Randa Abdelfattah and Ramteen Arablui

So when Elmer's boss, Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, got that call from the president himself directing him to get Capone, Elmer was confused.

Elmer's middle name was Lincoln.

And yes, he was named after that Lincoln.

His dad was a huge fan.

Elmer would be too.

Throughout his life, he was known to hand out pictures of Lincoln and drop quotes attributed to him into conversation.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

To Elmer, Lincoln represented what it meant to really serve in government.

Where country mattered more than anything else.

Elmer took these principles more to heart than his father, who abandoned the family when Elmer was still a kid soon after moving them from Kansas City to Washington, D.C.

His mission in life was to support his mom and his younger siblings.

He got a job as a stenographer at the post office in D.C.

and worked his way up to becoming a postal inspector.

Now, there's a big footnote here that you have to understand.

The one beacon of light in the federal law enforcement back then was the U.S.

postal inspectors.

They could trace a fraud to a penny.

That's right.

The most impressive crime-fighting cops worked for the post office.

Because at this time, the early 20th century, more and more people were moving to cities.