New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-20
HTV4N TESTIMONY.

Nothing goes further away from the truth
than perfect logic started on the wrong road.
The professional detectives Of Connecticut and
the amateur seuth hounds of the sensational
press have been rearing great towers or the
most convincing evidence with a keenncss Of
insight and surcness Of touch that rivallcd
the authorizations Of Poe. and all at once they
find their structure, every part of which was
so carefully fitted TO every other, tumhled In
ridiculous ruin at their feet
And Ill because their premises were false.
Yet they were justified in their conclusions, If
over there was any justification for weaving
known facts about a crime into ."eory as to
It's preparation. The body Of the murdered
girl found at Bridgeport had been positively
identified by the most minute and searching
tests. The Perkins girl, whose body this was
declared to be- had left her homo under suspi-
cious circumstances. The young man who had
been much in her company was also missing.
A Bridgeport woman whose laundry mark was
found on ,he wrappings of the dead girls body
had also gone away. Both rumor and the test-
mony of the mutilatcd corpse easily accounted
for the connection Of some person Of her pro
fcSsiOn with the case So, there you have
complete chain of evidence: The missing girl
suspected reason for her disappearance
known reason of identical character for her
death aftcrward discovered. marks TO connect
her and the suspected woman. flight Of this
woman. simultaneous disappearance Of the sus-
pected man. Nothing could bp palmer As the
sleuth hounds say. the young man and his fe-
male agent were being drawn into the tolls
And. in truth. it IS difficult to see but that a
..l,oin &C IL
which might have convicted them both Of hav-
ing caused the death Of Miss Perkins
But Miss Perkins is not dead With her re-
turn this whole piece Of logic can claim not a
shadow of truth for its conclusions though It
can still claim credit for every step of It's proc
esses. Nothing was assumed that was not as
sumed with good reason. that was not. indeed
the only assumption consistent with known
facts. and If Miss Perkins had continued miss
Ing nothing but the strongest kind Of direct evil
dcncc in rebuttal could have shaken the public
conviction about the murder and the murderer
II is somewhat startling TO think how innocent
people may be at the mercy of circumstantial
evidence. And they are at its mercy not mere
" through impefectons in the logical chain
which prosecutors are likely to ignore and Jury
men to forget. but through the absolute falsitv
O1 Il HuWlcSS SeQucH'e confirmed by many I'M
impcachabe facts. one Of those unmpeach-
able facts may be unimpeachablc without beipc
n fact. Then the more fawlcss the chain Of
circumstances, the more clearly it Is confirmed
by positive evidence. the more certain will be
the wrong conclusion.
Somebody will say that This shows clrcum
siantial evidence 10 be untrustworthy Not so
1t is the direct evidence which is at fault No
better and more convincing direct testimony
was ever given than that Of Mr. Perkins and
the MiddlebOrO dentist as to the identity of
the dead girl. If anybody should know an
other. the father should know his daughter and
he not merely recognized her. but described
the hidden marks which it would seem as If
there were not one chance in a million of an
other having. Then the dentist described the
Filings Of her teeth and they corresponded ex-
actly with those Of the head. Such absolutely
perfect likeness between the missing girl and
the dead body was convincing enough to stake
life on. and yet the Identification was Also
lutcly false. II is the statement of tho eve-
witness rather than Of the logician that the
mistake teaches Us 10 doubt The eyes and
cars and memory. even of the most honest men
are not to be trusted Overmuch
The Perkins case may be thought too remark
able as n coincidence to be regarded as AN OK
ample OF faulty observation. Yet II is scarcely