Bio

Thomas Jennings was a convicted burglar living in Chicago, Illinois, during the early twentieth century. Before the murder of Clarence B. Hiller, Jennings had already served time for burglary at Joliet Penitentiary.

Jennings was released on parole in August 1910, only weeks before the Hiller murder. After his release, he reportedly obtained a revolver. The weapon later became important because Jennings was found carrying a loaded revolver when police stopped him shortly after the killing.

At the time, fingerprint evidence was still new in American courts. Police departments had started keeping fingerprint records of convicted offenders, including Jennings. Because he had previously been imprisoned, his fingerprints were already on file. This became one of the most important facts in the case.

Murder Story

During the early morning hours of September 19, 1910, Clarence B. Hiller was asleep in his Chicago home with his wife and children. Mrs. Hiller woke up and noticed that the gas light normally left burning at night had gone out. She alerted her husband, who got up to investigate.

At the head of the stairs, Hiller encountered an intruder. A struggle followed, and both men fell down the staircase. At the bottom of the stairs, the intruder shot Hiller twice. Hiller died shortly afterward from his wounds.

The intruder fled the home. Police later found three unfired cartridges and two lead slugs at the scene. They also found sand and gravel in one of the children’s rooms, which suggested that the intruder had moved through the house before the shooting.

Investigators determined that the point of entry was a kitchen window. Near that window was a freshly painted railing. In the tacky paint, police found impressions from four fingers of a left hand. The railing was removed and the fingerprint impressions were photographed for comparison.

At about 2:38 a.m., police saw Thomas Jennings and questioned him. He appeared injured and gave conflicting explanations about why he was out late. Officers searched him and found a loaded revolver. He was arrested the same day.

Police later compared the fingerprint impressions from the Hiller home with Jennings’ fingerprint card from his prior prison record. Four fingerprint experts testified at trial that the impressions from the crime scene matched Jennings’ fingerprints.

Jennings was convicted of murder on February 1, 1911. He appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court of Illinois, arguing that fingerprint evidence should not have been admitted because it had not yet been fully established in American courts.

The Illinois Supreme Court rejected that argument. The court ruled that fingerprint identification had a scientific basis and that courts were justified in admitting that type of evidence. The ruling became a landmark decision in American forensic history. After the court affirmed the conviction, Jennings was executed by hanging in Illinois on February 16, 1912.

The case of People v. Jennings remains historically significant because it was one of the first major American cases to uphold fingerprint evidence as a valid method of identification in court. It helped move fingerprint comparison toward wider acceptance in the United States legal system.