Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1918-02-23
WOMEN TN WAR WORK
Two Alexandria Girls Who Are
Named Among Government En-
ployees as Finger Print Experts.

Named Among Government En;'
ployees as Finger Print Experts.
A twenty-five year old girl is one
CT the Governments leading hnges
print experts. She is golden-hairee
Marie Dahm, of New York City, the
second woman Of her profession tc
enter the governments service.
J News dispatches stated that the
war department had ordered the I'm
ger prints taken OF the unidentified
victims of the Tuscania disaster. In
the Identification bureaus which the
army and navy each MAINTAIN
may be found the finger print
records CT every officer, drafted
and enlisted man in the
1.-TWO branches of the service. Miss
Dahm, who was the first woman IN
New York State to enlist in the naval
|trcserve and the third in the United
s States, is one of the experts engaged
:n the navy bureau. Several years
ago woman was employed in the
bureau in a similar capacity but re-
[mained only a short time.
~ frankly admit we used to be pre]u-
|)diccd against women" said J. Il.
lTaylor, chief Of the bureau. when
twar was declared, we set about TO
)ncrease our star. for we knew our
|}worl would be Increased manytofa.
ROur idea, OF course, was to get men,
Ii went tc New York TO hold an eX-
F)amination for persons who could quail
sify as finger print experts. Among
the first applicants was slip of gari
| las politely as | could, tried to rld
h.er mind of the notion that she could
! get into our bureau. ! limited that L
was foolish for woman 20 think she
lcould do the work and it was waste
of time for her to take the e%amina-
t;on She was one Of the forty VINO
took the examination. Well, that g!ri
passed first! Had to give her a Jop,
Of course. Believe me, | nave had no
cause to regret it. She is one OF the
best in her line The government has.
MisssDahm also passed first in the
.o;,,;N seryice. examination which she
took ister$ The applicant WHO passe>'
second in this examination was also
. wcn,an-.Iulj:. G. Boswell, OF Alex
andria, Va.
In this examination Miss Bo:"eli
qualified as finger print expert.
She knew nothing about finger prints
when she entered the bureau. After
six months study under Mr.. Taylor ;
direction. she became one OF his most
valuable aides. Any one who knows
ANYTHING about the complex subject
of finger prints will agree with VIZ.
Taylor when he says she IS a remark
ohla vcung woman to have gone so
far with so little preparatory framing
Miss Dahm had studied finger prints
4wo wears before she entered the bu-
,cau, with the ambition Of obtaining
an appointment in one OF New lork $
police magistrate courts.
The feminine invasion Of the navy'S
hrreau of Identification did rot END
With the employment Of Miss Dahm
ard Miss Boswell. Mr.. Taylor later
added to his staff Blanche Donohue Of
New York city who passed third N
the examination for finger print e@-
rcrts. and Blanche Stansbury OF Alex
aodria. Va. who like Miss Boswell,
prepared herself for the work AFTER
entnr;nc the bureau. The four young
women discuss whorlS and ridges ana
ulnar loops as gllbly as the average
woman talks about knitting. Before
The war the navy's bureau OF 'dentl-
fcaticn Rad the finger print recofoS
cf about 100000 men. The war m
creased this number to about 6O0.ooV'
Accuracy is the quality first to be
desired by ono who aspires to be a
eneer print expert, Nr. Taylor says.
In taking the finger print record OF
the recruit in the navy, the impress
sons Of all ter fingers arc obtained.
print CT these is then made and
turned over TO one Of the classification
experts who determines the pattern.
After being classified the record is
niyen a number by another expert and
tEen filed. The bureau has employees
constantly engaged in searching its
files for duplicates. Since there art
no two persons in the work. whf
have finger prints that are idsntiea
duplicate records mean that som;
man enlisted twice. Il ne deScrtst
The first time ard shen re-ens'Stc' IN
dor an assumed name the dup!icat'
record will bctray him. After re
stA,,