something
may come of that.”
“Why I should say it might Ruth.... Are you expecting someone?”
“No.... Oh Billy you’re still the same old tease.... Dont tease me
this afternoon. I dont feel up to it.”
“You poor dear sit down and have a cup of tea with me.
“I tell you Ruth it’s a terrible year. Many a good trouper will pawn
the last link of his watch chain this year.... I suppose you’re going the
rounds.”
“Dont talk about it.... If I could only get my throat all right.... A thing
like that wears you down.”
“Remember the old days at the Somerville Stock?”
“Billy could I ever forget them?... Wasnt it a scream?”
“The last time I saw you Ruth was in The Butterfly on the Wheel in
Seattle. I was out front....”
“Why didn’t you come back and see me?”
“I was still angry at you I suppose.... It was my lowest moment. In
the valley of shadow ... melancholia ... neurasthenia. I was stranded
penniless.... That night I was a little under the influence, you
understand. I didn’t want you to see the beast in me.”
Ruth poured herself a fresh cup of tea. She suddenly felt
feverishly gay. “Oh but Billy havent you forgotten all that?... I was a
foolish little girl then.... I was afraid that love or marriage or anything
like that would interfere with my art, you understand.... I was so
crazy to succeed.”
“Would you do the same thing again?”
“I wonder....”
“How does it go?... The moving finger writes and having writ
moves on ...”
“Something about Nor all your tears wash out a word of it ... But
Billy,” she threw back her head and laughed, “I thought you were
getting ready to propose to me all over again.... Ou my throat.”
“Ruth I wish you werent taking that X-ray treatment.... I’ve heard
it’s very dangerous. Dont let me alarm you about it my dear ... but I
have heard of cases of cancer contracted that way.”
“That’s nonsense Billy.... That’s only when X-rays are improperly
used, and it takes years of exposure.... No I think this Dr. Warner’s a
remarkable man.”
Later, sitting in the uptown express in the subway, she still could
feel his soft hand patting her gloved hand. “Goodby little girl, God
bless you,” he’d said huskily. He’s gotten to be a ham actor if there
ever was one, something was jeering inside her all the while. “Thank
heavens you will never know.” ... Then with a sweep of his
broadbrimmed hat and a toss of his silky white hair, as if he were
playing in Monsieur Beaucaire, he had turned and walked off among
the crowd up Broadway. I may be down on my luck, but I’m not all
ham inside the way he is.... Cancer he said. She looked up and
down the car at the joggling faces opposite her. Of all those people
one of them must have it. Four Out of Every Five Get ... Silly,
that’s not cancer. Ex-lax, Nujol, O’Sullivan’s.... She put her hand
to her throat. Her throat was terribly swollen, her throat throbbed
feverishly. Maybe it was worse. It is something alive that grows in
flesh, eats all your life, leaves you horrible, rotten.... The people
opposite stared straight ahead of them, young men and young
women, middleaged people, green faces in the dingy light, under the
sourcolored advertisements. Four Out of Every Five ... A trainload
of jiggling corpses, nodding and swaying as the express roared
shrilly towards Ninetysixth Street. At Ninetysixth she had to change
for the local.
Riverside 11121
“Maybe some day you need some little ting ... I deal in nutting but
prewar imported. I am the best bootleggair in New York.”
“If I ever get any money I certainly will spend it on you Congo....
How do you find business?”
“Veree good.... I tell you about it. Tonight I’m too busee.... Now I
find you a table in the restaurant.”
“Do you run this place too?”
“No this my bruderinlaw’s place.”
“I didnt know you had a sister.”
“Neither did I.”
When Congo limped away from their table silence came down
between them like an asbestos curtain in a theater.
“He’s a funny duck,” said Jimmy forcing a laugh.
“He certainly is.”