The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1919-12-20
BABY FOOTPRINTS
TO END KIDNAPPING
CHIEF OF MISSING PERSONS BU-
HEAU WOULD COMPEL BER-
TIL1ON MEASUREMENTS


NEW YORK, Dec. 12.-Kidnaping
would virtually cease, and confusion
in founding homes would be re-
duced to the minimum II physicians
were compelled to file footprints of
the baby along with the birth GER
t~ificate, Captain ]. H. Ayres, chief
of the Metropolitan Bureau of Miss
ing Persons, asserts.
Every month the names of 1000
or more persons r listed on the
books of the Bureau of Missing Per-
sons, and Captain Ayres, as director
of the force that succeeds in locat-
Ing SO per cent of the lost" ones,
speaks with authority on such a SUBJ
ject.
This method OF taking Bertillon
measurements of each new born
babe, the veteran guardian of the
peace declares, would not only dis
courage kidnapping and help found
ling homes, but it would also spare
mothers the agony of doubt that
ofttimes overcomes them when their
lost child Is restored.
eff it was made legally necessary
for every physician TO file a foot
print or thumbprint of the newborn
babe along with the birth certifi-
cate, many things today possible
would be remedied." is Captain
Ayres' assertion.
THE marks of the thumb and
feet never change. These marks
should be registered Immediately
after birth and kept in the city rec
ords for reference if the occasion
should arise. In the case of stolen
children, unless the family features
are we'll pronounced, it would be
next to impossible for a mother to
definitely identify her infant after
a period of absence.
"Only recently a mother was
shown a baby that in every respect
correspondent to the description of
the one she had lost or had stolen.
The mother denied the identity. She
may have been right or she may
have been wrong. but If she had
taken the child as her own without
absolute proof of identity che would
never have felt satisfied that the
babe was her own.
"On the other hand, the weeks of
absence may have changed the
child's appearance and the mother
may have refused to accept her own
offspring. If the print of that child's
finger or foot had been on record
we should not nave been forced to
reply upon the decision of another.
Relationships that irresponsible ones
might seek to avoid could be estab-
lished beyond the shadow of a doubt.
q Then, too, publicity would not
be given cases as it Is today, and
that would materially assist the de-
partment's working upon the cases.
Suggestion is the damaging power
in crime very often. The moment
a case of suicide or KIDNAPPING Or
even murder is described graphically
in the newspapers a second n a
third case of similar description
follows. That is why crime of every
description is found in waves.
Very often when the press drops
reports of some spectacular circum-
stance a repetition from another
quarter is avoided. The public often
takes it for granted the department
has dropped the matter unsolved.
That is where the public does not
think far enough. Publicity isn't
what the department has to work
for; that is what J. cries to avoid.
Every member of the force is
working for promotion, and promo
tion comes through solving mys-
teries. Although the general public
has not lately given a thought to
one case recently figuring in the
papers this week slides are being
Used in Al Brooklyn theaters and
everyone connected with the depart
ment is working on it,