Omaha daily bee., 1921-04-24
Criminals Spotted
By Finger Prints
Taken in Draft
Government Establishes /,
Bureau With Millions of
Finger Prints--To Aid in
Running Down Criminals.

Washington, April 25.--ln the
identification section Of the War de-
partment in the old Ford theater,
where Abraham Lincoln was shot,
there has been collected mass OF
evidence which is expected during
the years to come to play an impor-
tant part in the conviction of thou
sands of criminals, and likewise to
aid III the exoneration of perhaps
other thousands of innocent men who
through force of circumstances be-
come objects OF suspicion. ..g
The evidence in question is the FIN
ger print records of more than 5,000,-
600 men whose imprints were taken
when they came i'll contact with the
machinery Of the sclectivc service
organization OF the War department
during the war. Scarcely a day
passes that the War department is
not called upon by the police of vari-
Gus cities and towns throughout the
country to try to identity the finger
prints of some one who has been in
volved in a crime or fatal accident.
Helped Solve Wandcrer Case.
A recent inquiry from Chicago in
connection with the notorious Carl
Wanderer murder case is perhaps
typical. "The ragged stranger" who
is alleged to have been shot by Lieu
tenant Wanderer while the stranger
was staging fake holdup for which
Wanderer had paid him small sum
OF money, had never been satisiac-
torily identified. The police believed
him to be Earl keessee OF MilWau-
kee, and that he had served in the
army either under the name OF KEGS
see or that OF Edward Morgan OF
Texas.
knowing that the finger print rec
ords of every man who had served
in the army since the identification
system was installed were on file with
the War department, they sent the
inprints OF the ragged strangers"
fingers to Washington for campari-
son. Investigation showed that a
man named Earl Keessee had enlist
ed in the army from Milwaukee, but
the finger prints of Keessee were dit
fcrent from those of the ragged
stranger" 1t was found that no less
than six Edward Morgans had served
in the army and that two of them
were from Texas, but the finger
prints of the man slain in Chicago
did not tally wit those of any of the
Edward Morgans who had served in
the army.
Handy for Sheriffs.
So prolific has the identification
section of the army become as a
means OF capturing criminals that
every now and then the department
has to squelch some ambitious sheriff
who tries to make the service pay
him dividends. The method ordi-
narily used is simple. A sheriff
makes a collection OF NOTICES of re-
ward offered for the capture OF GRIM
inals. Then he arrests every tramp
that comes his way, takes his finger
prints and sends them to the War de-
partment in Washington for identi-
fication. AS the War department has
the finger print records OF practically
every able-bodied young man in the
United States, it often happens the
War department is able to tell the
sheriff the name of the man he has
in custody.
Checks List.
Thereupon the sheriff checks over
his list of rewards offered and il he
finds the captive's name among them
he immediately notifies the persons
offering the reward and then pro-
ceeds to collect.
The identification section of the
War department is in charge OF Wal
ter S. Kaye, who was the organizer
OF the first identity section" in use
in the War department. The main
purpose of the identity section is to
identity unknown dead in time o1
war, and to keep undesirable ex-
service men from re-enlisting under
assumed names. Lately it has beer
supplying identification records to
soldiers, necessary in securing dis
charges, and in addition has been q
source Of great assistance to the po'
lice in identifying criminals among
discharged service men.