Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1911-12-14
Saint Maru's Beacon
A New Detective
Method
By NJ l. PoNER0Y
copyrtght By American Press Assoc
citation. 1911.

I, az q detective. have recently
worked up an entirely new method
Of procedure In criminal cases, the
sense Of smell True, dogs have track
Cd persons by this sense. but they
have not, 10 far a know, distinguish
Cd between individuals.
Ny attention had been drawn 70 the
matter by reading the following:
Every human being has q SPECIFIC
odor Of his own. by which be can be
recognized by persons OF sensitive
smell The case L. mentioned OF O
man who. blindfolded. could pick ous
each individual In a company Of TWEEN
" By his odor The smell f. not born
with US, but develops gradually Till
about the age Of fourteen, after which
e remains unchanged. Members OF q
family have a kind of common odor.
which exists even when they have
lived apart for a long time"
cut out what ] had read and put 10
IN my pocketbook, where IL remained
for some time. Being a detective Il oc-
cured to me that here was q new
Geld Of criminal demonstration that
had never even been opened ! con-
suited with psychologists about reduc-
ing the idea to practice, but gained
nothing Of real value from any Of
them. Finally accident put me In O
way to make the FIRST step.
l was called In on the following
case: In 1862 Edward Nolan. Q man
with q wife and two children. went to
the civil war. After one Of those bat.
ties In which q large number Of uni
Identified bodies were shoveled into
trenches or buried under headstones
marked Unknown" the soldier. Ed
ward Nolan. disappeared. His name
was reported among the killed. and no
doubt was entertained that he was
dead. Since no one was found who
could vouch for his death his widow
declined to marry again for some
years after bis supposed death.
Nolans father during the war made
a great deal OF money In army con-
tracts. He died without viii and
without issue. and the fortune by the
law OF Inheritance descended TO his
nors Ten years after the battle In
which Nolan was understood to have
been killed his widow married again.
Her husband. Thomas Chadwick, took
the management Of the estate belong
ing TO the Nolan boys and did what
be liked with II. Then Mrs. Chad
wick died.
One day man appeared who claim
ed to be the departed Nolan. II he
were what he claimed to be the prop
erty lis father had left belonged to
him. One OF his boys had died The
other was in delicate health and left
the management OF the property In his
stepfathers lands. where IL had been
since the death Of Nolan senior.
Chadwick was thrown into an uncom-
Portable state OF mind. for IF Nolan
could establi his claim to the prop
erty Chadwick must not only give up
its management, but render an ac-
counting. Since he was unable to ac-
count satisfactorily. he would be In
trouble
Nolan put his case-that In, collect
ing proof Of his identity-in my hands.
He refused to state why he had not
shown up before. but I inferred that
another woman than his wife was the
cause. The only point Of law involv-
ed was his identity with the son Of
the Nolan who died leaving fortune.
AS is usual in such cases, those who
knew anything about the real younger
Nolan stood on opposite sides Of the
question. Nolan's letters, written
when he was n young man. were pro-
duced and compared with his hand
writing at the time Of his reappear-
TO have been written by the same per
son. while others said they had not
Pictures taken when be was q boy
were compared with bis face, but
there was little resemblance. though
Il was admitted that they might have
been Nolan's likeness.
fniled to find any proof that the
man was Nolan. Had no accounted
for himself from the day Of the battle
the difficulty might have been over
come. As It was, I saw no way to
establish his claim.
One day a man came to mo and
said:
81 understand a man has turned up
claiming TO be Ned Nolan. who went
% the war and was killed ut the bat
tie OF Gettysburg. knew Nolan well.
and can tell II this man IL he with
AA 49, n
murky smell TO him. I once took up
his hat and noticed the odor I'm the
lining. Il was quite strong. Any on.
could smell It"
! selected q dozen men and lined
them up. placing Nolan the ninth from
one end. the third from the ether
Then I blindfolded Mathews. the man
who said he could identify him. and
introduced him into the line He put
his face up against the bodies OF eight
men successfully without n pause. bu;
as soon as he came TO the ninth. the
claimant, he said. "Give me your hat"
The man took or his hat and placed
Il In Mathews hands. He smelled II
and said:
Hello. Ned! Where you been all
this timer
The odor in the hat lining. where
perspiration had lodged. was very evi
dent 80 me and others.
This case may be palmer than 9th
ers. but believe that every person
has his smell and the day win come
when criminals Will be detected by II.
Nolan came by his own. Or, at leas.