Myth About The Origin Of Fingerprint Identification

A story has been circulating for years that claims that the development of fingerprint identification comes from a case of two men who were both named William West, and who had very similar faces. Social media posts claim that the men were unrelated, and were both sent to the same prison in 1903.

Longer versions of the story elaborate by claiming that the previous method of identification, in which authorities measured a person’s facial features and limbs, failed because the men also had identical measurements.