The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-15
WAR INSURANCE
 BUREAU TASKS
 ARE HARD ONES

Ecce homo!
 Behold the man!
 Get me this mans name so tha: can report definitely on the status of his insurance
 That. together with slip bear ing the memo, "JamesEH Hall, (3,721,- 5O5) Mccall, South Carolina; Bene- hciaries: Mrs. Ella Stalks (Wife). Mrs. Fannie Stalks (Mother9," was handed to a file searcher in the Bureau of War Risk Insurance.
 The mans name was given as Hall. while those of his wife and his mother were given as Stalks. Pa tiently, something was wrong some where. Just what was wrong, how ever. was not so evident. To find out what and where the error was, was the job.
 Finding the error somebody else made is always the job of the War Risk index file searchers, and it's tough job If they fail to get at the bottom of it.
 
 where are listed the names of nearly five million men who were inducte4i into military service, the young wo- man made a complete inventory of all the thu vdsands of men surnamed Hall. Among them all there was not one who came from Mccall, South Carolina, nor yet one who had a wife or mother whose name even remotely resembTed the Stalks given as the name of the two bene- fciaries
 This, clearly, was a case for the use of that specially nimble wit and fine deductive5 faculty which has characterized much of the work of the searchers> of the index files and given, them a process of procedure which might be used to add a leaf to the book of the Burns, the Pink ertons and the FYynns.
 We'll remarked the girl charged with producing information; "this man may be Stalk since that is the name given for his wife and mother"
 But search through the Stalks brought nothing to identify the case.
 "still." she persisted-and they a1- ways do persist, these girls - His name must be some kind of a Stalk but WHAT kind? Corn stalks, bean stalks, and cabbage stalks are the only kind of stalks I know anything about so I'll just look them up."
 And sure though, 1t turned out that his name was some kind of 8 Stalk''-Cabbage-Sta in fact, and his index card was duly changed to read:
 James cabbagestalks, (s,721,5O5) Mccall, South Carolina; Benef1ciaries. Mrs. Ella Cabbagestalks (Wife), Mrs. Fannie Cabbagestalks (Mother)."
 Another opportunity for the use of keen deduction grew out of the ef forts of an army company clerk Io display what he believed to be a rare sense of humor in the matter of ap- plying a nickname on a record ot discharge sent to the Insurance Di- vision of the Bureau, but which un expectedly proved of service to a re- search worker.
 Notice of the discharge of Private Charles E. Fliver, of Pushmataha, Alabama, was received by the Blu reau, and a complete search was made through the files. The cards of all the Flivers, Fleavers, F1uvers and Pfiuevers, as well as men of some what similar names were looked over in hope of locating INT. F'liver of Alabama"
 Failure to locate the sought-for party brought the comment: "A fliv- CT is a Ford" from one girl worker, 1T am going to look up the 'Fords' in the h1e.'' She looked, and there he was-"Charles E. Ford, Pushma- taha, Alabama right where he should be, in the card index of the Fords.
 You see that girl wearing the blue sweater over there'' said one young woman.
 The girl of the blue sweater ap- peared so young she might have just left school. She was searching some index cards, her fingers rapidly run ming from one to another. With each flap of the card she had taken a mental note of the inscription there on, but to the observer she was mak- ing a speed record in touching every card in the file drawer. Suddenly-Bang! The drawer was closed. She moved a foot to the right, began another Marathon in card movements, selected one, made a notation on slip of paper she car ried, placed the card among the | others, closed the drawer, and walk | ed toward the man who is in charge 1 of the file section.
 i This pantomine was quickly enact 1 ed, and as it turned out, it brought 1 to a close a remarkable case which | had been under investigation for some days.
 That girl is working upon a mys- | terry" continued the speaker 'tIf she l puzzles it out, she is a wonder 1 The blue sweater passed nearby l The flush of success was visibly ap- l parent upon the girls face. 1 'sDid you find them ?'' asked q 1 young woman.
 | "Yes," she replied simply, and con. l tinued along the huge file cabinets. l The title of this strange case might l be the ''Divis mystery" with Mis-: l Blue Sweater as the detective he | roine.
 1 A typewriter letter was received by the Bureau from an army camp 1 and ended as follows:
 Private Divis Spruce, l Hastings, Pa.' Miss Blue Sweater was assigned tt the letter with instructions to secur. 1 the mans policy number that certain l information requested as to tht | standing of his insurance 11uight b,