Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-11-05
LYING PICTURES
ON DEAD EYES.

Tbev nre reyIvlns the theory that
murderer may be detected ~ '"e Wv
OF his victim.
sciontiste and camera experts have
long claimed that the retina acten M =
photographic Instrument. which would
indoiibly dcpict the last onl.et pehelu
In life. Tho recent trlnl OF ~ ShaW,
who was acquitted OF the mufuet OF ms
mother aud grandmother. ushlehh,ru.-
cd the great advantage Wn'eh 'ne p loH
ccuting attorneys mlEhl nay. osu ~.
could they have taken picture OF the
murderer from the eyes " the muir
derod women.
In the trial Of Mrs Nancy Gullford.
who will soon be brought over from
London 20 answer for the murder Of
Emma GIN. the bridgeport young wom-
an, the polnt will again Do brought up.
aud. II Il In deemed advisable, the eyes
OF the victim will De examined Tor pho
tographic evidence.
The theory upon which the belief
rests " that the human eye
IL camera obscura. During
life the rutlua acts exactly as
the camera acts. u presents an accu-
rate picture OF what b. iu front ~ Il
Tor the cognition of the brain. The pie
lures follow each other one after an
other. one picture fading aa another II
placed before t. when the eyes are
closed. the last picture seen remains
upon the camera until the ewes are
opened. and a new picture presented.
The last picture that " Impressed
upon the Cyc remains there nH long a.
the rctlna ondurcs. This picture. II e.
could be reproduced would show the
last object upon which iu' eyes Of the
dead rested.
OF course. n the murderer were out
u vision. the eye would rutnln only n
picture % the room or NJ the scene
where the murder was committed. and
u II were done Ia darkness thorc would
be no picture upon the eye. or II would
be all a blur. but VI the murdercr'H
face was the last object upon which the
| eye rested. there would h0 an indcllblc
picture In whieh the face and the ng-
urc Of the murderer could he repro.
duccd by the art of photography.
Tho facts that are brought forward
TO huttrcaH up this belief are very cpn-
vlncing 10 those who are experimenting
though not ~ TO the tkUptica. II n
claimed that nine times out " ten the
rctlna " the eye of "a calf after % has
been slaughtered. will give % perfect
/ reproduction of the butcher who Killed
IL for the butcher. nH rule. Stands
/ within the line % vision 0f the animal.
/ This IL also claimed ~ nll murdered
beasts, when " ~ the custom OF the
killer 90 stand In front OF tho animal.
80 photographer claims that he
can set clear picture of the murderer,
but many DO claim that they can get q
very fair likeness. For example. u o.
Turk were 60 murder man. and " tho
man were to lUok upon tho Turk iurt
II N...N - a.
ina ~ the eye. on having the picture
taken from n. would show n blurred
outline ~ n figure which could easily
De interpreted ga man IN Turkish
truuHcrH
ny the same token. namely. that Of
| dress, a woman can be- distinguished
from man or n child from grown
person. possibly also. tall man from
a short ON. AZ al events the sex Of
the person could be- decided BY th'
dress.
In ono ease whore this was tried thu
result was not wholly satisfactory
From the curved shape " the eye N,
image was ~ distorted and blurred
that Il was scarcely reliable when pre-
Hcntcd AZ evidence. In very mani
cases. too. u was found that tho eye o
the victim had turned away In the las
agony. and an imporfcctiy dcyciope,
scene had taken the place of the muir
derer'H face.
There ure several eases rcportc,
whore this hna been quite nccuratei,
done. one 81 those occurred In Paris
where a young rirl was found dead II
the street. Whom a microscopic exam
nation was made " the girls eyes. 4
was found that there was nn uncertain
image Of a hullding Inverted. Of course
aud irregular Ia formation, but IN
douhtedly a building. ON search. tn
building was found tn BE- "a Htructurl
almost directly across the street FROM
whore tho Firi lay. In her last Htrurnil
her head had been thrown back ana Hhl
had looked, perhaps, with longing eyes
hoping fur Huccur from that very build
ing.
Another experiment was tried Il
London. not great while ago. Ia IN
cuHn ~ a man who was found murdered
In an empty building. In this case. IN
oyr revealed a nEurc IN peculiar drcn
which might have been bath robe %
wumnn'n costume, iiut the Glow WA
too slight. and the evidence polnto,
toward man who must have been II
street dress. Afterwnrd photograph
expert drc' Jed that u was an oyorcnnt
and not 3. woman'n dress which Ia,
been plctirvd.
These eases 20 20 show that Their
u a possibility In dead eyes whicl
might be- developed by experts. ana I'M
further investigation of the subject VII
be- one uf the most interesting points Ii
tho many murder trials. which ar
scheduled for the coming term VI court