



Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Archive.)









SCIENCE AND THE CRIMINAL




_UNIFORM WITH THIS BOOK_

HYPNOTISM AND SUGGESTION

By BERNARD HOLLANDER, M.D.

"It is the work of a man of established reputation, who has devoted
himself for years to the subject, and whose aim it is to tell what
Hypnotism really is, what it can do, and to what conclusions it seems to
point."--_Globe._




[Illustration: TRIAL OF CAROLINE RUDD

_Frontispiece_]




  SCIENCE AND THE CRIMINAL

  BY C. AINSWORTH MITCHELL


  BOSTON
  LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
  1911




TO MARK HANBURY BEAUFOY, ESQ., J.P. AS A MARK OF REGARD AND ESTEEM




PREFACE


In the following pages I have endeavoured to give some account of the ways
in which scientific discovery has been utilised in the struggle between
society and the criminal.

I have tried to describe the principles upon which different kinds of
scientific evidence are based, and at the same time to bring human
interest into what would otherwise tend to be dry detail by giving an
outline of trials in which such evidence has been given. It is, perhaps,
hardly necessary to mention that in many of these illustrative trials the
accused persons were proved innocent of the charges brought against them,
and that although their cases were tried in the criminal courts the title
of the book in no way applies to them.

For the accounts of the older trials I have drawn freely upon Cobbett's
_State Trials_, Paris and Fonblanque's _Medical Jurisprudence_, and the
first edition of Taylor's _Medical Jurisprudence_, while I must also
acknowledge my indebtedness to the _Circumstantial Evidence_ of Mr.
Justice Wills and the recent excellent lectures on _Forensic Chemistry_,
by Mr. Jago.

In the later cases I have mainly relied upon contemporary accounts and
upon my own impressions of some of the trials at which I have been
present.

My best thanks are due to all those who have given me valuable and
ungrudging assistance. In particular I would mention Major Richardson, who
has kindly given me a photograph of one of his trained bloodhounds and has
allowed me to quote the description of an actual man hunt with
bloodhounds, from his book, _War, Police, and Watch Dogs_; and
Mademoiselle Arlette Clary (and the _Daily Mirror_) who have supplied me
with a photograph of a Paris police dog.

I am further indebted to the late Sir Francis Galton and his publishers,
Messrs. Macmillan & Co., who gave me permission to reproduce illustrations
from his book on _Finger Prints_; and to Mr. Thorne Baker and the _Daily
Mirror_ for photographs illustrating the use of telegraphy in transmitting
portraits.

The excellent drawings of the hairs of different animals were made by my
friend Mr. R. M. Prideaux, and are reproduced here by the kind permission
of Messrs. Scott Greenwood & Co.

Finally, I would thank the proprietors of _Knowledge_ and the Editor, Mr.
Wilfred Mark Webb, for the loan of various blocks and for permitting me to
make use of material from several articles of mine on handwriting, which
have appeared in that journal.

C. A. M.

  _White Cottage,
    Amersham Common,
      Buckinghamshire._




CONTENTS


                                                                      PAGE

  CHAPTER I

  INTRODUCTION

    Conflict between the Law-maker and the Law-breaker--
    Illustrations of Deductive Reasoning in Criminal Cases--
    Scientific Evidence--Scientific Assistance for the
    Accused--Instances of Advantages of Conflict of Scientific
    Evidence--Scientific Partisanship                                    1

  CHAPTER II

  DETECTION AND CAPTURE OF THE CRIMINAL

    Contrasts between Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth
    Centuries--Margaret Catchpole--Tawell--Crippen--Portraits
    and the Press--Charlesworth Case--Bloodhounds--Police
    Dogs--Circumstantial Detection                                      22

  CHAPTER III

  PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION

    McKeever's Experiment on Fallibility of Eye-witnesses--
    Gorse Hall Murder--Cases of Mistaken Identity--Gun-flash
    Recognition--Self-deception--Tichborne Case                         37

  CHAPTER IV

  SYSTEMS OF IDENTIFICATION

    Photography--Anthropometry--Finger-prints and their Uses            48

  CHAPTER V

  IDENTIFICATION AND HANDWRITING

    Heredity--Emotional Influences--Effects of Disease on
    Handwriting                                                         70

  CHAPTER VI

  EVIDENCE AS TO HANDWRITING

    Illustrative Cases--Handwriting Experts                             85

  CHAPTER VII

  FORGED DOCUMENTS

    Use of Microscope--Erasures--Photographic Methods--
    Typewritten Matter--Examinations of Charred Fragments--
    Forgery of Bank Notes                                               93

  CHAPTER VIII

  DISTINGUISHING INKS IN HANDWRITING

    Elizabethan Ink--Milton's Bible--Age of Inks--Carbon
    Inks--Herculaneum MSS.--Forgery of Ancient Documents               105

  CHAPTER IX

  TWO NOTABLE TRIALS

    Trial of Brinkley--Trial of Robert Wood                            116

  CHAPTER X

  SYMPATHETIC INKS                                                     130

  CHAPTER XI

  REMARKABLE FORGERY TRIALS

    Trials--William Hale--The Perreaus--Caroline Rudd--Dr.
    Dodd--Whalley Will Case--Pilcher, etc.                             135

  CHAPTER XII

  IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN BLOOD AND HUMAN HAIR

    Structure of Blood--Human Blood--Blood of Animals--Blood
    Crystals--Libellers of Sir E. Godfrey--Trial of Nation in
    1857--Physiological Tests--Precipitines--First Trial in
    France--Gorse Hall Trials--Human Hair--Hairs of Animals            154

  CHAPTER XIII

  EARLY POISONING TRIALS

    Murder of Sir T. Overbury--Mary Blandy--Katharine Nairn,
    etc.                                                               171

  CHAPTER XIV

  NOTABLE POISONING TRIALS

    Use of Poisons--Arsenic and Antimony--Chapman Case--
    Strychnine in Palmer Trial--Physiological Tests--Case of
    Freeman--Error from Quantitative Deductions--Poisonous Food
    Given to Animals--Mary Higgins--Negative Result of
    Physiological Tests--Hyoscyamus Poisons--Crippen Case--
    Experiment on Cats--Time Limit for Action of Arsenic--
    French Case                                                        190

  CHAPTER XV

  THE MAYBRICK CASE                                                    206

  CHAPTER XVI

  ADULTERATION OF FOOD

    National Loss from Adulteration--"Adulterated"
    Electricity--The Beer Conner--Conflict of Evidence--The
    Notice Dodge--Preservatives--Standards for Food--Court of
    Reference--Administration of the Law                               214

  INDEX                                                                239




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                      PAGE

  TRIAL OF CAROLINE RUDD                                    _Frontispiece_

  WAR PLAN SENT BY WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY                                  24

  PHOTO SENT BY TELEGRAPHY FROM PARIS                                   26

  PORTRAIT SENT BY "WIRELESS"                                           28

  MAJOR RICHARDSON'S MAN-TRACKER "PATHAN"                               30

  FRENCH POLICE DOG                                                     32

  PURKENJE'S STANDARD FINGER-PRINTS                                     64

  TYPES OF FINGER-PRINTS                                                66

  HEREDITY IN HANDWRITING                                               71

  INFLUENCE OF TRAINING ON HANDWRITING                                  74

  SIGNATURES OF NAPOLEON AT DIFFERENT PERIODS OF HIS CAREER             77

  WRITERS' CRAMP                                                        78

  SPECIMEN OF AGRAPHIA                                                  78

  WRITING OF LENAU, BEFORE AND DURING INSANITY                          79

  WRITING OF HOeLDERLIN, BEFORE AND DURING INSANITY                      79

  MIRROR WRITING IN PARALYSIS                                           80

  HYPNOTIC HANDWRITING                                                  82

  GARIBALDI'S SIGNATURE                                                 83

  DETECTION OF FORGERY BY MEANS OF CAMERA AND MICROSCOPE               100

  FURTHER SPECIMENS OF DETECTION OF FORGERY, AND TESTS TO
  DISTINGUISH OLD FROM NEW INKS                                        102

  ELIZABETHAN DOMESTIC RECIPE FOR INK                                  107

  THE TINTOMETER                                                       109

  GOAT'S AND COW'S HAIR                                                162

  KANGAROO'S AND HUMAN HAIR, AND THE HAIR OF A CAT AND A DOG           164

  FIBRES OF CHINESE SILK                                               164

  RABBIT'S AND HORSE-HAIR                                              166

  WOOL FIBRES FROM DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP                           168

  COTTON AND FLAX FIBRES                                               170

  ANNE TURNER                                                          172




Science and the Criminal




CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

    Conflict between the Law-maker and the Law-breaker--Illustrations of
    Deductive Reasoning in Criminal Cases--Scientific Evidence--Scientific
    Assistance for the Accused--Instances of Advantages of Conflict of
    Scientific Evidence--Scientific Partisanship.


In the constant state of warfare between the law-maker and the
law-breaker, which began when mankind first organised itself into
communities and has existed ever since, every new invention or practical
application of scientific discovery has supplied each side with new
weapons frequently of much greater precision.

The advantage thus conferred tends to be on the side of the law-maker but
not invariably so; for in spite of all the facilities of investigation now
available it is surprising how many crimes remain undetected, or how
frequently in suspicious cases it is impossible to discover the truth. The
law-breaker's primitive weapon of natural cunning has thus often proved
more than a match for all the weapons at the disposal, of his opponent.

There is much to be said, therefore, for the suggestion which has recently
been put forward on many sides that a department specially trained for
the work of criminal investigation should be created.

Under the present conditions the rank and file of the detective force,
recruited as it is from the best of the uniformed policemen, contains many
men of acute intellect and reasoning capacity, but it cannot be doubted
but that in many cases their efficiency would have been enormously
increased by a scientific training.

The present system somewhat recalls that under which doctors acquired
their knowledge of medicine in the early part of last century. Their
mistakes taught them what not to do, but in the meantime the patient
sometimes died.

Methods of scientific reasoning so as to draw deductions from observed
facts cannot be acquired by solitary night watches upon a "beat," nor does
the facility for breaking up a tangle in traffic which the constable
acquires as the outcome of his daily duties, necessarily render him more
capable of extricating from a mass of confused details the essential facts
upon which stress should be laid.

In some of the unsolved mysteries that have occurred during the last few
years the presence of a highly trained intellect at the first hour of the
investigation might conceivably have led to the detection of the criminal.
As a rule, it is only after the first examination is over and the case
appears likely to be a difficult one, that the best brains of the
department are brought to bear upon the facts, and it may then be too late
for effective action.

It should be made possible for a man who possesses a facility for this
type of work to join the criminal investigation department without having
to go through the routine work of a police constable, which will probably
add nothing to his powers of following up a clue; but, on the other hand,
this period of probation should be occupied by practical training in
scientific methods of working.

The present conditions both of payment and of status are not of the kind
that will attract the highest type of brain to the work of criminal
investigation, and yet there is no reason why it should not be made to
offer the advantages of other branches of professional work.

An apt illustration of the use of acute observation and deduction in
solving a mystery is afforded by the strange story of a shooting accident,
that, according to a writer in one of the leading morning papers, took
place many years ago.

A country gentleman was found lying dead upon a sofa, with the whole of
the charge of a sporting gun in his body. The discharged gun was hanging
in its usual place upon the wall, and there were no indications of any
struggle having taken place. All the circumstances apparently pointed to
the man having been murdered in his sleep, for it was impossible for him
to have shot himself and have then replaced the gun upon the wall, and
strong suspicion fell upon one of the servants in the house.

This man was arrested, and would probably have been convicted had it not
been for the detective noticing that the dead man's watch, which had been
smashed by some of the shot, had been stopped early in the afternoon, and
that at exactly the same moment the sun was focussed through a bottle of
water that was standing upon the table in such a way that the ray fell
upon the nipple of the gun upon the wall.

Accordingly he loaded the gun again, hung it in the same spot, and placed
a dummy figure upon the sofa, and as soon as the sun's rays passed through
this unintended burning-glass and were focussed upon the gun, an explosion
occurred and the contents were discharged into the figure.

The writer has been unable to trace the date of this occurrence, but even
if it is not founded upon fact it is not impossible, for there are
undoubtedly cases where papers have been set on fire by the rays of the
sun being concentrated upon them, through a bottle of water.

An instance of the way in which one small fact may give conclusive proof
that a crime has been committed is afforded by the trial of Swan and
Jefferies in the early part of last century.

The prisoners, who were indoor servants, had committed a murder and then
raised an alarm with the object of throwing the suspicion upon burglars,
who they alleged had broken into the house. But an examination of the
grass outside the house showed that although dew had fallen heavily
through the night there were no indications of its having been disturbed
by footsteps. This piece of circumstantial evidence led to their arrest,
and they were subsequently convicted and executed.

Equally convincing were the clues that led to the arrest of Courvoisier in
1840, for the murder of Lord William Russell, who was then seventy-five
years of age.

The prisoner had only been in the service of the murdered man for a short
time. He stated that on the night before the murder he had left his master
reading in bed, as was his frequent custom, and a fact in support of this
was that the candle had burned down to the socket.

Early in the morning the housemaid found the silver plate scattered about
the room, and various articles of value tied up in bundles, as though
burglars had broken into the house and had been interrupted in their work.

She called Courvoisier, and he appeared almost immediately, fully dressed,
and going into the room of Lord William Russell found him with his throat
cut.

On a door were marks which indicated that it had been broken in by the
supposed burglars, but closer examination showed that the damage had been
done from the inside. In addition to this, any burglars entering the house
through this door must have passed over a wall, and this was found to be
thickly coated with dust which had not been disturbed.

For a long time no trace of the missing valuables were discovered, but
finally after a thorough search of the premises, some of the money was
found hidden behind the skirting in the pantry of the accused, while later
on the stolen plate was discovered in the keeping of a man with whom
Courvoisier had formerly lived.

Mainly on the circumstantial evidence of these facts the prisoner was
convicted; afterwards he made a full confession of the crime.

Clever deductive reasoning was also shown in the following case, in which
the author of a shooting outrage that occurred in 1831 at Ayr was
discovered in a singular manner. Someone had maliciously fired a gun into
a church, and had hoped to escape detection. It was noticed, however, that
some of the bullets, after having passed through the windows, had left a
mark upon the wall opposite. By drawing a straight line between these
marks and the holes in the windows, and extending the line outside the
church, the other end was found in a window on the other side of the
street. Subsequently other proof was obtained that the gun had been fired
from this window.

Numerous cases might also be quoted where the trained observation of a
doctor has called attention to some slight point which would otherwise
have been overlooked, but which has furnished the clue to the detection of
a crime.

In the year 1806 a man named Blight was shot with a pistol at Deptford by
someone unknown, and died from the wound. Sir Astley Cooper, who was
called in to attend to the victim, carefully noted the relationship of the
body to other objects in the room, and from the position of the wound
concluded that the shot had been fired by a left-handed person. This
inference drew suspicion upon a gentleman named Patch who was the only
left-handed person who had been seen with Mr. Blight. He was a close
personal friend of the latter, and no one had dreamed of suspecting him of
the crime. The results of further inquiries proved that this man had
fired the shot, and after his conviction he confessed that he had been
guilty of the murder.

The fact that a weapon is tightly held in the hand of a person who has
been shot is strong presumptive evidence that it is a case of suicide,
since it is improbable that the hand of a dead man could subsequently be
made to grasp a pistol.

There is a remarkable case on record, however, in which the fact that a
pistol was found clenched in the hand of a dead man was at first regarded
as evidence of a murder. A son of the deceased, who had slept in the same
room was accused of having killed him and of then placing the discharged
pistol in his hand to give the suggestion of suicide. Experiments were
made in which the hand holding the pistol was lifted into the position in
which it must have been held if it had been a case of suicide, and in each
instance the hand, when allowed to fall, did not retain the pistol. For
the defence medical evidence was given that the spasmodic contraction of
the muscles after death would account for the pistol being still clenched
in the hand, while the inability of the hand to grasp it afterwards did
not prove anything. Evidence as to the presence of a motive was given, but
the scientific evidence was regarded as decisive and the prisoner was
discharged.

The question whether a person who has apparently committed suicide could
possibly have made use of the degree of force to which circumstances
pointed has frequently arisen.

The most notable instance of the kind was in reference to the