Gilpin observer., 1905-10-19
WITNESSES AL FAULT
UNRELIAsILITY OF EVIDENCE
GIVEN IN COURT.
Few Persons Take Accurate observa.
tion Of Events Happening Before
Their Eyes-How Fear and Sorrow
Color and FaIeify Sensations.

Prof. Cesare Lombroso, the famous
expert on crime and criminals, has
this to say on the errors that are apt
to be found in the testimony Of wit
nesses in court: Apart from the fire.
| Quency of the pathological lie (the lie
| told by those who are inclined to
| falsehood without reason) 1t Is neces-
sary to remember that many have
been led into error through inaccurate
observation. 1t is a well-known fact
that square divided horizontally ap-
pears greater in breadth than in
| height, but when divided vertically 1t
| appears greater in height than in
breadth. Similarly man dressed in
| black seems smaller and thinner than
when clad in white. We know, too,
| that when objects suddenly loom upon
us on dark night we see them mag
| nified extraordinarily. The causes OF
| psychological error are numerous.
Fear and sorrow intercept sensations
| and falsify them. An ordinarily cour-
ageous man, unnerved in a railroad
smash, declared that he had seen a
hundred bodied wedged between the
| was only one. On the same occasion
another man fed away. imagining that
he could hear the derailed engine be-
hind him for three-quarters of an hour.
A criminal named Gusio threw him
self upon his warder and the warder
took to his heels in the belief that he
saw knife in the prisoners hand; in
reality it was a fish.
''The image OF a moving object is
the sum total Of series of images OF
partial movement. Some of these
images are perceived only by one set
of persons; others by apother set
Grassi records in his Criminal Psych-
| ology' how, assisting at an execution
| where the hangman wore gloves, he
| asked four others present of what
color the gloves were. One said they
| were white: another deposed they
were black; a third was sure they
were gray, while the fourth swore that
| the hangman wore no gloves at ALL
In game of dominoes the player does
not count the spots one by one, but,
having before his eyes focused i'm
age, decides that there are seven or
hiiS, as tAS SGst may Dt- but, sup
posing these images did not conform
to type, the player would be obliged
TO ascertain carefully each time before
making his total, and he would still be
liable to make mistakes. Something
like this happens in all our percep-
| tions.
Prof. Lutz. who has applied to iuris-
prudence so many OF the conclusions
reached by criminal anthropology, one
day had a homicide with dagger
thrusts enacted Unexpectedly in school
by two students. Immediately after
ward he assembled all his pupils who
had witnessed this sham tragedy and
made them give evidence as II in
court. OF sixty eye-witnesses of the
same age. and all of them well edu-
Gated, scarcely ten gave really accur-
ate evidence. All the rest fell into
more or less Important errors of de-
tail. More recently Weber has re-
lated his experience with the mem
bers of the Society of Legal Psychol-
ogy at Go.tingen. Weber requested
from each of them written statement
of a sham crime perpetrated under
their very ewes. Over half their pum.
Der gave inexact information, while
many OF them gave imaginary details
and agreed about the AFFAIR only on
general lines"