Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-29
BY REX COLLIER,
staff Correspondent of The Star,


BY REX COLLIER.
staff Correspondent of The Star.
CHICAGO, June ga visit to
Northwestern University's unprecedented
Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory is
a novel experience.
There is nothing quite like this "crme
clinic" on this side of the Atlantic. and
few, If any. places are comparable to IT.
in criminoloeically- minded Europe.
1t is a most exclusive institution. One
is admitted only by invitation. Here is
one place where the gate-crasher will
meet his Waterloo. One either enters
through approved channels or one
brings down UPON his head all sorts OF
disaster.
The-burglar who chooses unwittingly
the laboratory headquarters as scene
of operations soon will find this out. To
succeed in breaking into the crime
laboratory he must perform miracle.
Every square foot of the walls. windows
and doors is criss-crossed with con-
cealed wires, the least disturbance OF
which will spread a general alarm.
Must Protect Evidence.
Even though an intruder somehow
should gain an entrance, he would
stumble into other pitfalls, trip wires
and tie like. that would proclaim his
presence to guards and police.
Why all these precautions?
Because within the confines of the
laboratory there are today-and there
will continue to be from time to time
grim bits of evidence that criminals
would risk their lives to obtain-evi-
dence that may cost the lives Of certain
underworld figures when the time comes
for dispensing justice.
A tiny misshapen lead slug. bearing
tell-tale "flngerprints' of suspected
gangster's Tommy; an innocent-look-
ing letter. with an discriminating double
message in invisible ink: smudge of
dust on a piece of clothing ready to
announce to the microscopic marvel
Gus record of its owners recent move
mentS: a piece Of caked mud from a
suspects Shoe-as valuable to the mod
ern scientific detective as 1t was to
Sherlock Holmes.
The renowned Sherlock depended
largely on his peculiar powers of per-
ception. his novel processes of elimina-
ton and his keen talents Of deduction.
Seek Scientific Facts.
ratory will discount personal opinion in
Facts that reveal themselves only to
the eye of the microscope. the spectre
scope or the microscopic camera
Facts that assert themselves to the
bloch mist. the physicist. the medico-
legal expert and the authority on foren-
sic ballistics.
Facts that. weighed with other keen
evidence. will perform astounding serv-
ice to society in the crusade on crime.
lel1 Hoc cot in
modest building on what is known at
Northwestern University rs McKinlock
Campus. in East Chicago, overlooking
Lake Shore drive.
It's destiny has been placed in the
hands of one of Americas best known
criminolcgistS-a specialist in the exact
art Of firearms identif1cation-Calvin
Goddard.
Col. Goddard Che is a lieutenant
colonel in the Ordnance Reserve of the
ARMY is a tall, heavy-set man of
genial countenance and bu=inesslike
ways, whose demeanor does not at all
iibe with the popular conception of the
hawk-eyed. taciturn Sherlock Holmes
More aptly could he be likcnod to
Holmes friend and adviser, Dr. watson
Studied Firearms in Army.
In fact, Col Goddard SOM years ago
was a follower of DR.. Watson's profess
sion. medicine. having been gr2 duated
from Johns Hopkins and from the Army
Medical School. He servedNas a surgeon
in France. Poland and Germany dur
ing the World War.
II was during his service in the Army
that Goddard became interested. at first
as hobby, in the study of small arms.
The hobby became an avocation. and
finally unseated medicine as Goddard's
cbi of hn
though 1t could scarcely be so desig-
mated when Goddard took it up
brought the Army surgeon an unex-
pected measure of fame.
He became an expert in the virgin
field of police ballisticS. a conSultant
whose technical testimony concerning
fatal guns and bullets was sought by
prosecutors and accepted by juries. His
services played en- important role in the
Hall-Mills murder case, in the Sacco-
Vanzetti trial and in the aftermath of
the st. Valentines day massacre in
Chicago and the Jake Lingle shooting
While the Chicago laboratory was
built largely around Goddard's firearms
researches, none of the modern scien-
tific approaches to. crime solution was
overlooked.
AS managing director of the labora-
tory and honorary professor of forensic
DdlIlStlCS dJ NOIGtlWtSLSIIl. NIDuudTu mas
gathered around him notable staff of
specialists.
Specialists on staff.
Dr. Clarence W. Muehlberger, State
toxicologist of wisconsin and professor
Of toXociologv at Northwestern Univer-
sity. was made first assistant director in
charge of poison research.
Inspector Ferdinand Watzek of Vienna.
noted European master of "moulage." or
the art of preserving evidence in wax,
is second assistant director. He has
been provided with fully equipped
laboratory, resembling a cross
between medical museum and the old
Eden Musee in New York. You recall
the Eden Musee, with its lifelike ex-
hibits in wax? The inspector models
dead men and parts of dead men,
Leonardo Keeler, youthful expert
menter with the so-called "lie detector,"
is a member of the staff, in which
capacity he will continue his novel study
of deception tests for suspected Grim
mails
Other associates include August Voll-
mer, police expert of the Wickersham
Law Enforcement Commission and for