Evening star., 1937-01-01

to ssssulting Federal officers. Bailey
was sentenced to 30 years in Federal
prison.
Harry Brunette, 'two-gun" ba nix
ba ndit and kidnaper. taken December
Is after a 45-minute gun battle in a
New York City apartment house. He
pleaded guilty TO kidnapping a Jersey
trooper and will serve life sentence
at Alcatraz Penitentiary.
With the capture of Brunette the
F. B. I. had but one ma jor kidnaper
left on its wanted list. Merle Vanden-
bush. There were several minor
hOodlums connected with other kid
napings being sought. Two cases once
listed as kidnapines within investiga-
tive jurisdiction of the G-men were
wiped of the records with notations:
Not q Federal kidns ping" One Of
these was the June Robles case at
Tucson, Ariz, and the other was the
Baby Browe disappearance in Detroit
The former now is listed as an extor-
ton plot and the latter a nom Federal
baby stealing or murder case.
The year brought death by execu-
tion 10 the first criminal convicted
under a recent Federal law making it
a capital Of1ense TO kill a Federal
agent. George w. Barrett. stolen car
racketeer, was put to death March
"a last for the Staying of Special
Agent Nelson B. Klein on August Is,
1885, when Klein and q fellow agent
captured him at College Corner. Ind.
California Spy Case.
Among other interesting F.. B. I.
Cases in the past II months were the
arrest and conviction of Harry
Thomas Thompson in California for
espionage in connection with the sale
Of naval secrets to Japan: the arrest
of Representa- tive John H. Hoeppel
and his son at Richmond under fugi-
tive warrants when they failed TO ap-
pear for commitment upon conviction
Of soliciting money for West Point
appointment, and the Moro Castle
fire trial, resulting in conviction Of
three ship line officers for negligence.
Not all the achievements of the F.
B. l. took place on the battle line.
Day in and day out experts in the
technical laboratory were solving
crimes by microscopic, chemical, ultra
violet light and other analyses Of clues
other bits of evidence. Identificat ton
experts were comparing the 1000 odd
f1ngerprints received daily from police,
with master prints Of criminals in the
collection of more than $500, 900 in
the F.. 3. I. files
In addition to supplying free lsbo-
ratory examinations and fngerprint
identifications to more than 10000 po-
lice agencies, the bureau early in the
year announced establishment IS q
permanent insatution of the F. B. l.
National Police Academy, for training
of selected police officers in latest
methods of crime detection and crimi-
nal apprehension. The third session
of the school will begin January IL
next.
AS the year progressed F. B. l. crime
statisticisns noted an unusual shift
IA bAAN aoASSAooo oBC oi IL
from the 1s-year-old group to those
81, ~ and % years old. Whether
this is due TO the 1s-year-old group
continuing their criminality and be-
coming second offenders, to effective
ness Of the war on crime or to an
improvement in economic factors has
not been determined.
While the G-men received q vast
amount OF popular acclaim for their
exploits, they also were subjected to
sniping autscks-the most discussed
of which was an unauthorized under
cover inquiry by Secret Service men
In st. Paul as to the tactics of F. B. I.
agents in the Dillinger case. Two
Secret Service subordinate officials
were reprimanded and denoted for
this spying"