FORENSIC DESCRIPTION EVOLVES

There were a few times during Monte Wolfe's life when he was prodded, weighed, and measured by the law. Those measurements went into the public record and are part of Monte Wolfe's vapor trail that persists to this day. Through these descriptions we can begin to visualize his stature. His physical description evolved a little over the years due to the rigors of life and the evolution of forensic science.

On his 1909 induction into Folsom Prison at the age of 23, he was described thus:

DESCRIPTION: Complexion: Fair, Eyes: Lt. Brown, Hair: Lt. Brown, Height: 5'-5", Occupation: Miner, Nativity: North Dakota.

When he exited Folsom in 1911, his description had been refined with the following:

DESCRIPTION: Weight: 153, Hair: Dk. Blonde, Eyes: Lt Chestnut, Build: Muscular

Fifteen years had passed when Monte found himself on the receiving end of another law-imposed physical examination. He was arrested in 1927, and there was a strong attempt to identify him due to the changing directions of his case. The following information was added to the public record by the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Department:

DESCRIPTION: Prominent cheek bones / right third tow amputated, third joint, right 4th tow amputated, second joint, Horizontal scar, right side of chin,. Oblique cut, sc front left wrist, Irregular cut sc first joint back left thumb. Large oval cut inside right calf.

A FINAL NOTE: People often comment on how short Monte Wolfe was by citing differing heights that would be considered short by today's standards. Now it clear that his true height was 5'-5". My question was, how does 5'-5" compare to a sampling of 1909 inmates?

Working with the CA state archives I was able to obtain 10 pages from the 1909 Folsom Inmate Ledger. Monte Wolfe was one of 200 inmates listed there. One item the ledger recorded was the height of each prisoner. I took the heights of the 200 inmates and plugged them into a spreadsheet and then sorted and averaged the heights. The results showed a bell curve where 5'-5" was very average, 5'-1" was on the shorter end and 5'-10" was relatively tall.

That's all, "by gawree." ("Monte talk" remembered by his family)

Don