Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-18

Try your hand at the yarn limited
in these two cryptic paragraphs
copied from a handful that recently
decorated the pockets of postal
clerks and other officials throughout the United
States:
"Wanted-For using the mails to defraud in
stock promotions. Ross I. Larton, aged 49 or so,
height about feet 10 inches, weight about 160
pounds: black hair thin bald on top heavy
black eyebrows and long laSheS: prominent
nose. rather long and with apple or bulb at
end; well built and with sincere and honest
looking face.
His most prominent feature is a crippled
right hand, caused by gunshot wounds in the
Spanish American War. Probably will be found
wearing glove on right hand, at least when
out on street. Writes with left hand"
-0u will have to guess the final chapter in
the history of this notorious swindler; it hasn't
been written yet But If you know anything
about the Bureau of Investigation, United States
Department of Justice you can imagine the
final scene. The Royal Canadian "MOunties"
are not the only ones who "get their man"
7 ARTON is just one Of number of prominent
Americans, temporarily residing abroad,
In whom Uncle Sam is particularly interested.
Like others Of his ilk, he chooses . foreign land,
not for reasons Of sentiment, but because the
national police" are on his trail and he knows
that il ne returns or If he moves to q country
from which he can be extradited it will be all
up with him.
Other well known wanted men" who keep
out of the way of Uncle Sans investigators are
Grover Cleveland Flee, A. NJ. Sinbane and Louis
DorOsnick, wanted for irregularities in matter
Of bankruptcy. For many others the furtive
tOurneyings and long suspense have ended. In
the end they were apprehended and stood before
the bar Of justice. Abram Kornelius bank
cashier, who abSconded, was q fugitive for Is
years. He was caught last April in Cheyenne.
Wyo
Larton, considered the most important de-
PENDANT in the Ruby Beach Mining Co case at
Tacoma, Wash, vanished from the scene shortly
after his indictment, June s. 1926 The Bureau
Of Investigation got busy. Over its network OF
stations the information hummed Other Gov
eminent agencies were notified and asked to
cooperate in the search Within q month he
located result of the alertneSs of q
post Office employe, who reported that his mail
going to the st. Regis Hotel, Mexico City.
Mexican police, contacted verified the informa-
ton, reporting that he was registered in COM
pany with his wife and two children.
Cases like Larton's are the most difficult of all
fugitive cases to handle. The offense with
which he is charged is not extraditable, and
there is no means by which he can be forced
70 return to the United States to stand trial
In such cases the Federal detective like q
watchful cat, bideS his time, keeping track Of
his victims movements as best he can from a
distance, ready to pounce upon him soon as
ne comes within reach. Friends and relatives of
the fugitive are kept under surveillance. His
mail is watched and inquiries are made through
the State Department and foreign police
agencies.
MOST fugitives, says John Edgar Hoover,
chief OF the bureau come back sooner or
later and are taken. Homesickness the belief
that their crimes have been forgotten or that
the authorities have relaxed their activity are
factors that influence them to risk return
Then, If immigration ofdcials do not catch
them some enemy perhaps recognizes them
tips Off the police and they are trapped.
LartOn since his disappearance has followed
devious trail, but has seldom been tout Of