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ed STANDARD FORM NO. 64 Office Memof®ndum + owen cxf’ ee TO : Mr. Tolson DATE: January 21, 1947 iD. séison oP. ne. A. Tay ’ a FROM: L. B. Nichols . . oe Hew = @ GQ kz SUBJECT: IDENTIFICATION OF ELIZABETH SHORT ———— pete ir. Hendon oY. Fennington Le To recount the happenings on Thursday, January 16, x, amt involving the identification of Elizabeth Short and the af. “ease, possible interest of Warren Hancis of the Los Angeles Times, I wish to advise as follows: Shortly after 10 asm. on the morning of January 16, Ray Richards of the local Hearst bureau, which represents the Los Angéles Examiner, called and related the murder and stated that in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police the Los Angeles Examiner was sending the fingerprints of the girl to Washington via International News Photos | wire service. They were sending them at considerable cost and as a soon as they arrived Richards asked if we could check them. JI made the arrangements with Mr. Quinn Tamm in Ident. } The pictures arrived at approximately 11 o'clock, Quinn va Tamm called me on the phone and stated that he doubted they~would be “SK able to identify the prints since two of the fingerprint impressions \ were missing entirely and three others were badly blurred. He stated they would start making reference searches but that it would be much better if they had better impressions. Accordingly, I called Ray Richards back and told him that we were having difficulty and itt ; would be much better if he could have a full set of the Fingerprints as transmitted and if the transmission could be lear. TAis Ke Cawce hk nO At approximately 1:30 p.m. a Lorainej Francis of “the Los car Angeles Times called Quinn Tamm and in my absence was referred to Mr. Jones. Mrs. Francts referred to the unidentified girl and stated that she had a wire from her paper furnishing the fingerpring oles ae 7 fication. Mr. Jones told Vrs. Francis that it would be extheinely | ak difficult to identify a set of fingerprints with only the ftngerprint classification and of course with no name. However, Mr. Jones stated he would check on the matter. Mr. Jones checked with Quinn Tamn, who informed him of the search that was then underway and referred Ur. Jones to me. JI told Mrpylones tgs nothing and to sit Gight a ” '.& The identification w ad eabnct ampiddle, of the afffernoon and the full details were furnished tolthay ichands of the Los Angeles | Examiner. Obviously, fron a newspaper sta point the Examiner by its | enterprise and initiative had a clear sco Ly is matter and of CY, ED COPY LEDS RECORD: course was entitled to such protection be given them. At je KL that time we decided that we would not the information to anybody, that if the Francises called gr e would of course refer them to the Los Angeles Police but furnish’ the name of the girl. It was also decided if they did not call by 7 o'clock that we would call them.