24/10/2023
The guy on the left is named William West.
The guy on the right is also named William West.
The first William West was sent to Leavenworth Prison in Kansas in 1901.
When the second William West arrived at the same prison for a minor crime two years later in 1903, he was told that he was already in prison serving a life sentence for murder.
After some confusion, the staff realized that they had two inmates with the same name that looked pretty much the same.
The two men were not related in any way, and law enforcement quickly realized that a more reliable method of identification was necessary.
The case of William West and William West changed the face of forensics forever.
Fingerprinting soon became the standard method for identifying criminals.