The name Clifton Wooldridge means little to people today, but to Chicagoans and Chicago criminals, he was notorious. Wooldridge, a former police officer was described at the time as the incorruptible Sherlock Holmes of America, and he was on a missio... Read more

The name Clifton Wooldridge means little to people today, but to Chicagoans and Chicago criminals, he was notorious. Wooldridge, a former police officer was described at the time as the incorruptible Sherlock Holmes of America, and he was on a mission to save Chicago from itself.He considered Chicago the wickedest city in the world. It certainly had the right ingredients. Chicago was seen as the land of opportunity, or at least the gateway to it. People passed through on their way to homesteading further west, the railroad brought folks to the city, in the hopes they would find one of the many possible jobs in this burgeoning city. It became a hotbed for vice and corruption.As a police officer on the beat, Wooldridge saw what was happening. He battled everything: quack doctors, prostitution, gambling, investment swindles, insurance scams, fake banks, clairvoyants and marriage agencies. He associated with the down and out and the richest of the rich. Apparently he would stop at little to learn the ways of the criminal. Wooldridge was adept at disguising himself, and would dress for the part, whether it meant posing as a rube in from the country or even donning blackface.He wrote numerous books detailing crimes he'd witnessed in the sincere hope of preventing further victims. Wooldridge was a man on a mission, intent on stopping further people from falling prey to thieves. He wrote a list of tips called Detective Clifton R. Wooldridge's 'Never-Fail' System for Detecting and Outwitting All Classes of Grafters and Swindlers.Some of his tips include: LARGE GAINS ON SMALL INVESTMENTS USUALLY EXIST ONLY IN THE IMAGINATION OF GULLIBLE INVESTORS AND UNSCRUPULOUS PROMOTERS. NO MAN WILL 'LET YOU IN ON A GOOD THING'. HE WILL KEEP IT FOR HIMSELF AND HIS FRIENDS. WHEN A MAN TRIES TO HURRY YOU INTO SPENDING YOUR MONEY, PUT IT BACK IN YOUR POCKET AND KEEP YOUR HAND ON IT.While his book at times reads like a pulp fiction magazine, it also provides valuable advice that is as relevant today as it was the day it was written. In this age of ever more sophisticated scams, designed to separate the gullible from their money, everyone should take a page from the book of Wooldridge. Less