The weekly Butte record., 1863-03-07
Science Aiding Justice.

/ The facts embodied in the following narrative,
4 in connection with q recent murder trial, show
the value of scientific requirements, and are Of
exceeding interest to large class Of readers
4 traveller was found dead in bis bed one
morning at a country tavern. His throat was
cut at the side. the instrument having pierced
the carotid artery the victim had been for
some time wasting away by disease. The land
lord was one Of the most influential and highly
esteemed persons in the neighborhood, was ex-
tensively and well connected, and had a large
and interesting family. Having been seen,
very late at night. passing through the hall
| into which the travellers door opened, the sGs-
picious of certain persons were aroused; and
upon being taken into custody, a penknife was
found in bis pocket with apparent boodstaius
on the large blade, and something similar on
| the ivory handle. The kaife was placed in the
hands of an expert physiological chemist for
examination. The stain was found to be of
blood, and not Of irou-rust or paint, as it con
tanned abumen and animal fibre. The blood
on the handle contained large amount 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 a
human body; still there was a doubt, because
/ in slow diseases there was deficit of iron in
the blood, which deficit is not an unfrequent
cause of death.
But as the blood on the ivory handle had
the full amount of iron for a man in vigorous
health. it seemed to show that there were two
different kinds of blood, the one human certain
| ly, the other possibly so. Hence another mode
of inquiry was proposed. The blood of animals
and men chrystalizes, but in different forms
that of men represented by perfect square
heightened cube, tetrahedal, or several sided
hexagona This analysis removed the doubts
connected with the preceding one, for it de-
monstrated 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 pursued
All the inner surfaces Of tie human body are
covered with gairy-looking fluid called nau
Gus, which is differently constituted according
to the part of the body from which it is taken.
As observed through a microscope, that which
is found about the upper part of the throat
presents the appearance Of a pavement of brick
or square pieces, hence it is called 'tesselated.
The mucus from other parts is conical, looking
like pavement made of round pieces fattened.
A third kind coming from the intestines,
seems hairy ciated waving like the tops of
long grass under the influence Of the wind.
Examining the blood on the handle, 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, therefore, have come from
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 discharged, when he gave the
following statement
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 he cut
upwards, and it penetrated the abdomen. In
his haste he wiped the knife with some leaves,
closed the blade, and in the attempt to put it
in his pocket it fell on the ground he picked
it up and directed his steps homeward. In a
few minutes one of the squirrels slipped off; he
pierced it through with his knife and strung it
on his switch, and had not used the knife since. /
This was plausible, and he showed the wound, /
not yet entirely healed but this could easily
have been made to answer an object The
physiologist therefore proposed, as mere mat
ter of curious interest, 10 examine the blood on |
the blade, and also that on the handle. That |
on the handle was wavy ciliary with the larg-
est amount of iron, showing that it must be .
be from a man in robust health, and the mu- /
Gus from the abdomen is always eiliary and
never tessellated. Again, the blood adhering |
to knife penetrating living body coagulates;
that from body already dead never does
The blood on the blade already shown TO be
that of a mere animal, was now found to be in /
coagulable. Hence, that on the blade was
shown TO be the blood of mere animal alrea-
dy dead that on the handle was the blood of
man in vigorous health and could not have
r II II / 4 n
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 exc
cuted, confessing his guilt. +
1t is certain that in the progressive march .
of science and art, the unchangable laws of ma
ture will be better nderstood-correcting the .