The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-02
NH LINZ (F EVIDENCE
MARKS OF RIFLING ON BULLETS
TAKEN FROM DEAD HUMAN
BODIES
TWO CASES ARE NOW PENDING
Police VIII Try to Prove Crime of
Murder by Showing What
Weapons Fired the
Fatal Shots.

Two murder cases are now pending in
Massachusetts, says the New York jour
nal, in which the fate of two alleged
nurderers will turn on the markings on
the BULLETS taken from the dead bodies of
the victims
The grooves and scratches on these lit
tie leaden messengers of death are to be
the final proofs of guilt or innocence in
both cases.
One is the now famous case Of Prof
Charles R. Eastman, of Harvard college.
at Cambridge, Mass. who shot his
br0ther-in-law. Richard Fl. Grogan Jr.,
last Fourth of Jelly.
The mere fact of man holding the
= important position of Instructor in a
great educational institution like Harvard
would have been sufficient to arouse
widespread interest and1conTnent in such.
an affairs
Put the ruzzling nature of this ease
may make it as memorable as the murder
at Harvard hall a century ago of DR.
Parknan by Prof Webster. when the
victim was burned up in a furnace. In
that instance the guilt was fixed upon
Webster by set OF false teeth of DR..
Parl1man's taken from the ashes Of TIE
flrebox.
In the present case Of Prof. Charles P.
Eastman, a witness as mute, bat even
more certain, viii be called upon to tell
its story.
II is a little 32-caliber oblong bullet
marked 10y ten scratches lengthwise, ana
O. single -crosswise crease.
Yet IN those markings lies the fatefuI
story of whether it was fired by accident
or with nurderous intent.
these scratches, to Il careless observer,
would only mean that the bullet had been
fired and consequently was dead and
useless.
Fut these same markings will contrib
ute The evidence that 4 learned Judge, a
Jury of twelve men, and five lawyers, and
expert cupsmiths of the greatest skill
will scrutinize analEZc and study over
for days and perhaps weeks
A human life will find its fate in those
lines grcoved in the metal.
How can this be done?
few facts about the murder viii
make this plain.
SAID IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.
On the last Fourth OF July Prof.
Charles r. Eastman and his brother-fn-
law, Richard GrOgan. were engaged II
pistol tarset practice in the yard at the
home Of their late father-in-law, Alvan
Clark, the famous telescope maker of
Cambridge.
The two men had been using Smith &
Wesson target pistols in firing at a mark
thirty PAGES distant Their ammunition
for these pistols grew short, and they
took I'D other revoIvars to continue the
target practice,
Grogan had a big H-caiiber pistol,
while East claims he had at the time
an old fashioned rim fire revolver.
While the two brothers-iu-law We're
standing near each other Eastman's re-
volver went OF, and Grogan fell dying,
at the same time firing his pistol twice at
the man whom he thought had tried t.
murder him.
Prof Eastman declared that it was an
accident He said that he had been tin
kering with a rusty old revolver in an
ettempt to make the trigger work, and
ii had gone off, unexpectedly.
He was arrested, but soon discharged
for lack of evidence to convict.
The police did not let the matter drop.
Ever since last July they have been At
work on the line of expert testimony,
which may make q new science In the
conviction of crime quite as remarka BILE
as the TeceiftlyiH developed science u e1
handwriting expert testimony, by which
Roland b. Molineaux, the New York
poisoner, was convicted and sentenced to
death early this year.
The story that the bullet taken from
Richard Grogan's body Is expected to tell
is whether it was fired from the old pis-
tol as Eastman claims, or whether it was
Shot from the modern target pistol.
If from the target pistol Eastman S
statement will be proved false. The ex-
cuse of accident" will have been proved
groundless.
Right at this point a number Of compli-
cations occur. The old pistol is Of the
same size of barrel or caliber as the
new target pistol with which the men
had been practicing, No. 30.
MARKS ON THE BULLET
To be sure, there was difference In
the original cartridges with which these
weapons wre loaded The target pistol
required a modern center fire. cartridge,
that is, one that is exploded by the ham