Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-17
BY ELEANORE BROWNE.

that are recorded, simply, as be
longing to THE Sparrow" On the
Eecord card there are many other
names, aliases of almost every kind
Of sound. but the tlngerprint card is
indexed under the designation ac
rorded by the underworld
In those bureaus where the records
are painstakingly kept there will be Il
led line drawn through this card, sig
nifyinG that the print is dead and
not TO be referred to. That red line
is just bit of ink, the stroke of n
pen. 1t is 1lnal and definite and CON
elusive. 1t marks out an incident and
stamps a record as being worthless.
There's "A story behind that red
Lire on the tinSCrprjItS of THE Spar.
oW.' It's the sort of story that the
'ottce don't like to tell. That is. they
cont like TO tell it unless all the cir
'tmStanceS are related in the way
they should be. Monsieur Moran, pre-
feet OF the Paris police. wouldn I
tell about it; neither would Herr
Richter. president of Berlin's police:
nor would Commissioner Enright
chief OF New York 8 department. Each
one of these famous chiefs of police
declared that If I must have the story
Of that red line across the finger
prints OF The Sparrow" who was
jlst a little stealing, numbering crook
Of Sordid mind and scant gains, |
must go to Asa Ram, Knight Com
Inander of the Bath and superintend-
"nt of the Niceroy's police of Bombay,
n India.
So I went to Asa Ram and asked
him To tell me why they drew a red
line through the tingerprints of The
sparrow" who had murdered man
and stolen a womaH's diamonds, and
he told me.
1t turned out to be the only in
stance, so far as history knows, OF
HngeTprintS teli ng q lie.
If that red line We're extended. il
would go across T. ndnnS White
chapel, where pickpockets congregate,
and through the rendezvous of the
Apaches, in Paris, ara so east o.
SueZ TO the land of the Oriental mys-
terry story.
HTHE Sparrow first was heard OF
by the police in Whitechapel
y pocket was picked on street car
and the victim reported a heavy loss
Pockets are picked every night on the
street cars that go along Mile End
road through Whitecha pei, and no
one. even the constahles Of Scotland
Yard, pays much attention to the cir
Cumstance.
Commissioner Basil THOMPSON OF
Scotland Yard once said that any
hurgher of London who had anything
IN his pocket on a journey through
Whitechapel deserved to lose 1t. But
on this occasion the pocket had In It
number of negotiable bonds of such
large denominations that inspectors of
the yard found it worth while to go
down into Wihtechapel and kick open
he doors of several tenement apart
ments and ask the men or women
whom they found there, What about
it?"
The net result Of their Inquiries was
that chap everybody knew as 'The
Sparrow" was found 20 have been
making q number of big hauls and
was particularly skillful.
Several months later a German with
great deal of money was found muir
dered in a fat on Rue Michaud in
Paris. The Paris police discovered
that this German, Herr Carl Spada,
merchant of Leipzig. had come to
Paris direct from the Leipzig fair,
where he had sold large amount of
Goods. with a young French woman,
= girl who had engaged the fiat in
Rue Michaud.
The girl had not been seen around
The apartment on the day previous to
the murder. The Germans money
was gone-at least, there was none
about. Herr Spada was a man OF con-
sequence in Germany. Relations be-
rWeen France and Germany were
such, during those days of the Ruhr
o"cupation. that France was punctili
Gus IN its obligations to it's vanquished
enemy. The police We're eager to
know what they could learn about
iierr Spada s death. They went along
he west bank of the Seine, among the
rev haunts Of the Apaches, and
asked their questions.
They reported to their chief Mon
~ieur Morain, that a new figure in the
underworld had become active in
Paris, and that the German was his
first victim. He was a sinister young
fellow, known by his intimates as
The Sparrow
1t is one of the peculiarities of the
police Of all countries, America as
we'll as Europe. that when a denizen
Of the underworld becomes known to
his fra ternity by a nickname, such as
The Rat or Lefty" or Slim" or
The Sparrow he Immediately be-
comes important. The criminal who
j. not houored with the knighthood of
a special designation never is SO for
midable as the one who has earned
sufficient regard to be termed some
hing characteristic of his particular
Utilities. The Sparrow" was 50
caIled, II seemed because of his
ability TO do a thing and fly away
from it.
AS TO who THE Sparrow" was. or
what he looked like. the police knew
nothing. Their informants in the
underworld told varying details. One
aid he was strange sort of London
coCkney. All agreed, however that
lie always had a ''marque"-a girl.
Various petty crtmes-little steal
ings. inconsequential burglaries and
casual iobberies-vere charged to
The Sparrow" by the police of Lon
ION and Paris, and, eventually. there
was a conference about him by the
inspectors OF Scotland Yard and the
inspectors of Paris. and it was de-
cided to issue a bulletin about him.
u v x x
"\IOW q bulletin concerning an
International crook goes to all
"puntries. Police Commissioner En-
right of New York some time ago
stirred to activity the International
Bureau of Police Chiefs. and advised
hem upon the necessity of sending
bulletins 10 all countries, descriptive
Of important international rogues
one may drop into almost any place
along the left bank OF the Seine in
Parls-into the dinSy cafes and cellar
places, that iS-and have pointed out
This chap OF that one who has earned
the privilege of attaching to himself
the prettiest Apache girl in his dis
triCt by being made the subject Of an
international bulletin
IF. by chance, these reports sent |
abroad by the police OF London and
Paris, honoring an especially danger |
Gus thief or assassin, include the sub |
ject's finger prints, that is different /
The Apache girls are afraid Of them, !
then. Finger prints are dangerous |
and no tirst-class crook viii leave |
them