The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-16
THE SCALE OF JUSTICE.
Little Things Which Operated to Save o
Take Away Life.

4 o
Take Away Life.
/ The question whether the person
who fires gun or pistol at another
| during dark night can be identified
by means of the light produced in the
discharge has long interested medico-
legal minds. The question was first
referred to the class of physical science
| in France, and they answered it in the
negative. A case attending to show
that their decision was erroneous was
subsequently reported by Fodere. A
woman positively swore that she saw
the face of a person who fred at an
kind of glory and that she was there
by enabled to identity the prisoner.
This statement was confirmed by the
deposition of the wounded man.
A case is quoted by Fonblanque in
which some police officers were shot at
by highwayman on a dark night
One of the officers stated that he
could distinctly see from the fash Of
the pistol that the robber rode dark
brown horse of remarkable shape about
the head and shoulders, and that he
had since identified the horse in Lon
don stable. This evidence was. ac-
cepted, for it was considered more
satisfactory than that OF the man who
swore that he recognized robber by
the light produced by blow on his
eye in the dark.
In a case of murder by strangulation
the woman who perpetrated the crime
bod h. j
accustomed to lay out dead bodies.
After the murder she carried out un-
thinkingly her professional practice by
smoothing the clothes under the body
of her victim, placing the legs at full
length, the arms out straight by the
side and the hands open. The doctor
who was called in at once declared such
a condition of the body was inexplica-
BILE on the supposition of suicide, con-
sidering the amount of violence that
must have attended the strangulation.
In another case the criminal had at
tempted to make the death appear like
the act of suicide by placing the lower
end of the rope near the hand OF the
deceased. but he selected the left hand,
whereas the deceased was right-hand-
ed, and he did not leave enough rope
for either hand to grasp in order to pro-
duce the very violent construction OF
the neck which had been caught by the
two coils ON the rope. A surgeon point
ed out these things. Both criminals
confessed their crimes before execu-
ton.
An escaped convict was on trial be-
fore a French court and the question
turned upon his identity with a prison
er known to have been tattooed. There
was no appearance of colored marks
upon his arm, and the question sub
mitted to M. Leroy, medico-legal
expert, was whether the man had
ever been tattooed. M. Leroy APP
piled sttong friction to the skin of
the mans arm. This had the eff
feet of bringing out white lines as cica-
trices. with slight blush tint. By
this means the word Sophie was
plainly legible in white marks on the
Redeemed skin. This proved the iden-
tity of the convict and he was released.
A trial took place at the Old Bailey
in London at which the late Mr. Car
pue, the surgeon, was able to rescue
man who was wrongly charged with
being a convict and with having I'M
lawfully returned from transporta-
ton. The chief clerk of Bow-street po-
lice station produced a certificate,
dated seventeen years before of the
conviction of person, alleged to be
the prisoner. under the name of Stuart.
The governor of the Jail in which Stu
art was confined believed the pris-
oner to be the person who was
then in his custody. The guard
of the hulks to which Stuart
was consigned from the Jail
swore positively that the prisoner was
Stuart. On cross-examination of the
guard he admitted that Stuart had a
wen on his left hand, and so well
marked was it that it formed a part of
his description on the books of the con-
Wet hulk. The prisoner said his name
was Stipler: he denied that he was the
person named Stuart, but ne could not
bring forward any confrmatory evil
dence because such a number of years
had elapsed. The recorder was pro-
ceeding to charge the jury when the
counsel for the defense requested per-
mission to put question to an eminent
surgeon, Mr.. Carpuc, who happened to
be in court. He deposed that il was
impossible to remove such wen as had
been described withou. leaving mark
or cicatrix. Both hands of the pris-
oner were examined, but no wen nor
any mark of wen having been re-
moved was found.
The Importance of examining closely
the hair found on weapons was shown
in a case in which Ratchet, having
clotted blood and hair adherent to ii,
was prod uced as evidence against a
prisoner suspected OF murder in little
country town. 1t was found under his |
bed. This, with other circumstantial !
evidence. had turned public op3nion
strongly against the prisoner. but |
when the hair was examined by
microscopes who had CHANGED to be !
in the courtroom il was found not 20 |
human, bnt that of some animal. This |
circumstance Led - more complete |
sitting of the evidence, and the accused /
was acquitted 1t turned out that he |
had killed dog with the Ratchet, and /
had carelessly thrown the weapon IN
der the bed. so his life literally hung 1
On a hair.-Toronto Mail.