Book Release Scheduled: American Sherlock. Scientific Crime Detection

American ​Sherlock is the biography of pioneer criminologist Luke S. May. May played a significant role in the development of scientific methods of crime investigation. Although basically self-taught in scientific matters, May spent over a half century practicing scientific crime detection and built a solid reputation among police agencies and attorneys in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada as a serious and effective scientific investigator.

This reputation as “America’s Sherlock Holmes” also led to his being consulted on the establishment of the first “full service” public American crime laboratory at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, and on a crime laboratory for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

When May began, few people, anywhere, used scientific tools to investigate crime. Except for a couple of minimal installations in Europe, there were no crime labs. So to solve his cases – criminal and civil – May improved or invented techniques in every area of forensic science in the era before public crime laboratories. Along the way, he exchanged ideas with many other well-known crime fighting pioneers.

Exemplifying “The American Dream”
Born on a Nebraska farm in 1892, Luke S. May rose from the proverbial “humble beginnings” to become one of the most famous detectives of his day. Hard times forced his ancestors out of Ireland, and then Canada, to seek a better life in the United States. But even that faltered when a severe drought sent his father back to life as an itinerant carpenter.

May, About 18 Years Old

Then, young “Lukie” experienced a pivotal moment: He read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The boy decided that scientific criminology would be his life’s work. Luckily, a building boom in Salt Lake City drew the family there and Luke found the resources needed to pursue his dream. Detective May was not yet eighteen years old when clues he spotted solved his first publicized case, a murder during a daytime burglary. As his reputation grew, he moved his base first to Pocatello, Idaho and then to Seattle, Washington. He remained there for the rest of his life, handling well over two thousand cases.

Between the two World Wars, May logged – as a private criminologist – an average of one death case every month. Around 80 percent of those were murders. Since roughly two-thirds of the death cases involved firearms, he became an expert in firearms and bullet analysis, with a huge gun collection. He had racks holding thousands of test-fired bullets, and could “read” them to identify every commonly-used firearm in the world.

A Few of May's Guns

May’s other cases ran the full gamut: routine background checks, cattle rustling, questioned documents (most often wills), accident investigations, and on and on.

But perhaps his most visible contribution to the field involved “tool marks.” The most telling marks are the microscopic scratches (striations) that can identify a specific implement (knife, screwdriver, etc.) used to commit a crime. One of his cases set the legal precedent for the use of such evidence, an important factor in the later conviction of Bruno Hauptmann for the murder of young Charles Lindbergh, Jr.

Tool Mark Comparison

American Sherlock is based on extensive research in the Luke S. May Papers, archived at the University of Washington, along with material from over two thousand other sources (mostly newspaper articles about May and his cases). For readers with further interest in the topic, the book contains an extensive endnotes section and a considerable bibliography.

[Note: All photos are from the May-Reid papers and are used with permission.]

Reviews
Well researched and engagingly written, American Sherlock rediscovers Luke S. May, a largely forgotten pioneer in early twentieth-century scientific crime fighting. In recounting May’s colorful career and most remarkable cases, Evan E. Filby traces the development of forensic science in the United States and offers a fast-paced narrative that will be particularly interesting to true-crime aficionados.
— Jeffrey S. Adler, professor of history and criminology at the University of Florida, author of Murder in New Orleans: The Creation of Jim Crow Policing (2019) and First in Violence, Deepest in Dirt: Homicide in Chicago, 1875-1920 (2006)

With Evan E. Filby’s American Sherlock we have, for the first time, a detailed assessment of the life and career of Luke S. May. May was a highly influential figure in the development of forensic science and scientific detection in North America in the first half of the twentieth century, yet he is surprisingly hardly remembered. Filby’s book accurately reinstates him in his rightful place in the history of scientific detection. Clearly and accessibly written, with a wealth of detail on May’s life and work, American Sherlock appeals to a wide audience including fans of true crime writing and those with an interest in the development of scientific detection.
— Alison Adam, professor of Science, Technology and Society at Sheffield Hallam University, UK; author of A History of Forensic Science: British Beginnings in the Twentieth Century (2015).

Ordering Information
Scheduled for release in August 2019, the book can be pre-ordered from the publisher or from major online booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Projected to be about 320 pages long in hardcover, the list price is $32.

Order directly from Rowman & Littlefield for a 30% discount on American Sherlock. Use promotion code RLFANDF30 at checkout for 30% off – this promotion is valid until January 31, 2020. This offer cannot be combined with any other promo or discount offers. You may also contact Customer Service and Order Fulfillment:
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Commission Created to Oversee Idaho Capitol Construction [otd 03/03]

On March 3, 1905 Governor Frank Gooding signed an Act to create a "Capitol Building Board." For some years prior to this, state officers and citizens had begun to find the old Territorial capitol building inadequate to the needs of a new and growing state.

Old Territorial/State capitol building, ca 1898.
Illustrated History of the State of Idaho.

Before 1884, the Territorial legislature apparently met in various hotels where they could find enough rooms, and Territorial offices were at scattered locations. That year, legislators reviewed Territorial finances and concluded they could finally build “suitable quarters for the territorial government.” The legislature met in its new capitol building in 1886.

However, after nearly twenty years of use, the old structure was showing its age and simply not big enough. The 1905 board, which met as the Capitol Building Commission about two weeks after the signing, consisted of the Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and "two competent citizens." One of the citizen representatives was former Boise Mayor Walter E. Pierce, a prominent real estate developer. The other was Judge James H. Beatty, of the Federal Court for the District of Idaho.

The Act allowed the board to plan for an expansion of the existing building or to purchase land for a totally new structure. After considering various options, the Commission decided to build a new, larger structure, but basically retain the old location.

The bought the old Central School next door – it had been built before the Territorial capitol itself – and closed the street between the two to create a larger continuous tract. The Commission then accepted a “Neoclassical” architectural design submitted by J. E. Tourtellotte and Company. Per the request for proposals, the submittal included plans for a full structure, but one that could be built in stages. They would start with the central section and add larger wings at some later date.

Idaho capitol, ca 1915 – Note the lack of full wings. [Hawley]

Site clearing and excavation work began about three months after the Board was created. The foundation for the dome section with stubby half-wings was basically sandwiched between the old capitol on the right and Central School on the left. Due to lack of funds, construction stretched out for nearly seven years. But finally, writing in an “editorial” voice, James H. Hawley's History said, "in the summer of 1912 the building was so far completed that Governor Hawley removed his offices from the old building to the new quarters provided for the chief executive."

Seven years passed before work could begin on the extended wings included in the original design. In the summer of 1919, crews began the demolition of the former school building and the old capitol – necessary to make room for the two additions. Construction did, however, go much faster than the original project; the capitol had its new wings by the end of 1920.

Capitol with wings, artist’s concept, ca 1913.
City of Boise.

Over its many years of use, the capitol building underwent numerous modifications, sometimes with unfortunate results. A modernization project in the 1960s, while necessary, has since been particularly criticized for its lack of sensitivity to historic preservation.

Fortunately, a recent substantial renovation and face-lift corrected some of those earlier “sins.” To preserve the outside appearance, designers gained new space by adding wings underground. The structure re-opened to the public in January 2010.
                                                                                 

References: [French], [Hawley], [Illust-State] “Capitol Annex Begins to Topple Under Assault,” Idaho Statesman, Boise (June 18, 1919).

"Idaho State Capital," Reference Series No. 133, Idaho State Historical Society (December 1964).

"Moments in Idaho History," Idaho State Historical Society web site.

Restoration – Preserving the People’s House, Idaho Capitol Commission, Boise.

American Sherlock Book

An interesting “near-coincidence” happened with regard to today’s blog topic … criminologist Luke S. May. Two days ago, on Friday, I transmitted the manuscript of my American Sherlock biography of Luke May to a publisher. Earlier in the week, I had signed and sent off a book contract with Rowman & Littlefield, one of the largest – if not the largest – independent publishers in this country.

They generally expect to publish both a hardcopy and e-book version. That could get interesting, since I submitted about three dozen photos to go in the book. Last I heard/read, e-books do not do well in the placement of images within the text … but maybe that has improved. We’ll see.

We do not yet have a schedule, but my editor seems eager to expedite the publication process. I’ll be posting updates as I learn more.

Books: Indians, Cowboys, Sheepmen; Gold, Mining, Timber; Prospectors, Bandits, Boom Towns

I received a royalty check from Amazon.com a few days back, which reminded me that it had been awhile since the last one. So, it must be time to plug my books again. I’m sure regular readers of this blog appreciate that fact that I don’t have ads and don’t beat you all over the head about my books. But I do need to sell some books to at least break even on the money we’ve spent of research. Of course, I do also have a blog about the books at Sourdough Publishing, but it does not get much traffic.

So here goes (in alphabetical order):
Before the Spud: Indians, Buckaroos, and Sheepherders in Pioneer Idaho
Tells the story of how the Idaho stock raising industry developed. It begins with the "first stockmen of Idaho" – Shoshone and Nez Percés horse raisers – and carries forward to about 1910, followed by a brief survey of the state of affairs today.

Governor Shoup. National Archives.

Among the pioneer stories is that of George L. Shoup who, in one routine 1888 transaction, sold a thousand cattle from his Salmon River ranches. Two years later, he became Idaho's first state governor and then one of its first two senators.
In 1897, a jury convicted hired cowboy-gunman "Diamondfield Jack" Davis of murdering two sheepmen south of Twin Falls. Although two other "respectable" cattlemen soon confessed to the killings, Davis twice came within hours of hanging and was not pardoned until 1902.

Excerpt. The Idaho Statesman newspaper, in Boise City, has been lamenting the damage done to Idaho stockmen by the passage of nearly a quarter million cattle across their range in 1880:
Five days later, the Statesman had occasion to repeat this theme. “There is no greater curse to the stock growing interests of a country than the large bands of cattle that have been driven through this country for the past few years.”
The earlier article offered a solution. “The only practicable remedy for this, and the only hope of the afflicted is in the advent of the railroad, which will take the cattle at or near the points where they are purchased and collected.”
Fortunately, the Oregon Short Line (OSL) Railway was incorporated in Wyoming in April 1881. Because of an odd provision in the Union Pacific company charter, the OSL was created ostensibly as an independent company. However, with half its shares held by UP stockholders, its independence was merely a sham.
Track laying began in May at the Union Pacific station in Granger, Wyoming. …

Boise River Gold Country
Tells the story, in words and pictures, of the settlement of the mountainous regions drained by the Forks of the Boise River. In 1862, a party led by Moses Splawn and George Grimes found gold in the Boise Basin, a mountainous area northeast of today’s Boise. Large-scale gold mining continued in Boise River gold country for almost a century. Also, at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, logging began to increase in importance. Large-scale timber harvesting surpassed mining in value after about 1955, peaking around 1980. Today tourism and recreation are the mainstays of the economy, with small-scale mining and timber operations.

Boise Basin Gold/Quartz

Excerpt.
Big companies were not the only people seeking gold during the Depression. Louie LeRoy Packer was born in Ola, Idaho, a tiny hamlet 20-25 miles north of Emmett, Idaho. A skilled carpenter and mechanic, he eventually opened an automobile service and repair station in Middleton. …
By the summer of 1935, Packer had a claim on Spanish Fork, about a mile and a half north of Idaho City. They started with just the tent on the claim, but later built a comfortable cabin. Early on, Louie acquired a partner
to help work his holdings
Soon, Packer began to improve his claim, rebuilding an abandoned flume system to deliver more water. Eventually, he had a large enough flow to work a hydraulic giant. Louie also prospected for quartz claims and after several years had properties the family considered worth $150 thousand dollars.

Idaho: Year One, An Idaho Sesquicentennial History
On March 4, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation that created the Territory of Idaho, a geographical monstrosity roughly the size of Texas and Illinois combined.

President Lincoln. Library of Congress.

Newspapers in the East went a week before they could published details (often erroneous) about the new Territory. One fact stood out: Idaho had Gold! and perhaps a lot of it. But the Civil War raged and the Territorial birth had to share headlines. Interest eventually centered a some crucial questions: Where, exactly, could one find gold? Guidebooks say to be alert and have our guns ready: Are the Indians really that dangerous? Using contemporary published articles and letters from the gold camps, Idaho: Year One, captures the day-by-day excitement and uncertainty as hopeful prospectors poured into the area.

Excerpt.
August 3 [1863]
The Oregonian reported, “Our merchants are constantly receiving letters from their correspondents at Boise and at other trading points in the mines, full of complaints because of the impossibility of safely sending out the immense amounts of dust now accumulated.”
Unfortunately, dangers lurked along every trail. The newspaper said, “On account of the enormous expense of maintaining Expresses of sufficient strength to be prepared to resist the possible attacks of highwaymen and Indians, none now transport treasure, except in very small sums, and parties coming out are always unwilling to bring or have in charge any more than belongs to them.”
One miner braved the trails by himself and managed to slip through. From him, The Oregonian heard that, “If he had taken all that he was begged to bring, he should have had over a million dollars worth, and from others we get similar statements.”

Besides the links at the Sourdough Publishing web site, the books are also available directly from Amazon.com:
Before the Spud
Boise River Gold County
Idaho: Year One

Early Nez Percés: Image versus reality

After the Nez Percés treaty of 1855, mentioned in my blog item of about a week ago, white Indian Agents made every effort to downplay the warrior traditions of the tribe. By selling that image they could validate their decision to make what they considered big “concessions” in “giving” the Nez Percés such a “generous” amount of land. After all, they said, “The tribe has always been a friend to the white man,” so they deserve special consideration.

The Agents tried equally hard to sell that notion to the Nez Percés themselves, hoping to counter the glamorous image of those tribesmen who followed the old fighting traditions. Only then could they hope to impose “assimilation” on the bands.

After the 1863 treaty, the Indian Agency stepped up its efforts to sell that image. It was a source of great frustration that they had little success within the bands, although they did fine with whites who wanted to believe that the Nez Percés were becoming peaceful, non-threatening agrarians.

I address this issue in my book, Before the Spud: Indians, Buckaroos, and Sheepherders in Pioneer Idaho.

Here are a couple of excerpts: “… historical records contradict the pacific image [of the Nez Percés]. Recall that when Captain William Clark first met the Nez Percés in September 1805, the ‘great chief’ of that band was off raiding enemies.”

And
“Right into the Seventies [1870s], tribesmen regularly fought east of the Rockies. There, they joined Crow Indians against the latter’s traditional enemies, the Sioux and Cheyenne. Men like White Bird and [Chief] Joseph’s younger brother Ollokot earned impressive warrior reputations.”

To reach their Crow allies in eastern Montana and northern Wyoming, bands of Nez Percés had to cross territory nominally claimed by the Blackfoot coalition. Tribes in the coalition had a notably fierce – and well-deserved – reputation as fighters. Yet it is recorded that they were generally careful to avoid Nez Percés bands unless they had a distinct advantage in numbers and/or weaponry.

Stricker Log Home at Rock Creek Burns Down [otd 03/09]

On March 9, 1900, the Rock Creek home of Herman Stricker and his family burned to the ground. In some ways, this was a blessing as well as a tragedy.

Rock Creek. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Even before white men arrived, travelers in south-central Idaho depended upon the stream that gave Rock Creek Station its name. In August 1812, Robert Stuart provided the first written description of the feature. He called it Precipice Creek because, he wrote, “The banks of this stream, at and some distance above its discharge, are almost 300 feet perpendicular.”

The creek empties into the Snake River. For most of its length to the foothills, it runs through a narrow, steep-sided valley, 50-60 feet deep. Emigrants on the southern route of the Oregon Trail also knew it well. From near today’s Milner Dam [blog, May 7] on the Snake, wagon trains sought an upper stretch of Rock Creek as the nearest reliable water source.

In 1864, Ben Holladay had a stage station built near where the creek exits the higher foothills onto the plain. This “home” station – it provided meals and lodging – soon attracted a trading post. The store, established by James Bascom and John Corder, served stage passengers and bullwhackers piloting big freight outfits that hauled loads to Boise City. With the completion of the transcontinental railroad, stage and freight traffic connected at Kelton, Utah. After 1870-1871, miners and stockman became part of the clientele.

Herman Stricker emigrated to the U.S. from Hanover, Germany, a few years before the Civil War. He then joined the Union army, and saw action at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and several other major battles. He moved to the Mountain West two years after the War. In 1870, he opened a store in the Snake River Canyon, about eight miles east of today’s Twin Falls.

Herman Stricker. J.H. Hawley photo.

In 1876, Stricker and a partner bought the Bascom-Corder store, plus a stable and log dwelling that had been added to their holdings. A year before Stricker's purchase, Charles Walgamott had come west and gone to work at the stage stop. [See my September 17th blog for an 1877 incident involving Charlie.] In 1879, Charlie's sister Lucy came to stay with her sister and brother-in-law. There, she met Stricker and, three years later, married him. They settled down in the log home to raise a family.

Stricker bought out his partner in 1884. By then, Oregon Short Line Railroad tracks had been completed across southern Idaho. Within months, through stage and freight traffic totally ceased. Fortunately, the expansion of the regional cattle business more than offset that loss. The population more than tripled between 1880 and 1900.

Stricker home, 1901. Friends of Stricker, Inc.

While Lucy surely missed the belongings lost in the fire, she did gain a far better home. Started on the same spot soon after the fire, the wood-frame plank structure was larger, with a nice covered porch. Within a few years, they added a second-floor dormer to the longer wing of the house.

Herman died in 1920, while Lucy lived until 1949. Today the immediate area is administered as a state Historic Site: The Rock Creek Station and Stricker Homesite.
                                                                                 

References: [Hawley]

John Bertram, et al, Rock Creek Station and Stricker Homesite: Idaho Historical Site Master Plan, Idaho State Historical Society (2001).

Robert Stuart, Kenneth A. Spaulding (Ed.), On The Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart's Journey of Discovery, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman (1953).

Charles Shirley Walgamott, Six Decades Back, The Caxton Printers, Ltd, CaIdwell, Idaho (1936).

Attorney, Developer, and Public Servant Albertus Freehafer [otd 02/12]

Attorney and legislator Albertus L. Freehafer was born February 12, 1868, in Mansfield, Ohio, about seventy miles southwest of Cleveland. After high school, he taught for three years, saving as much as he could.

Ohio Northern University, ca 1890.
Vintage postcard, Columbus Metropolitan Library.

With that “nest egg” and what he could earn during the summer, Albertus attended Ohio Northern University, then called Ohio Normal University. He graduated in 1893.

For three years, Freehafer served as a high school Superintendent in Ohio. He then began reading law with a firm in his home town. Albertus married in 1897, and served as a Deputy County Clerk while continuing his law office studies. However, in 1900, the couple and their year-old daughter moved to Scofield, Utah. There, Albertus worked as a school Principal while his wife, Olive, was a teacher.

After two years in Utah, the Freehafers moved to Council, Idaho, where Albertus again had a job as school Principal. Throughout this period, he studied law, and passed the Idaho bar exam in 1905. Albertus then quit his school job and opened a law office in Council. Six years later, his business had increased to the point that he added a partner.

Besides his law practice, Freehafer took up a homestead near Council. He also dealt in real estate and insurance, and was a director of the First Bank of Council. For a time, he provided legal counsel for the bank.

Freehafer served one term in the Idaho House of Representatives, starting in 1907. While there, he was House Leader for the minority Democratic Party. Voters then elected Albertus to two consecutive terms as state Senator from Washington County. Also active in local politics, Albertus served as Chairman of the Council Board of Trustees (roughly equivalent to a mayor’s position), and as City Attorney in 1911-1914.

In 1911, Senator Freehafer introduced legislation to carve Adams County out of Washington County.  Washington County officials fiercely opposed the division. However, the proposed new county held about half the assessed valuation and area of the existing Washington County, and about 44% of the voters (Idaho Statesman, January 28, 1911). The bill passed and Council became the county seat.

Adams County Courthouse, built 1915.
Adams County Historic Preservation Commission.

Freehafer was appointed to the state Public Utilities Commission in 1914. During a second term, he then served as Commission President. One of the more interesting 1918 cases denied a request to have electrical power service extended to a village in southeast Idaho. The refusal was, the Commission decided, “necessary for the conservation of raw material, capital, and labor required for the winning of the war.”

Freehafer served through 1921. He then moved his law practice to Payette, later serving two terms as state Senator for Payette County. In the Thirties, he performed legal work for various Federal agencies, generally related to “New Deal” programs.

He moved back to Council in 1939. There, Albertus was nominated for the state Senate from Adams County, but withdrew for health reasons. He passed away in October 1940. (Freehafer was the maternal grandfather of U. S. Senator from Idaho, James Albertus "Jim" McClure.)
                                                                                 

References: [French], [Hawley]

Albertus L. Freehafer (Pres.), Sixth and Seventh Annual Reports of the Public Utilities Commission, State of Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Ltd, Caldwell, Idaho (1920).

"Freehafer, Albertus LeRoy - Obituary," Independent Enterprise, Payette, Idaho (November 1940).