Hair And Fibre As Evidence

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 13 (Supplement)

Hair And Fibre As Evidence

By--Rex Collier

No. 11. Copyright | OCIENTIFICALLY-MINDED G-' 0 men in the F. 8.1, under J. Edgar Hoover have learned by j experience that solution of some ' of the more perplexing crimes ' literally may "hang by a hair" or a fibre. i I hero was the Powell murder case in Florida, for example. A killer turned away from the dviii"! embers of „ fir" he had kindled in a! Hftfluded s,,ot near a river bank took one 1-1 -1 look at tile nniddv "waters' beneath which lay the broken bodies'

Mr.b'P, ."''f 0 , aml . ] ' U 'iiother ■i n -k, w, ti/hf',""" 1 • returned 1 "*- •la-kson\ ilie. Fla.

n '" """'jlcrer felt v. He had. I, P ■'-•■ill p.! )11111 -.<• ]t. ' miii in i! i r,I i-riini. hi'.Vi'. ' l ,'"- vl ' 11 11 they found the rlv , * r - ' Ik-i i* w<is initliiuir | 'iiin with Hi,, slayinirs. Hi- had I liken great (n s< , e t!l . lt j every i, it (lf ~v i(, w a i <*>'- *"} <■<}. I „iti, win,-!, i„, | ''"A -no „f hi, %i( . tim < I"" lniiv' noiv hut a smouldering lira., of allies beside tl„. ,-ivcr. Burned t,, a i cn*p. too. were t lie only other articles | | that "' ill l have pointed the finjer of I ! suspicion .It. him- the bloodstained! ; ""It Hull' daring the attack*. the' blanket aml the ill- in » hi.-h he trail- ! ! |1 1 I'd 11 M' t't 111f* ri wr. , _ I 'dice recovered tin- i'nr|Hs after an 1111 1>1 1..; \ -earch. am! they found al-o i» i i.in ed remains of the hontire ..n . the hank ot the river. Iwo reprc-cnta t i ves of tlie State's' 11 oi m of lire at -1 a. k~> n \il |p appeareil "' l( ' not hill" t herra fter lit headijiiar'ert- of the Federal Kureau of lii \ ri-t I'jation iii \\"ji sli iii <rt <m. I lie K.M.I, is open 24 hours a da v. "even day* a week. On a t a hie in the fi-ir.en's liii: lal.ora- | toi\ thi> 1* lorida officers eareftillv unwrapped a package containing 'debris t '"i 'in tl'f bonfire. Alonir-ide they laid a mans trouper* and vest, a towel ami several other article*. Known circumstance* ol the double murder were related to an F.M.I, technieian. The hu.slmnd. one MarcuI'owell. was Piin.|K , eted because he had j been itnolved in one or two other murder eases, hut not a scintilla of evidence had been found to connect. him with the present crime—except, possibly, those ashes. The trousers and vest there on the < desk, it was explained, had revealed > nothing to incriminate the husband. The t

and approved by J. Edgar Hoover.

| coat, to 111 its suit was missinjr. however. | * onlil 'it 1„. that tlie husband had j burned the rout on tlie river- ed'jt*'; " I he.-e ashes scrni to have been n »ide I ill part by tin' burnil1it of cloth." the i K.M.F. expert was told. 'We wondered iit you could tell 11- anvthiiiL! about t hem." j Iho in icr. »-<•< vp i~ t w a.- able to tell til.' i state ot Florida a urea t deal about remnant- of the r-n--I ieiollr- I", utile. First he l ilt, pieces of cloth from the i trousers and \e-t and placed them ill an electric mi en. When t..c cloth had been charred to i pproxima tely the satin; . decree as the remnant.- in the ash pile, he removed them and iic-an a meticulous comparison of the "cooked" fragment- and the flakes of charcoal four.d in the lire at Jacksonville. I nder the powerful inieroscope both s|H'cimens w ere found to be composed of tiny charred fibres of exactly the same diameter, scale structure and other charaetcri.-tic-. The fibres were woven in the -airic pattern and spaced the same di-tancc apart. Other similarities Here noted. Ihe techil'cia II <- verdict »;|- po-itivc. Portions ot the burned material from the bonfire were identical in everv rr-sjx-ct fibre by fibre -with the trousers and vest of Powell. The keen eye of tle> expert had detected other carbonised fibres of a size an.l we.-ne ipiite different from those whi"h matched the -uit material.

I his is one of a series of articles showing how ihe Federal Bureau of Investigation has developed highly scientific methods in its war on crime, and here reveals for the first time just how these Government experts are working to protect life and property. 7 /le.se are authentic articles based on actual F. 8.1, cases and have been read

Moreover, lie "baked" a piece of the towel—which had come from the kitchen of Powells house—and oomI' a red the residue with some of the other fibres from the bonfire. Ami in «i [positive "ident": material similar to that of the Powell towel had been consumed in the riverside blaze.

Further mi.-n.-j-opi,. studies revealed that a cotton blanket and a ruir had also liecn fed to the llames.

I ho nncroscopwt tlu'ii made n minute e.\<i til inatioii of I'.jui dl's trousers and vest. Various stains, j.la in] v v i ~n,]«. proved to be valueless as dues. o„ , )„> vest. however. tlie lens brought into view certain tiny particles that had escaped t lie unaided eve. The particles "ere removed carefully and subjected to special analysis. ' , '*Bli»ocI, tlio expert an ikmuicmmK Powell \\<is brought to trial on murder -cliiir-es, ami the F.H.I. mieroscopi<t was siiiiiiiiuiii'il an the kev witness for the State. Ihe expert s testimonv. with

supjdement ary e\ id-Mice, was conviucin.- enough to the jury, which promptly returned a verdict of guilty without recommendation nf mcrcv.

i h;s is a typical example of the free f-erviee being rendered State, count v an<l municipal law-enforcement agencies of the L'nited Static by J. K(l«-«ir Hoovers specialists in scientific crime detection. The F.1!.1. not onlv makes its laboratory facilities available gratis.

Amazing Details of Scientific Evidence

but sends its experts to testify in Court, even though the case is wholly non-Federal in jioliee jurisdiction.

In the realm of fibre and hair research, the F. 8.1, men are exceeding the fondest imaginations of detective story writers. They have demonstrated repeatedly that the clue that may make or break a murder case, a kidnapping or other crime may be hidden in a strand of hair or a tuft of fibres.

Xot long «go the Commonwealth's Attorney of Albemarle County. Virginia, submitted to the F.B.T. laltoratory two tiny wisps of human hair. One specimen. he said, was from the battered head of a two-year-old boy. critically injured in a hit-and-run accident. The other hairs had been found oil the door hinjje of <in automobile owned by a suspected driver, who protested he was innocent.

In the course of his study of the specimens the F.H.I, technician sliced off a croris-.sect ion of hair one tenthousandth of an inch .thick, using a special "slicer"' devised by a Federal scientist. Dr. John I. Hardy, of the Department of Agriculture. This is a small gadget embodying a mecliauism for pushing the hair through a slot bv infinitesimal degrees and slicing it off with a razor blade. The microscope reveals the slice as a cellular disc, the make-up of which varies according to the nature of the fibre. Thus peculiarities of cotton, woo] and silk fibres may bo readily distinguished. Xot only m<i y animal hair be differentiated from human hair, but the latter often may be identified as coining from a particular j>ersoti. Sometimes it is even possible to determine the race of the person, whether he had a scalp disease and perhaps other iden ti fv ing cha ract erist ies.

I he F.B.T. reported to the Albemarle County official that cross-sections of the Ikiv's hair matched in every respect those of the hairs rcinnvi'd from the door hinge on tlie automobile. Xot onlv were they of the same colour, but they had the same peculiar «rale design. the same thickness of cuticle and cortex, the same diameter of medulla (core) — and, most significant of all. they had the same arrangement of pig-incut and air cells.

At the trial the expert testified tliat while the science of hair identification hud not reached a decree of certainty comparable to that of fingerprint identification. the case under consideration involved so many identifying characteristics as to impel him to the inescapable conclusion that the hair on the door hinge came from the wounded head of the small hit-and-run victim. The defendant was convicted and sent to the penitentiary.

A similar process of hair analysis had its part in the conviction on first-degree murder charges of a man in Krie, Pennsylvania. In this instance the F. 8.1, technician examined hairs from a mop believed to have been used by tlie man in cleaning up evidences of wife-murder in the oasement of his home. The hairs were pronounced similar to known s|>ecimens of the woman's hair. There were even more important clues in that mop —but these will be disclosed in a subsequent article.

A study of thread fibres led to solution of a firearms theft at Fort Bclvoir. an Army post near Washington. Military authorities asked G-men to investigate the burglary, in which someone had grained entrance to the ordnance room at the post and removed five shotguns, a ride and a revolver holster. Later four of the shotguns were found in a canvas bag near tlie entrance to the reservation.

Because the bag ha<l been expertlv stitched, suspicion «as directed 011 a soldier who served as post tailor. It was found the stitchu' r was of a type that could have been done on a sewin<* machine in the tailor's quarters—but this was not sufficient proof.

Xa tuples of thread found in the tailor shop were compared, micrometricallv and microscopically, with the thread oil the canvas bag. Analysis of the filre structure of both samples disclosed identical characteristics. Dye* used in colouring tlie fibres were found to be of similar composition.

When special amenta of the bureau confronted the soldier with these technical findings, he made a full <*nnfe«-

sion. lie was convicted by a general court-martial and sentenced to be dishonourably discharged from the Army and to .serve a term at the Atlantic Disciplinary Barracks, on Governors I-land. New York. Hy direction <>f Mr. Hoover, the F.B.L laboratory is studying and cataloguing the identifying properties of all types of hairs and fibres, so that even unusual type* of human and animal hairs and vegetable fibres may be recognised readily. Mr. Hoover believes the time is not far otf when the science of hair and fibre identification will l>e as well recognised in Court as fingerprint identification.

INSPECTOR PLAYFAIR Solves the Affair at Kozi Nuk, as outlined on page e: vt. fpHh "burglar"' was. or course, Harry Ha mist ingle himself. A man of no principles, an<l in financial straits, 1m had couvcived the plan of stealing his sisters necklace, thus getting, at ona stroke, the insurance monev and tha proceeds of the robbery. the "burglar's" familiarity with ' the house and with hva Haiulstingle's plans for tha evening at once suggested to Playfair an '"insk.e job." What "sunk" Hantistingle was the weight of evidenca against his story of a car in the lane, l'layfair clinched his case when he found a chauffeur's ' niform hidden in a shed at Kozi Xuk.