TOEPRINT CLUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22610, 29 June 1935, Page 3

TOEPRINT CLUE

NEW CRIME DEVELOPMENT Toeprints as clues to crime! It is to be doubted whether Scotland Yard has got as far as that; but Raja Abas, officer in charge of the Police Department at Jelebu, Negri Sembilan, in the Federated Malay States, has. And the fact was much to the sorrow of one Samsudin bin Mat Jadi, who, for all his lengthy and sonorous name, is, or was, but a humble servant of the Yam Tuan, the benevolent ruler of the Nine Countries" under British Patronage. Set a Malay to catch a Malay! Wise advice, for few men of another race, white, brown, yellow, or black, have the guile of that people of erstwhile pirates. True, recently a mere Sikh showed traces of elementary cunning and evidence of real patience when, building up a case against an egg thief, he waited all day until a certain hen laid an egg, which by its entirely unusual size was clearly own brother to an egg found in the suspected man's possession. _. But that was the kind of genius that has been described as an infinite capacity for taking pains. Raja Abass genius was of the more dazzling type. No doubt Raja Abas, before he attained the dignity of his present rank and took to wearing boots, and when he went abroad in full uniform even to the puttees but bare of foot, had himself been fairly handy with his feet. Malays are. A well-known Kuala Lumpur golfer recounts how for a long time he was pleasantly surprised always to nnd his hall in an excellent lie, until one day he saw his caddie lifting it with his toes from a hole and placing it on what amounted to a tee. Needless to say, it was not pure benevolence—a bet was involved. Many another instance could be quoted of the Malay's skill in the matter of footNevertheless, it was only Raja Abas who remembered this national trait at the right moment and to the undoing of SamRudin bin Mat Jadi. And this is how it happened. - . . At Jelebu it is not an everyday affair to be the consignee of a registered letter. Accordingly, when certain citizens who had reason to believe that parcels and letters containing things of value had been despatched to them did not receive them, thev complained to the post office. There, greatly to their mystification, they were shown receipts duly thumb marked (writing is not yet a universal accomplishment in Jelebu). Although they were not able to disown the thumb mark at a glance, someone who had heard of fingerprints went to the police and suggested that the matter should be probed more deeply. After all. even allowing for Malayan memory, there was some reason to suppose that since a number of worthy citizens affirmed th.it they had not received articles which they were supposed to have receipted, there was something wrong somewhere. There was; the thumb mark on each , receipt was found to be the same. Yet when all post office employees, inside and outside, at Jelebu had had their fingerprints taken, not one corresponded with that so guiltily prevalent on the receipts. Discomfited, the police scratched their heads (not with their toes) and pondered. No illumination came. Detectives sat twiddling their thumbs, waiting for inspiration. Then —was it that a policeman, in n reverie, twiddled his big toes? —Raja Abas had a brain wave. The post office employees were brought back, and this time their toeprints were taken —as has been said, to the undoing of Samsudin bin Mat Jadi. But it is not to be supposed for a moment that Samsudin is the only criminally inclined individual willing and able to'use his feet for work with which it is unsafe to sully his hands. Will the Malayan C.I.D. be obliged to keep a complete record of toeprints as well as fingerprints?