Police Gazette

In 1845, this American magazine was founded by the New Yorker journalist George Willkes and Enoch Champ, who was an attorney. With their “extremely detailed crime narratives […] they printed the magazine to help police officers recognize criminals and bring them to justice.” ¹ For that reason each magazine contained a “list of names of alleged offenders, their aliases, physical appearances, and in some cases even their home addresses.” ²

Under the command of police chief George Washington Matsell, illustrations were added to the magazine, in order to attract not-so-literate readers. This idea turned out to be a huge success. ³