The Grafters of America 1906 Detective Clifton R. Wooldridge ~ Chicago Crime, Scams, Swindlers & Fraud ~ Criminology ~ History

Title: The Grafters of America. Who They Are and How They Work

Author: Clifton R. Wooldridge, Chicago's Famous Detective

Description: Blue cloth with title and front cover pictorial stamped in black. Spine has some light speckled blemishes; cloth rubbed at extremities. Inner hinges good. Pages toned; occasional short closed tears to page edges; a few small chips to table-of-contents page (paper is somewhat brittle). Previous owner's name rubber-stamped on front free endpaper, else clean. 528 pages including the 41 illustrated plates. 8.5 x 6.5 inches.

A rare copy of this expose of fraudsters and swindlers, by Chicago police detective Clifton R. Wooldridge (1854-1933). Wooldridge joined the Chicago police force in 1888 and by 1907, when he retired, had personally made over 19,000 arrests and had broken up countless criminal operations.

Wooldridge's book was intended to protect the public against grafters and frauds of all kinds, by exposing their schemes and traps and fortifying readers with knowledge, facts and law which they could use to protect themselves and their friends and families. Includes a four-page biography of the author and photos of him in various disguises.

From the title page: Wooldsworth ''tells in a graphic matter how Wildcat Insurance, Fake Mines and Oil Wells, Turf Swindles, Home Buying Swindles, Fake bond and Investment Companies, Bucket Shops, Blind Pools in Grain and Stocks, Pool rooms and Hand Books, Fake Mail Order Houses, Ordinary Gambling Houses, Panel Houses, Matrimonial Bureaus, Fake Book Concerns, Fake Underwriting, Fake Banks, Collecting Agencies, Fake Medicine Companies, Clairvoyants, Fortune Tellers, Palmists and Other Criminals of all classes operate.

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good

Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Year: 1906

Keywords: Chicago, crime, criminology, swindlers, fraud, fraudsters, fin de siecle, United States, history,