The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-04-24

Fla, on June 5, last Darwin Woods.
a negro held for the theft of $4,000
worth Of jewelry. was arrested in
Washington on petty larceny
charge. When taken to the Bureau
of Identification, the negro gave his
name as Frank Winfield. However,
when his ingerprint3 were taken and
filed it was found that he was in
reality Darwin Woods and had es-
capped frim the prison in Florida to
where he was returned.
Deserters from the army and navy
frequently are identified when arrest
ed through their finger prints This
was the case Of Howard Wilson. who
deserted from the army two years
ago. Arrested on a minor charge,
Wilson gave the police his name as
Harry Bowling. His iinger prints
were taken and when they were filed
it was found that prints the same as
his were in the cabinet Told he was
a deserter, the man admitted the
charge. He was court-martiled.
TAKE SHOPLIF-rER.
1t Is not infrequent that women ar
rested in the Capital are idencihed
as notorious shoplifters and dishonest
servants A recent case was that of
Cora f. Brown, who was arrested by
Detective Sergeants Burlingame and
Kelly. Brought to police headquar-
tiers on q charge of shoplifting. the
woman was identified as having OPP
Grated as a shoplifter in a number
of cities. The result was that after
she was sentenced from the District
and reafsased. she was rearrested on
leaving prison for the authorities OF
Va aho In allaQad IN
have operated. .'.-. 30.
Boston Minnie" was another shop
litter arrested in the Capital who was
identified as notorious thief, sac
having been arrested In q number of
cities, but succeeded in obtaining h or
relase "just because she was woman
who shrewdly told q sympathetic
story"
Her speciality was the theft of furs
and expensive silk gowns, she using
a sack hidden in her garments in
which to thrust the stolen articles.
After her arrest here she was released
on bonds and fled to Chicago where
she was rearrested She again was
released on bonds and fled to Boston.
The Boston police identified her ami
sent her finger-prints to the Wash
ington authorities. where II was
found she was the much-wanted fugi-
tive.
PRINTS TRACE BURGLAR.
On March 3. 1918. the store Of Louis
Sonnebaum. at 495 Pennsylvania av-
enue northwest. was entered by a
burglar and a lot Of clothing stolen.
Upon examination of the premises
1t was found that the burglar entered
the place through q transom over the
front door and left by the same route.
In order to reach the transom from
within he carried an arm chair from
the rear of the store and placed 1t
found on the arm of the chair were
photographed.
A lookout for the clothing was sent
to nearby cities and a few days later
a man giving the name of August
Meier. alias Henry Vandal, was ar
rested in Baltimore, while trying to
dispose of some clothing. Meier was
brought to Washington. He denied
having entered the store claiming
that he bought the clothes from a
stranger. When his finger prints
were taken II was found that the
print from the left thumb was identi-
cal with those found on the chair and
door.
On June 8. 1918, xeier was sentence
ed to serve six months in the peniten-
tiary at Atlanta
On August 8, 1918. an auto that had
previously been reported stolen was
returned to the garage from which it
had been taken. 1t was examined for
finger prints and fairly good print
was found on the windshield A
young man named Thomas Wesley
Curtis was arrested August 80, 1918,
on suspicion of having taken the auto,
which he denied. When his finger
prints were taken IL was found thas
the print from his left thumb was
identical with that on the Windshield.
Curtis was indicted by the grand jury,
and when arraigned in Criminal Court
No. ], November 10, 1918, plead Il
guilty to JOY riding. On December q,
1918, he was sentenced to one year in
Jail.
Finger prints taken after death
we're the means of Identifying a burg
lar who was shot and killed by a
policeman in Cincinnati recently. The
Identification was made by the New
York police department. The Gin
cinnati police had sent out the finger
prints of the burglar to police de-
partmcnts in other cities in an effort
to Identify him. The message re-
ceived by the Cincinnati authorities
read: 9TH. finger prints are those of
Michael Maruska, . burglar, sent to
Auburn prison"