Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-26
RULE ON GUN TEST
IS SET TOMORROW
Controversy on BaIIistics
0vershadoWs Fate of
Herbert Campbell.

CONTINUED From First Page.)
ststant United States Attorney william
H: Collins by Lucian Vandoren Of coun-
Gil for the defense.
Both the prosecution and the de-
Tense declined to make public the
counter-challenge. The prosecutor said
he advised the defense attorney the
Government intends to stand on it,
original offer and that II the defense
does not care to accept It, or has some
other proposal to make, that fact should
be made known to the court and the
jury when the trial resumes at 10
o'clock, tomorrow morning.
The new proposal Of the defense
Collins stated, differed from that out
lined In published reports earlier yester-
gay to the effect that the defense would
31eter test in which Goddard and
Hamilton would fire a number of bull
lets from Campbell's .32-caliber gun
and use them to point out to the jury
their conflicting theories" on BALLS
tics. Such q plan would be Jasmine. u
Collins commented
The prosecutor in high good hur1or
over what his associates declare was q
master stroke" expressed the opinion
last night that the Government has
thrown much CONSERVATION into the
ranks Of the defense" by its challenge
II they accept the challenge" Collins
asserted, they know that Col. Goddard
win prove beyond q doubt that balls.
tics IL infallible and that he could moi
have made q mistake in brandine
Campbell's gun as the death weapon
II they turn down the offer, on the
other hand. they are admitting that
Goddard b the authority we claim
he f."
CIaim - Defense.
Defense attorneys take another View
Of the matter, however. They explain
that the jury Is concerned only with the
Campbell revolver, and that to brine
want.
: Col. Goddard said last night he
would enjoy making the demonstration
proposed by the Government. He said
the test would prove conclusively to the
court and the jury that mo two guns
In the world fire bullets exactly alike, /"
and that the bullets removed from Mary
Bakers body could have come from mo
other gun In existence" than Camp
bells.
Goddard said he would be slad 10
make the test right In the court room.
IL the light Is good enough to permit
Of proper use Of the microscope.
Let the defense select the gums
any number Of them they choose" God
dard declared last night. Let them OF
the. Jury fire bullets from each. Sew
eral from each, II they wish. Let them
mark each bullet secretly to correspond
with the gun firing It, And then let
them scramble the bullets and guns
around, and give them TO me for ex-
animation. I don't care how difficult
they make the experiment the micro
scope will not fail to detect the tell
tale situations which are the individual
fingerprints Of each gun.
Goddard Confident
Col. Goddard Is confident because
he has undertaken such critical tests
before without a failure. The court
already has been told of a similar ex-
pertinent he conducted in 1925 at the
Springfield Armory.
In that experiment" Goddard ex-
planned, Il had four gun barrels rified
On the same machine, and with the
same cutting tool and two other bar
rels rtfied on another machine with a
second tool. Bullets were fired through
tnese barrels out of my presence. and
tney were secretly marked 50 that other
omcers knew which barrel had fired
which bullets.
II ever 1t were possible TO make
guns exactly identical, this was a test
70 disclose it. But with the aid OF the
microscope was able to prove that
eacn OF the six barrels was different
and had no trouble in reporting VIVA;
barrel each bullet had emerged from. .
". wilmer Souder, ballistic authority
OF the Bureau Of Standards. who is ey.
pected to take the witness stand wher
the pending question of gun tests Ia dis.
posed OF by the court, also made SINH
larry conclusive tests, it Is recalled
some months ago q prominent firearms
manufacturer submitted to DR.. Soude,
two pistols which the maker declared
to be as nearly alike as it is mechanic.
ally and humanity possible to rife them
These guns, too, had been made on one
machine, with one cutting tool, by the
firms most expert workman. DR.
Souder, using a comparison microscope
OF the same type as that employed BY
Goddard, readily distinguished differ.
ences in the bullet markings that EN-.
abled him to tell from which gun each
bullet had been shot.
DIR. Souder to Testify.
1t Is understood that microphoto-
graphs of the Baker bullets taken b,
DR.. Souder with a special new lens O!
great magnifying power will be intro.
duced in evidence when the Federal ex.
| pert takes the stand, possibly tomorrow
The prints, according to the prosecu.
ton, are SO clear and distinct as u
convince any jury Of laymen" that tn,
bullets were fired from Campbell's re-
! volver.
Defense lawyers have characterized
photographs of the bullets taken b,
Col. Goddard and shown to the jury
Friday to be anything but convincing
It was pointed out that a number o
scratches on the test bullets do not a
all match those on the fatal slugs
This Is admitted by Goddard, who tolt
Of many technical factors responsible,
for the discrepancies. Even two bullet
| fired from the same gun may not agre,
| in all their markings, he explained, du,
to fouling Of the barrel by powder, rus
or other matter; to varying size of un
fired bullets, ana to differing angles o
/. entrance from the chamber into tn
barrel. All factors involved must b
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