(Still waiting for an updated fingerprint kit)



Original Caption:

California's Professor-Policeman Clears Suspect

Berkeley -- Dr. John A. Larsen, the professor-policeman of the Berkeley, California, Police Department, inventor of the "sphygmomanometer" known commonly as the "lie detector" which records pulse vibrations of suspects under police detection. It was through the medium of Larson's device that Henry Wilkens of San Francisco was cleared of suspicion of the murder of his wife. Photo shows Henry Wilkens, the suspect. (1922)

From the sfweekly:

Wilkens emerged from the session deemed to have told the truth in professing his innocence. Soon after, Anna's killer confessed he had been hired by Wilkens. Evidence at trial showed Wilkens had lied about matters other than the murder during his polygraph test, but a jury deadlocked and he went free. Nonetheless, San Francisco police were furious that Wilkens — whom they believed was guilty — tricked the polygraph machine. And the SFPD captain of detectives declared at the next meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police that lie detectors "would not be countenanced."