Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-11

land all New Deal legislation had
been upheld.
Graduated From Yale
He was born in Chicago OF
New England stock and was
graduated from Yale in 1891
Two years later he received a
law degree from Yale and be-
gan practicing in Connecticut
He was thrice Mayor of SIAM
ford (1900-1906).
While he was States attorney
Iat Stamford (1914-1925) Mr.
Cummings succeeded in freeing
a man he was supposed to prose-
cute for first-degree murder
Twentieth Century-Fox produced
a motion picture based on the
story and released it under the
title Boomerang"
Mr.. Cummings first opinion as
Attorney General was scrubbed
on a legal-size yellow pad while
President Roosevelt was making
his I'VE have nothing to fear
but fear itself" inaugural adj
dress. It was to the effect that
it was all right for the President
to close the banks under an un-
repealed clause of the National
Defense Act of World War I.
Mr.. Cummings encouraged
FBI director j. Edgar Hoover to
see what his bureau could do to
help local authorities combat
the rising tide of bank robberies.
payroll holdups and the kid
napings that had followed the
Lindbergh baby abduction. At
that time, FBI agents had no
legal right to carry arms.
Legislation Put Through
A program of legislation was
prepared. 81 bills in all, and Mr..
Cummings went before the Cap
itol Hill committees to put them
through. They included the Fed
eral kidnapping Act, the Extor-
ton Act and a bill making it
unlawful to flee a State to
avoid prosecution or being called
to testify.
Mr.. Cummings was one of the
first heads of departments to
employ a top-flight newspaper
man to handle his public rela-
tons. He hired the late Henry
Suydam, then correspondent of
the Brooklyn Eagle, for $4,000 a
year. Under Mr.. Suydam's guild
ance. news was held up at the
point of action until it was an
at press conferences in
Mr.. Cummings Office.
FBI Academy Started
The FBI's National Police
Academy. which trains men sent
to it from local police forces,
was started under Mr.. Cum
mings' administration. Local po-
lice started checking the identity
Of every criminal arrested with
the FBI master file of finger
prints. Criminals were no longer
able to wipe the slate clean by
moving across the country. OF
LAB kidnapping cases, 141 were
solved. The index of bank rob-
berries dipped rs per cent. BY
the time the FBI men shot down
John Dillinger outside a Chicago
movie theater, the battle was
won and a chapter of journalism
more colorful than the days of
Jesse James was over.
Defended Tobacco Concern
After retiring to private prac-
tice, Mr.. Cummings clients in
cluded the p. Lorillard Co., one
Of the large tobacco companies
which he defended in an anti
trust case. and the Chrysler Co.
Mr.. Cummings was married
four times. His first two mar
riages to Helen Woodruff Smith
and Marguerite T. Owings. ended
in divorce. His third wife, May
Cecilia Waterbury. died in 1889
and his fourth wife, Julia Alter,
died last year.
After the death of his third
wife, Mr.. Cummings established
at George Washington Univer-
sity in her memory a fund for
the study of apprehension. In
1914 he was elected to the uni
versity's board of trustees.
He Is survived nv a prandson