Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-07-30

many Of eye witnesses, a professor
In one OF our middle western uni
versities conducted an experiment
for the benefit of his class. He ex-
planned that a certain incident was
about to take place in the class
room; that the class was to watch
it as carefully as possible, and aft
erwards write a report of what they
had seen.
Scarcely had he finished speak
ing when a man, introduced as
Jones, with a black mask over mis-
eyes, nose and mouth and wearing
a gray rain coat rushed into the
room. In his left hand he carried a
salt bag half full of nails, and in
his right hand a small wrench. A
streak of red paint was smeared
across his left cheek. Just inside
the door of the classroom he turn
ed and pointed his wrench at the
pursuing party, shouting, stand
back, or I'll shoot" Then he ran
across the room, dropped to his
knees and flung the bag on the
floor. There it is; take it, he said,
and rushed out of the room again.
At this point entered Smith in pur-
suit of Jones, shouting, Give it
up, you scoundrel," and rushing
over to the bag, picked it up. The
professor then jumped from his
chair and exclaimed in pretended
alarm, Men, what are up to here?"
Widely Varied.
This was the way the little
drama was actually enacted, but it
was not what anyone of the twen-
ty-fVe witnessed present actually
saw or reported that they saw. The
description of Jones were widely
varied. One said he wore a black
coat and a light mask; another de-
clared that the mask was red; an
other that his mouth was painted
red, and still another asserted that
he carried a pistol and a club in
his hand. Some thought that Smith
wore a black suit, some a gray suit,
and some a blue suit. He was de-
scribed as carrying a pistol, which !
he snapped several times, crying |
Get out of here" One of the stu |
dents said that he dropped an UNI
brella on the floor, and another re-
ported that he had yelled Catch |
that mani" !
Even the professors part in the
drama was falsely described. He |
was reported as saying, Whats all /
this?' Hello, what's going on
here?" and only enc student even
approximately set down what the
professor had actually said.
Conflicting testimony is common
in the court room. Sometimes half
4 dozen witnesses will tell COM
pletely different stories of how a
crime happened. Not long ago, a
woman was found murdered in her
home Some of her jewels were
missing, and it was suspected that
The crime had been committed by a
ramp who had appeared in the
own on that day. Four persons
we're found who declared that they
mad observed the tramp leave the
house by the side door
about half-past eight at night When
asked why they thought it was the
tramp, each was surprised and
inally said it was because of his
Ask to describe his ap-
the four witnesses agreed
,nly as to one detail, namely, that
he man wore a cap. One woman
swore that she could see by the
street lamp that he was unkempt,
and that he thrust something into
he pocket of his oyercoat Finally,
t was a little girl of nine who gave
he detective on the case his first
correct clue. She stated that he
lad not worn an overcoat at all,
,ut a cape This caused the detec-
i've to eliminate the tramp and
start on another line of investiga-
ion, which finally ended in the
conviction of man who was not a
ramp at all.
Incorrect Observation.
Another case which shows the
of the human eye is that
# wealthy manufacturer who was
attacked by a man who found his
way into his home in the suburbs
iome years ago, and stabbed the
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