Will West & William West: The Incident that Boosted Fingerprinting as ID Method

In 1903, two men with the nearly same name, Will West and William West, were sent to Leavenworth Prison in Kansas. They were not related, but they looked exactly alike. This caused confusion among the staff at the prison, who struggled to tell the two men apart.

The incident at Leavenworth Prison was one of the earliest examples of the need for more accurate methods of identification. At the time, physical appearance and names were the primary means of identifying individuals. However, as the case of Will West and William West demonstrated, these methods were not always reliable.

The story of Will West and William West helped to highlight the limitations of using physical appearance and names alone to identify individuals. As a result, the use of fingerprinting as a means of identification began to gain popularity.

Fingerprinting had been used as a means of identification as early as the late 19th century, but it was not widely adopted. However, the case of Will West and William West helped to bring attention to the need for more accurate identification methods, and fingerprinting began to be more widely used in law enforcement and other fields.

Today, fingerprinting is one of the most widely used and accepted methods of identification. It is used in a variety of settings, including criminal investigations, immigration, and employment. The story of Will West and William West played a significant role in the adoption of fingerprinting as a means of identification and continues to be a reminder of the importance of accurate identification methods.