The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-05-02
PRESERVE DRAFT
FINGER PRINTS
Millions Accumulated by
War Department Now
Find Use
yERIFFS USE GRAFT
Uncle Sans Records Serve to
Aid Catching Culprits and
Exonerating Innocent

Uy iA klt1 j. ispNfLl'
w,sulNGTON May In the
,or,ifcatiou section Of the war de-
.,n,on, lq the old Ford theater,
- Abraham Lincoln Was shot.
- has been collected q mass Of
..,acpce which is expected during
.,c wears 20 come to play an inn
Hor,ant pait Ia the CONVICTION OF
,saysands ~ criminals. and likewise
,nvJ aIi i'm the cxoneration Of perhaps
,hnr thousands OF innocent men
w" broush force Of circumstances
v,r,c m, object Of suspicion.
Tho evidence iu question Is the
a,,er.priut records of more than
eoo 600 men whose imprints were
lion whom they c0mc in contact
,,i,b tbr machinery ~ the selcCtive
..r,.i.s organization ot the war de-
,,rtucnt during the war. Scarcely
d,y pas.ys that the war depart
,,ent ia not called upon by the po-
liqo of various cities and towns
hrourbout the country To try to
IDENTIFY tho finger prints OF some one
who has been involved In a crime or
fatal accident,
Helped Solve Wnndcrer Case.
recent inquiry from Chicago in
,ounection with the notorious Carl
Wandercr murder case Is perhaps
rplcal "Thc Ragged Stranger"
who Is alleged to have been shot by
Lieutenant Wandcrer while the
amigo was staging n fake hold-up
for which Wanderer had paid him
small sum Of money. had never
been satisfied. Tho police believed
him 10 be Earl kecSseo OF Milwaukee
and that he had served in the army
either under the name OF Kecssec or
that Of Edward Morgan ot Texas.
Knowing that the finger-print
records 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 lmprints of tho Tagged Strang-
er's' fingers to Washington for COM
parison. Investigation showed that
q man named Earl Keessee had en-
listed in the army from Milwaukee.
but the finger prints of Keessee were
different from those Of the Ragged
Stranger" Il was found that no less
than six Edward Morgans had served
In the army ana that two OF them
we're from Texas, but the finger
rrints Of tho man slain in Chicago
aid not tally with those OF any OF
the Edward Morgans who had served
IN the army.
Handy for Shcriffs.
So prolific has the Identification
section of tho army become as a
means Of capturing criminals, that
srery now and then the department
has to squolch some ambitious
sheriff who tries 10 make the service
Pay him dividends. The method or
llnanly used is simple. A sheriff
makes collection of notices of re-
ward offered for the capture OF
criminals. Then he arrests every
ramp that comes his way, takes his
'inger prints and sends them to the
war department in Washington for
Identification. AS the war depart
ment has the finger print records of
practically every able-bodied young
, man In tho United States. II often
happens the war department is able
70 tell the sheriff the name of the
man he has in custody.
ThoreupOn the sheriff checks over
MS list Of rewards offered and IL he
iads the captive's name among them
ne Immediately notifies the persons
oIering the reward and then pro-
.eeds 10 collect.
The Identification section OF the
war department is in charge of wal
'sr ), Kaye, who was the orcanizer
"' the first identity section" I'm Use
% the war department. The Thain
n!rPosc OF the identity section Is 20
Mentily unknown dead in time of
var and 10 keep undesirable ex-
'erylce men from re-enlistinc under
a%lmcd names. Lately it has been
Supplying Identification records to
@llers' necessary in securing dis
frges' and in addition has been n
lce OF great assistance to the po-,
l IN Identifying criminals among