Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-16


ing q central organization for scien-
tific crime detection which soon viii
be- II it is not already, the equal Of
Great Britain,s famous Scotland Yard
or the Surete Generate Of Paris. There are
more fingerprints Of criminals on file at the
Bureau Of Investigation Of the Department OF
Justice in washington at the present time than
IN either the British or French capital
BY the use Of analytical methods which vie
IN interest with the cIeverest devices of fiction
detectives, this bureau Is unwilling the threads
Of banning and mysterious crimes All the
latest methods for running down the guilty
balIistac testimony, expert advice on the identi-
1acatdon of handwriting, typewriting and chemi-
cal tests of blood, cloth, hair, drugs, metals and
ether objects which may prove possible clues
IN criminal investigations available to the
bureau through other Government agencies.
But attention has been concentrated on COLI
lecting and classifying 6ngerprints because
nngerprints never change. The marks which
Mature puts on our fngertips come with us
into the world and they remain with us until
decomposition has set in, and one latent print
has sometimes been the means Of solving
crimes which otherwise would have gone into
that great category Of unsolved mysteries
Recently the scope of the bureau has been
enlarged. Congress empowered it to collect and
compile criminal statistics, and on September !,
1880. the work was begun Before that time it
was impossible for criminal justice administra-
tors and others engaged In the prevention and
suppression Of crime to get an adequate picture
Of conditions in the United States
ONE case recently solved by means Of infor-
nation which the bureau furnished is
phenomenal. Ordinarily, the print of one
single finger is not enough TO serve to identify
. criminal but the marvellous memory of a man
who handles the fingerprints Of half a million
persons a year enabled him to recognize among
the cards which pass over his desk the one print
which identified dastardly criminal, brought
about the capture and execution Of three muir
derers and the release of four innocent men
Who had been accused Of the crime
Back in 1928 four robbers held up the First
National Bank at Lamar Colo. killed the presi-
dent Of the bank and his SON, kidnapped two
Of the bank employees and got away with more
than 5000, 900. One of the bank employees was
later thrown out Of the car. but the second
was carried on into Kansas and his body rid
died with bullets. After reaching Dighton,
Kans, the bandits enticed q doctor to treat one
Of their number who was wounded and after
he had performed his services they murdered
him and pushed his body and his automobile
over a canyon near Liberal, Kans.
Excitement ran at fever heat and airplaneS
were sent out to trail the bandits, but they
made complete getaway. When the doctors
car was discovered one Of the first men to
reach 1t was the nngerprint expert of Garden
City, Kans, who found one single clear finger
print left by one Of the bandits This he care
fully photographed and the whole country was
circularized although it could hardly be hoped
that one single print would ever be recognized.
3. Meanwhile, four men were arrested and
identified as the bank robbers, and the authori-
wes felt sure that they would soon be con-