SHERLOCK HOLMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 248, 16 October 1920, Page 19

SHERLOCK HOLMES.

FRENCH COUXTERPARTTS. ASTONISHING DETECTIVE WORK. P.nth Sherlock- Holmes and Dr. Thorndyke, the fas.-ma tins, painstaking scientist' Investigator evolved by Mr. Austin Freeman, have their counterpart now in real life in the person of officials attached to the French detective service at Lyons, France.! It is impossible for any criminal to escape' the consequences nf his or her crime, pro- j viilert sufficient science, acumen and patience! are displayed in discovering and following up the clues which invariably exist in the most baffling crimes. | These are two of the conclusions that' must inevitably be drawn from M. Antoine Duinont's graphic description of the modern French laboratory work of criminal .investigation, which appears In the New York "World." A murderer (he writes) cannot kill his victim, or a Tinrglar break open a safe, without leaving in the room where hie crime was committed a trace, however, minute, of his presence, '.hat may lead to ills detection. It is on this tiieory that completely equipped criminal laboratories have been established in several of the largest cities of France. Within a few hours after th P crime has t>ppn vernal. w*i th iniTusfopps, lest tubpri, chemicals, and all the resources of science, tlie traces that the investigator has brought buck with bin) are under analysis. TWKICI'I.T -Fr.VHKR-PRINT WORK. i, The director of tJie laboratory of police I rtechni(|iie of the city of Lyons, r>r. Kdmond Locanl. ha-i described the extraordinary methods and the success in the detection of criminals of his institution. The finger-print search is. of ..ours*, an old story. A few criminals, however, work with gloves of leather or of rubber, but it is] rather rare, because working In the dark in unknown places need the trained and acute sensibility of their finger-tips. Kven so, the u~e of the glove does not necessarily pave them from detection. Dr. Locard was able to identify a criminal who had bandaged his finsers by a comparison of the very minute traces left on a bottle in a wine shop with his complete finger record in the laboratory. If tlie trace is too small, enormous micro-] photographic enlargements are made. to ; show the differences in tJie spacing of the sweat-glands; po that, with a space of only two or three square millimetres to study the expert can find his criminal almost as wellj as if he had before him the print of an entire finger. The smallest detail of the imprint left by the sole of a criminal's hoot on a country road may be important: a woqp! snot or even the scratch of a liail. Th?: I imprint of a rubber sole on one occasion In.l to the capture of a smuggler for whom the : police Bad long sought in vain. j The forma I ion of the front teotb of a young vagabond", who broke into a pastry Ishop, was discovered by obtaining a mould j jof a half-eaten cake, and furnished enough| evidence to convict him. I SEEN UNDER T-HK MICROSCOPE. J The nails of a suspect, previously much neglected in criminal investigation, have become very important to the laboratory export*. Criminals, as a clss s , are not exactly patrons of the manicure's art, and j Ulip dirt that bus'collected under their nallaj The nails of n murderer guard for a Ion?: and minute Uireads torn from a victim's 1 clothing, are sometimes found. j T'nrler the microscope a little history of! a man may lie read from the debris tmderj ' hie nails, a hint of his profession, and where he has come from. Not long ago a burglar was identified by particles ofj .grease scraped from a cable along which "he had slid in a daring attempt to reach the window-sill of a goldsmiths establishnien;.

In the seams of the boot of a man accused of robbery near a mill, but wio: produced an alibi, pleading that he had ' nor. been near the scene of the crime, were;' discovered hit* of dried mud containing ' minute particles of bran and wheat. It ' was largely this which convicted him- ' WHAT A BLADE OF GRASS TOLD. In another affair a man's sKull had been ' split by a sabre blow. The arms of the' cavalrymen of the nearby barracks were!' examined. No bloodstains could be disO covered, nor a characteristic notch of the i blades; but on one sword a single Made of 1 : grass was found. The owner of ti e was questioned, and confessed his crime. It!, seems that after the murder he had wiped , : his blade on the grass to clean it from blood. On the windowsill of a 6hop which had : been rob'ned a rin;? of candlesrea=e was found. As the place was too dark for examination a candle was sought. In the! coat-room one was found in the waistcoat I of an employee of the shop. The base of |. this candle indicated that it had been stuck to -some object, and a mould taken j from it fitted in every detail the ring of j wax on the windowsill. The man was 1 convicted on the evidence. An imprint left on marble dust by a plush waistcoat led to the discovery of the author of an assassination. In another affair the robber fell on his knees after climbing over the wall of a villa. He wore Corduroy trousers. One of the knees was patched with a piece of finer material. Thanks to iiii s detail, the discovery of the assasin was simple.