The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-03-11

detectives. Was it suicide
 The detectives strained for the answer, knowing that success would mean an "A" and failure an "E" when their report cards were sent home. There was no time to waste, for their next class was at 10:30, and other detectives had to take turn in the "crime scene room".
 Oscar, wax dummy, had died a thousand times, and each time he had provided a new problem in detection for the students in the National Police Academy of the Federal Bureau of Investiga- tion. Today he is dressed in fashionable clothes, and the "crime scene room" is set with the mo- dish furniture of a modern apart ment. Tomorrow, Oscar will be in rags, and the room will have all the trappings of gangster's den.
 J. Edgar Hoover is nothing if not thorough. When he presents his students" with "crime situ- ation", no detail of the stage set ting is overlooked. AS theatri- cal realist, Hoover out-Belascos BelaSco.
 COPS FIND CLUES
 The four detectives, who in real life are members of the police department in Albany or Seattle or Houston, find on the table a half-eaten chocolate bar. It's a clue. They have had instruction not only in finger-prints but in tooth-prints. and they carefully wrap the chocolate bar for late comparison with the teeth of a suspect
 There is a memo pad by the telephone. But no writing on it. Not daunted, the detectives exam inc the pad with a mc gnifying glass. The top sheet bears in- dentations from the writing on another sheet that has been torn away. Again clue!
 With no less zest than if.Os- car had had real blood in his veins, the detectives construct their case, track down the crim- inal, and turn him over to the law. They find, beyond a doubt that the to0th-marks and fin- ger prints of a certain member of the FBI staff betray him as the foul murderer of Oscar.
 The campus of the National Po- lice Academy is Pennsyvania ave- nue, and its lecture alls are in the Justice Department buildings. Though there is no tuition charge, this is one of the most exclusive academies in the country. To be admitted, you must be a "cOp" in the first place, and you must be the one and only Flaw enforce ment officiaP selected from given city to study under the G. Boss, J. Edgar Hoover.
 POLICE UNIVERSITY
 This is not a course for G. Men, however. That's something else again. Hoover has a veritable university. There is the National Police Academy, whose graduates go back home and carry on-no connection with the Federal Gov ernment except through good will. And there is the course for young G-Men, called "FBI Train ing School for Newly Appointed Special Agents" plus three other advanced schools to keep agents and clerks from forgetting what they have learned.
 Who killed oscar is only one problem out of many to be faced by the cops from Harrisburg and points west. There are academic problems, sheer classroom work. They sit down before a black board and listen to 8 lecture on the analysis of fingerprints.
 Teacher says: ''In making the formula, we place the even
 numbered fingers in the numer- ator. and the odd in the denom-
 inator. Now, a finger has
 numerical value only when it
 contains a whorl. Take 3 spe-
 cific case. Suppose a man has
 two wborIs i'm the left little
 finger and the left ring finger.
 What would be the count, MT.
 Knox? And the key, Mir.
 Davis? Remember that the
 key is the ridge count of the
 first loop."
 MT. Knox and MT. Davis have put away the brass-buttoned uni- form and night-stick which are their accoutrements back home;