Evening star., 1935-02-08
BY ANNE GORDON SUYDAM.

If it be, indeed, true that the mur-
ders of today and tomorrow are to be
solved under the microscope, then 1t
is probably correspondence. true that
they are to be judged under the
microscope, which brings us to an in
teresting speculation about the effects
of expert testimony upon the jurors
in this trial.
II the Jurors in this case are plain,
common sense folk, which they seem
to be, they are more apt to be i'm
pressed by charteo facts than by
high-fown theories, and, I believe,
least of all by histrionics. But even
the most conscientious, discriminating
man likes to have explanations
couched in his own lay terms, and I
therefore am inclined to believe that
the testimony of man like Charles
de Bisschop, road builder and nursery
man, whom Wilentz badgered un-
mercifully, and whom the court re-
proved several times for failure to
give badly direct answers. may have
had more value than would seem ap-
parent to a sophisticated audience.
Wide Range in Jury.
Between the extremely opposite
camps of stupid or naive credulity,
and so-called sophisticated sketiclsm'
there is fortunately middle ground
or cross section, from which our
iuries are presumably picked. 1t is
hard to pass judgment OF. II people
who come and go in this court room
like automatons, but I think that l
NAV say without unWarranteo StreVch
of the imagination. that these II VINO
differ one from the other ana from
the rest of us in education, tempera-
ment and degrees of intelligence, are
probably united in a CONSCIENTIOUS
determination to decide this man 5
fate in all solemnity and wltnout
prejudice.
De Bisschop was more heckled than
anv previous defense witness py tne
prosecution, the court, and even the
iadv stenographer, who, catching the
spirit of the thing. demanded IN lras-
! eible tones that he speak up. but the
fact remains that he stuck to his story,
| apparently more through conVlctlon
than stubbornneSs, and this, THINK,
must have impressed the jury. For
along with most unpretentious but rea-
soning human beings. I believe that
while respecting learning, they appre-
ciate its colloquial interpretations
And incidentally it was apparent to
the least devious mind that a man
unworthy of notice, such as many OF
| the foregoing witnesses, would not
! have called forth the pronounced bait
| ing which fell to this mans lot.
Opinion Only Enhanced.
When Attorney General Wilentz, at
i tempting to sell the idea that De
Bisschop was a simple farmer rather
| than a wood expert, questioned him as
| to his embarrassing proclivities, and
the judge mildly ruled out the ques-
ton as irrelevant, you couldn't help
but feel that the jury's respect for his
opinion concerning wood was not be-
| Titled. but rather enhanced by his
elemental and familiar interest in
| chicken-raising After all, in small
communities where often a man is
notary public. and furniture dealer,
and undertaken all in one, versatility
is not disparaged
In this age of intense and fire.
quently absurd specialization, it is re-
| freShing to find a doctor who will
lance boils as readily as he will deliver
babies, and nurSeryman who raises
chickens along with trees.
The hitherto mysterious DR. Hudson
whose testimony was probably the
! most valuable to the defense so far. is
another example of the man with d.
vided, or rather. diversified interests.
He is both surgeon and a physician
of good standing, and corresponding
earning capacity. but while dabbling
in his laboratories, his exploring mind
seems to have come upon and conse-
quently developed process for Clarity
ing and identifying finger prints on
wood through the medium of nitrate
of silver.
Maintains Al00fneSS.
His manner in teStifying was de-
tached but not remote, and In spite
of rather violent cross-examination, he
maintained his aloofness to the end
His insistence that he observed but
one square nail hole in the rail which
the State contends to have always
borne four nail holes, strengthened
the case of the defense, but his subse-
quent statement that because of that
very nail hole and familiar knotholes,
he believes the rail to be the same
one which he had examined two weeks
after the kidnapping, served to mitigate
his first impression and to leave us
all in some doubt. not as to his verac-
ity, but as to the value of his testi-
mony to State or defense In his alb
sorption in f1ngerprints, he may have
observed but one nail hole, while four.
were there. which possibility would
well suDstantiate the States case and
which possibility they expect to DEM
onstrate as an actual fact by pro-
ducing in court photographs of the