Kansas City daily journal., 1895-10-07
CAMERA IN CRIME.
WONDERFUL RESULTS OBTAINED ny
A GERMAN CHEMIST.
Proving Big Bond Forgery -Uncarthing q
Custom Fraud of Russian Border by
Photographic Enlargement of
an Agents Rcturna

! CHANGING over my diary, that Of q
! government chemist, | have found many
| Interesting notes. which form a con
/ temporary history of the advancement
I in the knowledge OF fighting crime.
In 1879 it first occurred to me that
| photography could be made a most i'm
purtant feature IN cases OF u peculiar
kind and | have since developed meth
DDS 10y which photography can be made
eminontlv useful to the criminal courts.
one of the first cases IN which / had
success with the photograph and micro
scope occurred many years ago. The
case was this: In the eastern part of
Germany lived 81 man rs years old. The
son OF the old man cared for him and
had given him a small room in an out
house IN which to sleep. Tirins of the
old father at last the son decided to
get rid OF him, and one morning the
father was found hacked to pieces.
suspicion was directed TO the son. and
after long search the AK. smeared
with blood. was found, writes n Berlin
correspondent In the Chicago Tribune.
The son at once announced that he had
recently Killed goat with an AK, and
that the blood was that of "a goat. l
made photographs OF blood corpuscles
Of both a goat and a human being and
showed conclusiyely that the blood on
the AK was that of a human being. The
son subsequently confessed the murder
and died penitent.
But in a murder case the matter Is
made much easier for the scientist IL
hair can be found in the blood or on
the weapon used to commit the crime
Take, for instance. the gray hair Of
an old man. We recognize it by the scaly
formation OF the surface of the hair
Through these We see with the. micro
scope the broken coloring substance
which is longer actively able to retain
the original hue because of the air pen
etratng the many apertures.
But aside from the advantage OF the
use Of Photography in murder cases,
there are other departments of crime in
which IL is of value. Chemists crowd
the criminal profession. They seem to
have an aptitude for this science which
borders on the marvellous, and there are
men to-day in all countries who by the
aid Of chemicals. are able to battle the
pher. But in almost all cases we have
been able TO discover alterations of fig
ures
a case in point is that of an old Gus
toms officer who was stationed on the
Russian border. and who was supposed
10 keep an entry of all cattle brought
into Germany at that point
II appeared that the Russian cattle
dealers had bribed him. and for months
he falsided his returns, changing his
books a his home from where he sent
the returns to the government He used
a chemical in which was a nitrous acid
Of great strength with other chemicals,
and it was only possible after many en-
and repeated photogra phng
hat We We're able to secure evidence and
show that he had substantiated the
figures 302 for 12G.
Last year all financial Europe was
worried by the discovery that forged
Loco lire Italian bonds We're in circu-
ation. For months ii was known that
these forged bonds We're being sold. but
{ was impossible to distinguish the good
from the bad. The paper had been stolen
from the government and the engrav-
ing had been done with such rare skill
as to deceive the most expert.
7 was called into the case. and had
decided that ordinary enlargement in
photography would not do. first
brought out by the use Of chemicals
.very portion ~ the bond In extremely
bold relief. BY the use Of intense light
and "a strong microscope I secured an
enlargement Of tho chemicalized bond.
The result was marvellous Under each
. the words "Nf'Ie" C.0oO appeared (
he Original "Dieai' item, the original
denomination of tho bond