The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-06-05
Copyright 1899. BY Frederick A. Stokes Gompany.]

gray eyes Bcncluny eunlrcu 10 ulspeI
any such impressions. and told of keen
+ perception and underlying power. The
mouth was firm and kind; The bearing
thatGof a gentleman and man of edu-
4 cation. 81
"But," objected the host, "you surely
do not mean to express belief in the
iufallibility of circumstantial evil
dence?"
"Why not?'''
because you must know as well as
anyone how misleading uncorroborated
| circumstantial evidence Is. do not for
get what remarkable results you have
often accomplished for the Daily Tenn
pest in detecting and following up
clews to which the official detectives
were blind. But, frankly, were not
your conclusions usually the result of
lucky guesses, which wonl! have re-
NAMED comparatively useless as evil
dence had they not been subsequently
proved correct by direct testimony"
''Let me reply to your question by an
other, Sprague,' answered Sturgis.
when you draw a check, does the pay
ing teller at the bank require the tes-
timony of witnesses to your signature
before admitting its genuineness?"
'No; of course not"
Precisely. He probably knows the
signature of Harvey M. Sprague, the
i.depositor, better than he does the
face Of Sprague, the artist. And yet
the evidence here is purely circum-
stantial. know of at least one re-
cent instance in which the officials of
a New York bank placed their i'm
plicit reliance upon circumstantiaI
evidence of this sort, in spite of the
; direct testimony of the depositor,
who was willing to acknowledge the
genuneness of q check to which his
name had been forged"
IL suppose you refer to the Forsyth
case said Sprague; but you must
remember that Col. Forsyth was
actuated by the desire to shield the
forger, who was his own scapegrace
son."
THAT is just the point" replied
Sturgis; another witness will be
biased by his interests or prejudices,
blinded by jealousy, love or hatred,
or handicapped by overzealousness,
stupidity, lack of memory, or what
not. Circumstantial evidence is al
ways impartial, truthful, absolute.
When the geologist reads the history
of the earth, as it is written in its
crust; when a Kepler or a Newton
formulates the immutable laws Of the
universe as they are recorded in the
motions of the heavenly bodies, they
draw their conclusions from evidence
which is entirely circumstantial."
"Yes; but you forget that science
has often been mistaken in it's con-
clusions,' interrupted Sprague, 80
that it has constantly been necessary
to alter theories to fit newly acquired
or better understood facts"
"Granted," rejoined sturgis, "but
that is because the Interpreters of the
evidence are fallible; not because the
evidence itself is incomplete. The
same cause will always produce the
same effect; the same chain of events
will invariably terminate in one and
the same catastrophe. The apparent
deyiat ions from this law are due to |
unrecognized differences in the pro-
ducing causes. to additional or miss
ing links in the chain of evidence.
Therefore / hold that criminal,
however clever he may be. leaves be-
hind him a complete trace of his every
act, from which his crime may be re-
constructed with absolute certainty
by competent detective"
"In short, Murder will QUIT" said
a man who had been silent listener
to the conversation up to this point.
He spoke with a quiet smile, which
barely escaped being a polite sneer.
Sturgis' keen eyes met his inter-
locutor's as he replied gravely:
II should hardly care to make so
sweeping an affirmation, DR., MUIR
dock. l have merely stated that the
history of every crime is indelibly
written in tangible evidence. The
writing is on the wall, but of course
. blind man cannot see it, nor can
IN illiterate man understand 1t.
Every event, however trivial, owes its
occurrence to a natural cause, and
leaves its indelible impress upon ma.
lure. The Indian on the trail reads
with an experienced eye the story of
his enemy's passage, as it has been
'ecorded in trodden turf and broken
wigs; while the bloodhound follows,
with unerring judgment, still surer
hough less tangible trail. The lat
er's quarry has left behind, at every
tep, an invisible, imponderable, and
ret unmistakable part of itself Per-
laps my meaning can be made clear
" an illustration. When photog-
apher in his dark room takes an ex-
'osed plate from his camera, it is ap.
'arently a blank; but in reality there
3 upon this plate the infinitely de.
allied history of an event, which, in
roper hands, can be brought before
he least competent of observers as
REPUTABLE evidence. Here, the actinic
avs of the sunlight are the authors
t the evidence; but every natural
Drce, in one way or another, con-
pires with the detective to run tho
riminal to earth"
"Unless,' suggested MURDOCH "the
bility happens to be on the side of the
uarry; in which case, the conspiracy
natures forces turns against the
unter."
"Ah!" retorted the reporter, ''the
anne is not an equal one. The dice are
'aded. For while, on the one hand
he detective, II he falls into an error,