Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-11

Two black masks made from an
old stocking had been thrown down
! in the room where the body of Far
row was found. Upstairs, under his
/ bed was a metal Cashbox, open, and
with it's inner tray lying a little apart.
! Upon the smooth surface of the lat
/ ter was the imprint Of a mans thumb.
! During the course of the day il was
| learned that the cashboX had con
tanned about 60 tS45).
| Two men, it was clear, had been
| concerned. From the masks Fox
drew the conclusion that they were
local toughs who had been afraid Of
recognition. They had forced an en-.
try by the front door and in doing
so had alarmed old Farrow. who, half
dressed, had descended to ascertain
the cause of the disturbance. Then
he had been attacked and beaten into
Inconsistencies, Immediately after
ward the murderers had rushed up.
stairs to silence Mrs. Farrow.
A trail of blood from the shop par.
Tor to the front door puzzled the de-
tectives for a while. Only after they
had heard the story OF the girl who
had seen Farrow look up and down
the street in the early morning were
been caused. Farrow must have re.
gained consciousness after the depart
ure OF his assailants and staggered to
the door. where he looked helplessly
down the street unable to frame q cry
Tor aid. He had returned to the par
Tor. sat himself on chair. and pres.
entity toppled over 10 the floor to die.
An indication of the haste of the as.
SaSsins was shown by a silver coin
which they had dropped a ward from
the cashboX and not STAYED 10 pick M
The tray Of the cashboX. of course
interested Fox. He handled il gin.
gerry with pieces of tissue paper and
studied the blurred thumbprint close
~. Even now, at this date. there is
confused idea in the public mind
that fingerprint is helpful in trac-
ing murderer. This is rue only in
part. a fingerprint does not help un.
less the police already have a similar
print with which to compare it. Now
Scotland Yard only keeps the prints
of persons who have been convicted.
1t has no magical process by which
the mere discovery of a fingerprint
enables it To divine a murderer. A
fingerprint found at the scene of
crime is OF high importance--but it's
chief value is to cOrroborate the ident-
ity of suspect after and not before
he is run down.
Therefore Fox did not hold any
great hope of catching the murderer
through the thumbprint; but he did
hope that it would go to prove his
guilt. He demanded il any one had
touched the box. and with some nerv.
BUSINESS a young detective sergeant
admitted that he had moved ii a trifie
so that ii would not be kicked by the
ambulance bearers when Mrs. Farrow
was removed Detectives had not as
vet been educated to meticulous care
in the preservation of fingerprints
Fox patted his subordinate on the
back, told him that it was quite all
right. but ordered him to go to the
Yard to have his fingerprints taken.
The cash box was also sent to the
fingerprint department, where the en-
thusiastic superintendent then inspec.
tori Collins put it under a meticulous
scientific scrutiny.
The masks. which it had been hoped
would prove a promising clue. did not,
in fact, help at first. They were
shown to have been hastily cut from
an old pair of Mrs. Farrow's stock
ings-proof in itself that the murder
ers had feared recognition by their
victims. 1t was therefore necessary
to fall back on those less dramatic
avenues of detection that are the real
backbone of all criminal investigation
methods. This meant looking up all
those crooks and semi-crooks in the