Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-11-14

Meuse-Argonne campaign in Trance,
his comrades reported.
| The news came back to the states
and Frazier's sorrow.ng mother. Mrs.
Charles Frazier, wore a gold star.
Then a second message came. It
said Arthur Frazier was alive, in an
A. E. F. hospital.
] A simple error was discovered this
time. The man in the hospital, the
war department ascertained, was
Frazer Arthur" But the parents
| cf Arthur Frazier became distrust-
full of war department reports as a
result. They. still cherished a hope
their son would come back to them.
The Fingerprint Echo
| 1t was years afterwaru that the
fingerpTint echo came. Arthur Lo
lez became known in the oil fields
of oklahoma He wore cast-off por-
tions of an army uniform
South Dakota visitor to Okla
homa, Gregory Lossard, thought TO
identify Lopez as a. lost brother. lie
failed, but pictures of Lopez, taken
back to South Dakota, fell into the
hands of the parents of Arthur FRA
zier. They recognized him, they said,
as their son.
The Fraziers journeyed to Okla
homa to see Lopez with their own
eyes. The father was doubtruI. Tne
mother insisted Arthur Frazier had
been found at last.
Old friends of Arthur Frazier sup
Iorted the mothers Identification.
Evidence acumula a d. Affidavts
Filed up. Investigation by the war
department lasted for weeks News
papers took a hand. Fingerprints or
Arthur Lopez and the Arthur Frazier
who had Joined the army were COM
pared.
He's mine" said the mother.
mo-" said the war department The
fingerprints are not the same"
| Suddenly Arthur Lopez wrote lets
ter to Mr.. and Mrs. Frazier. He
had claimed them as his parents ne
said, because he wanted a home. Ar
thur Lopez, was his right name
given him upon his Birth TO Mexican
PARENTS.
Lopez asserted later the confession
had been extorted from him. But
the war department said the testi-
mony of the fingerprint bureau lad
i been vindicated again.
The Case of Robert st. Clair
Millions of persons read of the
i rthur Frazier case. There have been
many like it less widely advertised.
Urban Bergeron enlisted July %,
1917, at Menasla, wis, and was ra-
tally wounded in France a year later
in the Aisne Marine campaign.
| But In September, 1924, the father
! of Urban Bergeron identified" as his
son an inmate Of the Atlanta peni-
! tentiary.
The prisoner, Robert st. Clair. en-
couraged the Identification. Mrs
Bergeron, shedding tears of happ:
ness, insisted there could be no DOUBT
A Confession Agnin
! Fingerprint records showed the pa
rents could not be correct. A daugn-
tier of the Bergerons talked to ST.
Clair, and he confessed he was an
! impostor.
Subdivisions of the war department.
Who's Who" now number more than
100000 under the Henry fingerprine
classification system. y
| BY fingerprints the war department.
identified more than $1,000 repeat
ers"-army recruits whose service ter
minated other than honorab1y-anc
thus has enabled the army to free
| itself from many undesirable cnarac-
ters.
| The positive Identification of more
than 100000 soldiers applying Tor
bonuses was accomplished at frac-
ton of the cost of establishing the
identity of veterans of the Civil war
Agents were sent all over the couIl-
try to secure affidavits and depos1-
tions when questions as to the iden-
tity of the latter arose.
Thousands of calls from civil lire
are received by the fingerprint bu-
reau. 1t is asked to find missing
boys, husbands and sweethearts. Time
and again it Identifies persons nc
cused of breaking the law
Copyright, 1926 NEA Service, Inc. }
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