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WIFE OF SUSPECT Away on Visit at Time of Kidnaping, Postmaster’s Wife Asserts. toy the Associated Press. BENSENVILLE, 111.. April 18.—The red-haired wife of Acting Postmaster Edmund Conrad Bartholmey said to day she was away on "something like” a visit at the time her husband was accused by Government agents of hid ing kidnaped William A. Hamm, jr„ of St. Paul, in their home. Busy with her duties of running the post office in her mate's stead, Mrs. Bartholmey, a leader in the civic and religious activities of this suburban village of 1.700 persons, declined to answer any other questions in connec tion with the Department of Justice’s allegations that Hamm was imprisoned In her home after his abduction for $100,000 ransom in 1933. "I couldn't say. I was away from home at the time,” she told ques tioners. Neighbors of the Bartholmeys said they never had reason to suspect that Hamm also was concealed in their vicinity. They said Bartholmey and his fam ily had been active in many of the affairs of this community of small home owners, about 14 miles west of Chicago's loop. Bartholmey had been a clerk in the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad yard offices here, had been a member of an employer employe board to settle disputes, and had held several public trusts. HAMM LAUDS G-MEN. Two Men Held in St. Paul Jail. Third Expected. ST. PAUL. April 18 (JP).—'William Hamm, jr., extended congratulations to the Department of Justice and “its untiring investigators” today as J. Edgar Hoover announced solution of the three-year-old abduction of the brewing company head. Two of three men Hoover an nounced had been arrested in the case were held in jail here, along with two “material witnesses.” one of them a woman, and a third suspect was re ported to be en route here from Los Angeles, where he was arrested. In the county jail here were Ed mund C. Bartholmey and Jack Peifer. Bartholmey was arraigned today and bond set at $100,000—the same figure as Hamm's ransom. George F. Sullivan. United States district attorney, who announced the cases would be presented to a grand jury Tuesday, said he expected the third suspect. Charles J. Fitzgerald, would be brought here Monday. Held as "material" witnesses were Morris Roisner. liquor store proprietor, who once was a kidnaping victim, and a woman identified only as an ac quaintance of Fitzgerald. Kidnaping (Continued From First Page.) pointed out as the place where Ed ward G. Bremer, St. Paul bank presi dent, was held by the same gang for $200,000 ransom six months later. Accused as “Finger Man." Peifer, Twin City police character, Is said to have served as “finger man” for the kidnapers. Fitzgerald is ac cused of being the man who shook hands with Hamm before two others poked guns in his ribs. In disclosing the arrests, J. Edgar Hoover, director of the F B I., re fused to divulge details of the hunt for the men. There remains to be caught Alvin Karpis, so-called “public enemy No. 1.” known to his gang associates as “Old Creepy.” Karpis narrowly has escaped capture on three occasions. The five other outlaws involved in the Hamm kidnaping, according to Hoover, are all accounted for. They arc: Elmer Farmer, serving a sentence In the Bremer case. Byron Bolton, also called William Bryan Bolton, now held in St. Paul | In connection with the Bremer case. Arthur “Doc” Barker, eldest of “Ma" Barker's boys, serving a life sentence | at Alcatraz. Fred Barker, killed with his mother in a gun battle with Federal agents at Oklawaha. Fla. Fred C. (Shotgun Zeigler) Goetz, reported killed by gangsters. Members of the "Terrible Touhey” gang had been acquitted of the kid naping when Hamm failed to identify any of them in court. After handing his three-page mem orandum to reporters and making a short statement of the case. Hoover refused to discuss details of the in vestigation which led to the arrests. “I'm afraid I’ve said too much al ready.” he said. The Karpis-Barker gang, leaders of which were Karpic and two Barker brothers—Arthur, alias "Doc,” and Fred—succeeded in escaping detection in the Hamm kidnaping for many months. Encouraged by their success in the ; Hamm case, the gang plotted and I carried out the bigger “job.” the kid naping of Bremer. It was in the sec -1 ond kidnaping they left clues that en abled the Federal agents to Identify them and track them down. Among the cities were latent finger prints—invisible to the naked eye—on several empty gasoline cans discarded by Bremer’s kidnapers on the day of the ransom payment. Two brass ma rine lights used in signaling to the ransom intermediary also proved to be damaging evidence. The cans were brought to the bu reau’s technical laboratory here and by a special development process ex perts found on them fingerprints that matched those in the bureau’s files of Arthur Barker, paroled murderer. The signal lights were traced to a Midwestern store, where a sales clerk identified a photograph of Alvin ICarpis. known to be a pal of the Barkers, as the man who had pur chased them. With the Karpis-Barker gang definitely identified in Bremer's kid naping, the agents shadowed known girl friends of the Barkers in Chi cago, where the gang was well known. Arthur Barker was seen to enter the apartment of one of the girls and emerge with the girl. They went to another apartment house not far away, with G-men trailing them. Then they returned to the girl’s apartment. Simultaneous raids were staged on both apartments. ’’Doc" Barker was captured without gunfire, but Russell Gibson, alias ’’Slim" Gray, opened fire on the raiders at the other apartment and was shot and killed in return. Captured in Gibson’s hideout was Byron Bolton, who now is serving 20 years for the Bremer kidnaping. Hoover says he has been definitely identified as a participant in the Hamm abduction also. Arthur Barker was convicted in the Bremer case and sent to Alcatraz Island Penitentiary for life. He and his brother Fred have been identified in the Hamm case. Hoover declared. In searching the apartment where Bolton was captured, the agents found papers which indicated other members of the gang were hiding in a big house on a lake in Florida and that in the lake was an old alligator popularly known In the vicinity as "Old Joe." With only this meager description as a guide, the G-men began an in vestigation of all the lakes in Florida in the almost forlorn hope of finding one with an alligator of that name, in a believe-it-or-not sort of climax they located such a lake before tne search had been under way long, found on it a hcuse w hose inhabitants had aroused suspicions of neighbors and placed it under surveillance. Establishing that a man answering Fred Barker's description and a woman resembling his mother, Kate, alias "Ma,’’ were in the house, a raid ing squad approached the dwelling, announced its official business and called on the pair to surrender. The answer was a burst of machine gun fire from “Ma" Barker in a second floor window. A lively gun battle en sued, "Ma” Barker and her son finally dying with guns in their hands. It was learned from a colored servant that Karpis and Harry Camp bell, a companion, who is still sought, had left the house a few hours before the raiders arrived and were driving north. A description of their car was broadcast and Atlantic City police lo cated the car in front of a hotel at the resort. Without waiting for Fed eral reinforcements, the police at tempted to capture the men, who i escaped after an exchange of shots. Surgery Operation Reported. Karpis has been flushed several ] times by the Federal forces. Several j months ago it was reported he had undergone a plastic surgery operation i on his face. Recently he Is said to j have fled from a house near Hot Springs. Ark., just before F. B. I. I agents raided it. Information obtained from captured members of the gang Is believed to have led to the arrest of Bartholmey, Fitzgerald and Peifer. "The same gang committed both kidnapings,” Hoover told reporters yesterday. Modus operandl of the gang was the same in each case. Hamm was seized by several men as he walked down a St. Paul street on the afternoon of June 15. 1933. He was released after William W. Dunn, a friend, had tossed a bundle of $100,000 on a lonely stretch of road near Wyoming, Minn., in response to a'pre-arranged signal— the flashing five times of automobile headlights. Kidnaped in Same Manner. Bremer was kidnaped in much the same way on January 17, 1934, as he walked along the street after taking his daughter to school. He was re leased after Walter Magee, friend named as intermediary, had thrown a $200,000 bundle of currency to the road near Faribault, Minn. The sig nal for the ransom payment this time was the flashing of red. green and white lights from the marine lamps. All of the 63 kidnaping cases which have occurred since passage of the Federal ‘‘Lindbergh law” have been listed as solved. Some of these cases have been handled entirely by the G-men and others In co-operation with local police. Only two kidnapers besides Karpis are on the wanted list of the F. B. I. at the present time. They are Wil liam Dainard, alias Mahan, sought for the Weyerhaeuser kidnaping at Tacoma, Wash., in connection with which Harmon Waley and his wife are serving long terms, and Thomas H. Robinson, jr.t kidnaper of Mrs. Berry Stoll of Louisville, Ky. Like the John Dillinger gang, whose record was •‘closed" last Summer with the finding in an Illinois gravel pit of the remains of John Hamilton, one time brains of the organization, the Karpis-Baker crowd has withered un dter the fire of the Federal agents. Serving long jail terms are Lloyd Barker and Volney Davis. William I Weaver, Cassius MacDonald and ! others have faced courts this year. Wynone Burdette and Delores De — laney, trapped in an Atlantic City, N. J„ hotel when Karpis and Camp bell escaped the trap a year ago, are serving five-year sentences. "We intend to knock off every one ' who ever worked with this gang,” i Hoover said. "It may run to 25 or 30 people.” Wallace <Continued From First Page.) ed that the A. A. A. would have to halt the mailing of past-due checks to farmers to compile the information sought. The Secretary said the A. A. | A. had consistently refused to give ! names of contract signers during the existence of the crop-control pro- i grams. Later Wallace said the A. A. A. had , begun a survey of the benefit pay- ^ merits and he furnished Smith with t broad summary, listing the larger payments, but withholding names of contract signers. At a press conference last Wednes day Wallace said a clerical staff was working on the list and that the names and amounts desired by the Senate could be obtained in five or six weeks. However, he indicated that names of contract signers would not be included unless the Senate so re quested. Officials said they expected there, would be little or no opposition to the Vandenberg resolution when It reached the floor. HARVARD MEN TO MEET Senator Elbert D. Thomas of Utah will be the principal speaker at the annual banquet of the Harvard Club of Washington, to be held at the University Club at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Others on the program include Leigh Hoodley, professor of zoology at Har vard, and Ralph H. Hallett, secretary of the Washington club. Music will be furnished by the Chevy Chase Chanters under the direction of Robert I E. Kline. The New Telephone Directory Closes April 21 To order a telephone, extra listings, or ad vertising in the yellow pages just call . . . Metropolitan 9900 \ l ■ Grands and Upright Pianos For Rent WOltCII IllOGN.W. ... imm ■ H»%M il ^ Save Money! ON “Murco” ! Lifelong Paint We use no short cuts in the making of “MURCO.” That’s why it DOES LAST A LONG TIME, and why it retains its beauty, f All this means your paint dollars go farther ■ I when you use “MURCO.” It’s always lOO'o pure. Ask about our new EASY PAY PLAN E. J. Murphy Co., Inc. I A 710 12th St. N. W. NAtl. 247V t . .,. . ■ . .. 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