Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-09-05
TRACING A CRIME.
Clever Detective Work by a Uni.
verSity Professor.
THE KEEN EYES OF SCIENCE.
They Detected Blood Where There
Were No Apparent Traces Of Il and
Found TsIltale Finger Marks That
Pointed Direct TO the Criminal.

Nine. Guian was the wealthy widow
OF lean Howard CUBAN, former presi-
dent OF the Bank OF France, Nine.
CUBAN was seventy years old. One
night she took Il train at Fontaine-
bleau for Parts. She had to herself a
first class compartment When tho
train arrived In Paris the porters found
her compartment unoccupied. The door
had been half torn from Its hinges.
there was n great pool Of blood son
the floor. and the police picked up from
floor handful Of woman's hair, torn
piece OF skirt and first class railroad
tkket from Fonta!nebleau tn Paris,
A search along the railroad tracks re-
suited In the tnding Of Nine, Guian's
body beside the rails just outside Fon-
tainehleau, II was greatly mangled, A
little farther ON was found the satchel
she had carried There We're no rings
on her fingers and no money In her
pockets.
Mime. Gulan's relatives took the
ground that she had been seized with
a hemorrhagc, to which she was sub
JtNt. hbh NhNN w pl'N' NiN hSPA Va htA
compartment to summon aid or to get
air: that she had In her paroxysm
wmnched the door open and had fallen
or the train. killing herself The POI
lice were not satisfied with this ex-
PLANTATION, particularly after Professor
Ress, the famous Lausanne university
crimlnologist, had pointed out that the
cut ON the woman'S satchel had been
made by u knife and not by sharp
stone, as had becn thought This, how
ever, was very little evidence, and Pro
fessor Reiss turned his attention to the
compartment which Mime, CUBAN had
occupied After he had finished his In.
vestigation he went To NJ. I.epine, pre-
feet OF Paris, and said To him:
~ am sure that Nine, CUBAN was
murdered, aud am equally sure that
her murderer was u soldier. In the train
compartment there were towel and
n stationary washstnnd. There were
no stains upon tho towel visible to the
naked eye, Nevertheless we subjected
every square inch to one OF the most
delicate tests for blood. We at last
discovered nm arcn which gave us the
positive reaction for human blood
Upon this towel the murderer OF
Nine. GUAM wiped his bloody hands.
He knew that this would be evidence
that the old woman did not meet her
death by accident as he wished II be-
lieved. and so he washed the towel
thoroughly, ms he thought. aud hung
1t up to dry
"The detection then OF this micro.
SCOPE quantity OF blood. which can be
removed from fabric only by acids,
revealed to us that Nine. CUBAN met
death by the hands Of a murderer.
but | found another piece OF evil
dence, There was. II you remember,
n railroad ticket picked up on tho
floor. On Its back was the imprint OF
n thumb | compared II with that OF
Nine. Guinn; II was not hers. | threw
Its image up enormously on II lantern
screen. wns then struck by the pc
cular indentaton Of the little ridges
on the inner side OF the mark. Care
full analysis Of these marked ridges
showed me that this was the thumb
OF "A man who was actually serving as
soldier. The frequent drills with
guns result In the pressure upon the
ridges OF the inner side OF the thumb.
This causes n peculiar flnttenlng which
IL visible under "A microscope when en-
larged and Is true of no other occupa-
ton except that OF n soldier.
AS l reconstruct this crime this sol
der managed To get into Nine. Guian's
compartment after the train had left
Fontainebieau. He knew that she usu-
ally carried II number of jewels and
n large sum OF money. He tried to
rob the old woman. and. meeting with
unexpected resistance. fought with her
In the compartment. killing her by
beating her head against the register
and then stripped the body of It's jew
els He thoughtessly wiped his hand
upon the towel He knew that this
would be evidence OF the presence Of
some one else In the compartment. so
he washes the towel with soap and
water but does not know that we can
discover blood even when IL IL only to
the amount Of one one thousandth mil
limcters
lie then wrcnches the compartment
door open and throws out the body.
He Is pressed for time. rips open the
satchel with his knife. Then, taking
advantage of the slowing down OF the
train bet Fontainebeau and Paris,
he jumps from II and makes his es-
cape"
As result OF Professor Reiss analy-
sis It was found that two soldiers. Ora
Wy and Michel, had followed Nine
CUBAN to the train on the night Of her
murder. They had hidden In her COM
partment and when the train had
started they murdered her. as Profess
or Reiss had indicated. The rest of
the reconstruction was proved ut the
trial OF these two men. They both con-
fessed, were convicted and sentenced
to life Imprisonment.
Certainly.