Evening star., 1934-10-17
Federal Crime Detection.

Shocking and fiendish though 1t
was, the Lindbergh kidnapping and
murder two and half years ago
served q good purpose. 1t led to the
enactment Of q law by Congress which
established Federal Jurisdiction over
all such crimes In certain circum-
stances, as when the hostage Is car
ried over q State boundary, when the
mails are used In demands for ran
som and when there Is . lapse of q
certain number of days from the COM
mission of the kidnapping before ram
som is demanded, which establishes
q presumption of flight into another
State. Thus the crime Of kidnapping
has become subject to virtually imme-
diate investigation by the Federal
authorities. leading and co-ordinating
the State activities and utilizing the
highly developed system Of identifca-
ton maintained by the Department Of
Justice.
The value Of this method has Just
been demonstrated in the case Of the
kidnapping of q woman from her home
in Louisville, KY, several days ago.
Within . few hours after the crime
was disclosed the identity Of the kid
naper was established through finger
prints on the ransom note, which were
found to correspond with those kept
in the Governments collection in this
city as the marks of man with q
prison record. From that point the
case developed swiftly. Yesterday the
woman was returned to her home,
the wife Of the kidnaper was
taken and pursuit of the kidnaper
himself was in progress with every
prospect of his early capture.
Had the kidnaper been more clever
in the matter Of leaving fingerprints
and in the naming Of the interme-
diary the identification would have
been less quickly established. But the
Federal pursuit would nevertheless
have proceeded, with far better
chances of detection and rescue than
II the case were being handled solely
by State authorities. That the solu-
ton would have come soon is alto
gether likely.
In this case It so happened that the
kidnaper had prison record and that
his identifying marks were on file in
Washington, along with several million
others, so classified and grouped as to
permit immediate recognition. Thus
when . crime is committed by one who
has already come within the coils Of
the law and leaves behind him any
marks of his identity the Federal bu-
reau in this city has the means Of
establishing it, which is the starting
point of pursuit. Nowhere else in the
world Is such a complete array Of
marks of personality. This alone gives
the Federal system of crime detection
and pursuit great advantage. Fur
thermore, in any case that bears the
marks Of an interstate activity IT is
possible speedily to concentrate highly
skilled Investigators upon the scene.
who are not hampered by boundaries
or conflicting authorities.
It required the crime in New Jersey,
thirty months ago, to bring about the
establishment of this system Of kid
naping investigation, unhampered by
State lines and authorities. It had
been operating previously, but within
strict limits, imposed by State juris-
dictions that actually abetted crime.
Since the enactments induced by the
Lindbergh case the Federal bureau has
scored numerous successes and head
way has been made in the battle
against this crime, which Is one of the
greatest menaces from which the
country TODAY suffers.