Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-24
GUN BARREL 'FINGERPRINTS"
HELD INJFALLIBLE BY SOUDER
Man Who Identified Camp
bells Pistol as Death
Weapon Gives Views.
Defense Attorney Refuses to
Accept Report as Admis-
SibIe Evidence.

DR.. Wilmer Souder, Government ex-
pert on ballistics, whose identification
of the Mary Baker murder gun is to be
checked by another expert, Maj. Calvin
Goddard of Chicago, is authority Tor
the statement that the "fingerprints"
left by a gun barrel on the fatal bullets
constitute an infallible and unques-
tionable link between the two.
mo two guns in the world are alike, "
Dr. Souder contends, lust as no two
hands are the same under the micro
scope of fingerprint expert.
THE telltale scratches and abrasions
left upon a bullet by the rifiing OF
revolver inevitably are peculiar to that
particular gun, and by no stretch OF
imagination can / conceive OF second
gun capable of duplicating those marks, :
DIR. Souder told group oil Department
Of Justice agents quite recently.
DR.. Souder holds that gun identifica-
ton has become a science as exact ana
as dependable in murder cases as mn
gerprint identification.
Charles Henry Smith, defense attor-
ney for Herbert M. Campbell, alleged
murderer, whose .32-caliber revolver
Dr. Souder asserts fired the bullets
found in the body OF the Baker glrl,
refuses to accept DR.. Souder's report
as admissible evidence. 1t was the
Alexandria attorneys attitude in this
connection that induced Common
wealtll,s Attorney William C. Cloth and
Lieut.. Edward j. Kelly to seek the
opinion of another expert on the gun
and bullets.
Smith already has indicated he will
wage strong fight against acceptance
Of DR.. Souder's verdict, DIR. Goddard or
any other experts verdict, on the
ground that, in all the history of Vir-
ginia jurisprudence, no man has been
convicted of murder on the testimony
of a gun expert"
When the attorneys attention was
called to the fact that such testimony
had been accepted by the court in
many noted cases elsewhere than In
Virginia, including the Sacco-V anzetti
trial, the lawyers only comment was:
We'll, we're in Virginia"
Souder Explains Method.
DR.. Souder points out that under the
specially designed microscope used IN
examining OF bullets, the almost in
distinguishable marks made by the
rifiing of gun appear as deep gashes,
ridges and scratches Of individualiStic
appearance. While, to the naked eye,
the tiny marks OH bullets from differ
ent guns seem to be identical, enlarge
ment OF the marks discloses vast diff
ference.
DR.. Souder examined the two bullets
removed from the Baker girls corpse,
according to the following method:
Taking the Campbell gun, a bullet
was fired from 1t and placed under one
EYE" of the strange looking microscope,
which has the general appearance of an
inverted Y. Under the other lens was
placed one Of the bullets used in MUIR
dering the Navy Department clerk.
An arrangement within the instru-
ment of mirrors brought the images of
the two bullets together in such man
ner that half of the fatal bullet merged
neatly with the opposite half Of the test
bullet fired from Campbell's revolver.
BY revolving the two bullets, Or. Souder
found position in which the gaSheS
and ridges on each bullet merged and
fltted into each other accurately. In
addition to the larger marks, ne found
numerous smaller gashes OF identical
appearance on both bullets.
DR.. S0uder often has pointed out
that certain of the marks on the bullets
under comparison sometimes may not
agree, in which circumstance a process
of mathematical reasoning is employed.
Where a major proportion of the
scratches tallies, the chances of the
probability OF an error Is figured out.
A certain percentage OF latitude in cases
OF discrepancy is permissible, ac-
cording to the concenSus OF balliStics
experts.
DR.. Souder's reports on his findings
with regard to the Baker case gun and
bullets never has been made public IN
detail.
If there were any discrepancies in the
lines found on the test bullet from
Campbell's gun and the bullets used by
the murdered of Mary Baker the fact
has not been disclosed.
DIR. Souder's recent declaration that
no two guns in the world can fire bull
lets exactly alike, followed q novel test
conducted recently at the Bureau of
Standards with the cooperation OF
| Smith and WesSon, firearms firm
member o. that firm submitted to DIR.
| Souder two guns which he said had
been made by the firms best workmen,
using the same tools and same ma
| chinery. The workmen swore that the
rifiing IN both weapons absolutely was
| Identical. The Smith and Wesson off,
cial challenged DIR. Souder to find any
differences between the guns and the
bullets fired from them.
UnscrambIed Shots Easily.
Bullets were fred from each gun and
the two weapons and the discharged
/ shells and slugs were scrambled and
/ placed before DIR. Souder. 1t Is a mat.
ter of record that the Bureau OF Stand.
ards scientist had no difiiculty what
ever in determining which bullets were
fired from which gun. Both the fire.
arms representative and DR.. Soudel
| agreed that this test was conclusive
proof of the infallibility of gun identi.
fication under the inscrutable eye o.
the special microscopic device now uset
by the Government.
DR.. Souder Is out of town today, Il
| was said at the Bureau OF Standards
4 He has no assistant In gun identifica'
ton work.