Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-10-15
f<Om THOMAS sTEvENsoNl"

l.
Of the home office medical cx-
perts has sounded as the knelI OF doom
10 mary a wretched criminal In tho
dock Standing IN the witness box, an
swering the questions addressed 20
them by counsel quietly, lmperturb-
ably, az 10 the were merely nauat-
ing facts with which life and death
had nothing 90 DO. the celebrated ere
perts have played part Boa placing
the Wcll-mcIItcu moose s0uud thu neCkH
OF M ~ uf tine most celebrated cumi-
mails TO-. our time
''inc uiuIdcrvi works in secrecy No
eye sees ius deed, But science, gentle
men, has Iaeuity OF its uWn-a dis
eminent wLicn can as positively de-
claic what nus taken place iu secrecy
ana darkness as n ~ were committed
la MONDAY. IL can say. This was
what took place la astounding fash
ion,' declared Mr.. Choato, the great
American uai-1ster. iu "a murder case.
AFTER haEir IS been out Tor rev
hours 4 returned home from walk
with my little boy. Stanley, 10 find my
wife ana the rylus lying dead ia their
bed. evidently from poison taken ~
administered. said DcvereuuX, the man
accused OF the celebrated kcnsal ius-
Trunk tragedy HIs defense WAS that
and committed suicide. She had, be
declag, d. taken morphia and chloro-
form. There hau been HO witness Of
that terrible crime. ana who could dis
prove his Words Was DCvcrcauN HIM
self the victim Of "a terrible tragedy
of awful false accusing circumstinccs'
Might he not have arrived home as be-
stated. foUnC himself faced with enc
bodies. ana horrihed by tho suspicion
that miCht fan upon him. have resolved
10 hide them. In desperation, In thu
trunk In whirh they were fouudt The
evidence OF sir Thomas Stevenson
proved beyond doubt that the prisoners
story Of what took place IN that room,
into which no eye could penetrate, was
n lie There bad been no suicide. The
chlogof0rm had been inhaled-not swal-
lowed. Dcvere1uN's face grew chastity
pale as he listened. That medical owl
dcnce placed the moose round his neck
In case In the north, some time
since woman was found dead IN her
room. Her throat had been cut, ana
in her left hand was the knife with
which tho fa1al wound had evidently
been inflicted. 4 considerable amount
Of evidence terdcd TO prove that It was
case OF suicide. and the police were
puzzled. Tho medical evidence con-
cluavely proved that murder had been
committed. The knife was in the vic
TINS left hand. whcreas the doctors
were positive that the wound
had been intliC-ed from left
20 right The knife had been
placed by the murderer In the
Woman's hand after death. Had 1t not
been so. the weapon would have been
olutched tightly; but IL was loose. and
easily slipped from the fingers into
which II had boen thrust The murder
or was hunted down and brought 10
the gallows
rrl.
lccted hundreds ~ photographs ~
wounds inflicted with the knife. ana
he ~ able now 10 say IN most cases,
With perfect certainty. whether a wound
has been inflicted by a left or n right
handed person There Is not the slight
est doubt that whoever was the mys-
FERROUS perpetrator 81 the series 4
East End murders which horrifed Lon
don some years ago. Jack the Ripper
was a left-handed man.
terrible tragedy was that which
occurred some years since az UNbridge
when a man named Gibbons. livinl
with his wife In a little detached resi-
donce. met with his death one nigh
under mysterious circumstances. BE
tween ~ and 70 that night the peopl,
In neighboring house were alarmed
BY the shrill cries OF a woman In dis
tress. They rushed out. Before then
stood "a woman In white. IL was theii
neighbor. Mrs. Gibbons. In night attire
AZ II she had been alarmed IN her
sleep.
MY husband has shot himself" sh,
exclaimed.
He was discovered lying on the nooi
OF his bedroom dead. and 10y his LEFT
hand was a revolver Had he com.
mltted suicide3 or had he been killed
by that apparently grief-strickcn, sob
bling woman The medical experts
in IIaf.trHna.. To- mi 1.
ter The man had died from the ef.
fccts OF four bullets. Two Of thos'
wounds. they declared. must have re-
suited Ia almost instantaneous death
and he could not possibly have In
fiictcd one and then have had strength
20 again fire the revolver. Moreover
to have caused one Of the wounds hl
must have held the weapon I'm his lef
hand. But he was right-handet
man. Again. man shooting himsel
could not hold the revolver at dis
lance. and these shots had certainly
not been discharged with the muzzl'
OF the revolver close TO his body, fo
his clothes presented no signs ~ dis
coloration. In the face OF that cvi-
dence. the jury could only return
verdict Of guilty" against the ac
cused woman, although there nppCare'
an utter absence of motive for TN
deed. She was sentenced TO death, bu
the punishment was aftor7Nurd com
muted 60 penal serN'itude for life.
Dr. Laccasagne, one OF the creates
criminal medical experts in France
was once called upon Co solve the mys
terry Of a tragedy which created a
immense sensation. II was the deaf
Of an old gentleman who had been dis
covered lying In his bed; and who ha
succumbed TO the bullet o. "a rcvolve
which was found on the floor bCsid
him. Had he killed himself or hu
he been slain by some assassin rs ;