Evening star., 1948-07-20
Elmer L. heX Who Helped Trap
Copone and Houptmonn, Dies
Heart Attack FutuI
To Retired Official
Of Treasury

Elmer L. Trey. whose 40 years in
the Government service included a
key part in solving the Lindbergh
baby murder and in trapping Al
Capone and other public enemies
for tax evasion. died yesterday at
his summer home in Shady Side,
Md.
The funeral will be in Washington
; but arrangements have not been
completed, members of his family
said.
Mr.. Trey, who was 60, retired
August 81, 1916, as chief co-ordina-
tor of the Treasury Departments
law enforcement agencies. He
maintained an Office as a tax con-
sultant in the Shoreham building
and recently finished writing a
a book The Tax Dodgers"
He became i'll about a week ago
and died OF hearC attack at b:ou
PM. yesterday. For the last sever al
years in Washington he lived at the
Shoreham hotel.
| A native of Kansas City, Mo-, Mr..
Trey came here as boy. After grad
uatlon from the old Business High
School in 1906 he started his long
Government career as a Stenogra-
pher in the chief postal inspectors
Office. He was post Office inspector
from 1917 to 1919 and then trans
ferred to the Internal Revenue Bu-
reau. -....
When he established the bureaus
intelligence unit in 1919 it had only
| five employees. When he retired two
years ago he had more than 1900
trained investigators under his di-
rection. In 1912 he was appointed
chief co-ordinator of all the Treas
ury Departments nforc m II t
agencies such as the Secret Service,
customs, narcotic and alcoholic tax
units.
Besides being the nemesis of AL
Capone, "Waxey" Gordon, Dutch"
Schultz and other prohibition era
gang leaders whom he helped send
to jail on tax lodging charges, Mr.
Trey made major contribution to
the capture of Bruno Richard
Hauptmann for the kidnap-murder
of the infant son of Charles A.
Lindbergh.
At his suggestion, gold certificates
were placed in the ransom money.
This was major evidence that led to
| the conviction and execution of
! Hauptmann
He also was active in tax investi-
cation involving members of the
Huey Long organization in Louisi-
ana and the Pendergast political
machine in Missouri.
When the United States entered
World War II Mr.. Irey's duties be-
came even more extensive. Despite
heart condition that developed
several years ago he refused to leave
his post. Shortly before his retire.
ment he suffered a heart attack.
War Activity Recalled.
During the war one of his prin-
cipal responsibilities was to see that
all enemy alien business and finan-
cial Establishments in the United
States were not only frozen" but
thoroughly guarded.
For his work he was commended
many times by officials in the ad-
ministration and in Congress. For
mer Secretary of the Treasury Nor
genthau cited him for outstanding
performance. Former Chairman
Cochran of the old House Commit
tee on Accounts declared several
years ago that Mr.. Trey brought
into the Treasury, on an average,
30 times as much additional revenue
annually as it costs to operate his
division"
While such names as AL Capone
and "WaXey" Gordon got the big
gest headlines when finally put into
prison, there were other tax-evasion
cases in which Mr.. Trey and his as
sociates brought the Government
much larger sums of money.
Took Law Course.
| In the course of his career he
became well acquainted with Gov.
Thomas E. Dewey, then young
prosecutor beginning a career that
led to the governorship of New York
and nominations for the presidency
Notwithstanding his arduous
duties which required long hours
and considerable travel, he found
time to study law at Georgetown
University Law School. He had
many tempting offers to go to Hol-
lywood both to write and take part
in movie productions. While he