Evening star., 1922-02-25

"one of the finest bits OF detective
time" was the characterization which
w. ]. Burns, chief of the bureau OF
investigation of the Department OF
Justice. yesterday gave to the search
and inquiry into the black hand"
notes received by prominent Wash
ingtonians which resulted in narrow
ing down the inquiry to George L.
! Long, forty years old. a clerk in the
bureau of insular affairs of the War
Department, living at 1910 street
northwest. yesterday.
Long, according to the police. ad-
mitted authorship of the notes writ
ten to Henry White, former ambassa-
Walsh, Nine Christian Hauge and
Mrs. Mary Scott Townsend.
Did Not Try TO Get Money.
The inquiry developed that he had
made no effort to get the money. and
obviously had no intention of putting
| 1t to his own benefit. even though he
had obtained II but that he was inn
bused with an intense desire to aid
| ipoyerty-stricken children.
Regarding the inquiry, Mr.. Burns.
before leaving for New York last
night, declared that lit was real de-
tective work" in tracing down the
author Of the notes. Here's the way
he told the story:
There was no clue to work on eN-
cept the similarity of a number OF
the messages. All that operatives
and detectives had before them was
| paper, typewriting characters and
envelopes. The start was made by
placing the watermark on the paper
| with that used in the War DEPART
ment bureau of inSular affairs. Then
| the typewriting began to figure.
Leaves IndelfbIe Trace.
| The typewriter, according to Mr..
| Burns. leaves as indeiible a trace or
I the user as does the pencil or pen.
/ Some characters are blackly written.
| others lightly. Some letters are
\ placed close together and others are
! widely spaced. Detectives and De-
partn;enr Of Justice operatives went
over the typewriting of clerks at the
/ upon one copy which matched exactly
| those OF the threatening missives.
| Long was taken into custody. one
/ letter to Mrs. Townsend had been
| written in ionghand manuscript on
the backs of blank checks. Longs
He was faced with the apparent
| similarity of the writing. Then. ac-
| cording to the police, he confessed.
The leaders in the investigation
l were ShleI W. -. Ol the Dc-
/ partment of Justice, Inspector Cliff
: ford Grant of the detective bureau
of the police department, w. q.
Walker. in charge of the local in
vestiGating Office of the Department
| of Justice: Detective Sergt. Patrick
O'Brien. Detective Sergt. Robert Liv-
| ingston and Operative ]. T. Flournoy
OF the Department of Justice.
Regarded as Harmless.
Recipients of the messages. accord
ing to the police, have evinced a desire
not to prosecute the case against Long.
who is regarded by the police and De-
partment of Justice as a harmless
charity enthusiastic whose ideas have
been misdirected."
| Long was released last night to go
home to his sick wife and three chill
dren. to hold himself at the call of the
| police.
Long was with the Wilson party in
| Paris as a stenographer. and years pre-
Vious when William Howard Taft was
a cabinet officer he was with the latter
| in Europe. in the St. Petersburg of that
day. after Taft had lent him a huge
| overcoat, he was arrested by the police
| as a suspicious character. He tried TO
explain. but the police did not under
stand English. A search OF his person
| revealed the Taft passport in his over
coat and the Russian police Immediately
, changed their attitude, believing him
| TO be the hono.ed guest Of the Russian
empire.