The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-06-07
Science Aiding Justice.

Darratlon, IN connection with recen
murder trial, show the value Of scientii,
requirements aud are Of exceeding inter
est to large class Of our readers:-
A traveller was found dead in bis bed
one morning, at country tavern. Hi:
throat was cut at the side, the instrument
having pierced the carotid artery; the vic.
tim had been for some time wasting away
By disease. The landlord was one of the
most influential and highly esteemed per-
sons in the neighborhood. was extensive
~ and we'll connected, and had large
and interesting family. Having been
seen very late at night passing through
the hall into which the travellers door o.
pened, the suspicious Of certain persons
were aroused; and upon being taken into
custody, penknife was found in his pock-
ct, with apparent blood stains on the
large blade, and something similar on the
ivory handle. The knife was placed in
the hands Of an expert physiological chem
ist, for examination. The stain was
found to be Of blood and not of iron rust
or paint, as it contained albumen and an
imal fiber. The blood on the ivory han
die contained large au cunt OF iron, that
on the blade, comparatively little. As
human blood contains ten times as much
iron as that of animals, it seemed certain
that the knife in question could not have
entered human body; still there was a
doubt, because in slow disease there is
great deficit of iron in the blood, which
deficit is not unfrequent cause of death.
But as the blood on the ivory handle
bad the full amount of iron for a man in
vigorous health. it seemed to show that
there were two different kinds of blood,
one human certainly, the other possibly
So Hence another mode of inquiry was
proposed. The blood of animals and
men crystalliaes, but in different forms
that of man represented by perfect
square heightened cube, called prisma attic;
that of animals, by the cube, tetrabedal
as several-sided hexagonal. This analy-
sis entirely removed the doubts connected
with the proceeding, for it demonstrated
that the blood on the blade was that of a
lower animal, and that on the handle was
certainly human.
A third line of investigation was pur-
sued. All the inner surfaces of the bu-
man body are covered with glairy look
ing fluid called "mucus," which is differ
emily constituted, according to the part of
the body from which 1t is taken. As OBJ
served through a microscope, that which
is found about the upper part OF the
throat presents the appearance of pave.
ment of bricks or square pieces, hence it
is called "tesselated. The mucus from
some parts is conical, looking like pay
ment made of round pieces. fattened.-
A third kind, coming from the intestines,
seems hairy, cilliated, waving as the tops
of long grass under the influence of the
wind. Examining the blood on the ham
die which was now known to be that of
human being, it was found not to present
the pavement-like appearance, but it did
clearly show the wavy lines; it could not,
have come from the throat, and
as the traveller had no wound except that
on the throat, and as the blood on the
blade was clearly animal blood and not
human, no part Of the blood on the knife
could have been that of the unfortunate
traveller, and therefore the landlord was
when be gave the following
Some days before, while out hunting,
he killed several squirrels, and stopped
to cut a switch With knob at the root,
on which to string his game: the knife
slipped as be cut upward, and it penetra
ted the abdomen. In his haste he wiped
the knife clean with some leaves, closed
the blade, and in attempting to put it in
to bis pocket, it fell on the ground; be
picked it up and directed his steps home
ward. In few minutes one of the squir
rels slipped off; he pierced it through with
bis knife, strung it on the switch, and
had not used the knife since. This was
plausible, and he showed the wound, not
yet entirely healed; bat this could easily
have been made to answer an Object
The Psychologist therefore proposed as a
mere matter of curious interest, to exam
inc the blood on the blade and also that
on the handle. That on the handle was
wayy, cllliary, with the largest amount of
iron. showing that it must have been from
a man of robust health and the mucns
from the abdomen is always cilliary and
never tesselated. Again, the blood ad
herring to knife penetrating living body
Goa agulates-that entering in a body al
ready dead never does. The blood on
the blade, already shown to be that of a
mere animal, was now found to be in
Hence, that on the blade
was shown to be the blood of a mere an
imal already dead; that on the handle
was the blood of man 10 vigorous health,
and could not have come from the throat,
and almost certainly came from the abdo-
men. When the knife fell on the ground,
the handle touched some of the leaves
with which it had just been wiped. Thus
the chain of evidence for the landlords
innocence was unbroken and perfect.
The real culprit was subsequently found,
tried and executed, confessing bis guilt
II "a oarta;n that in the nroorassive