DOWNFALL OF MURDERERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 9 (Supplement)

DOWNFALL OF MURDERERS

How Detectives Are Made «

IN 50 per cent of criminal cases, in which blood has been spilt, impressions thereof exist, although the criminal, of course, had no intention of leaving evidence behind him. It is not difficult to understand the reason. From numerous murder cases, and from confessions, we lcsrn that criminals have an ides that it is easy to kill a person) they believe it to be a much easier job than it really is; they imagine that a single blow of a knife or club will suffice to dispatch the victim. Either in the excitemcnt of the moment the blow is too feeble, or else it does not touch a rltal spot, or it may be that, speaking in a general way, death does not take place instantaneously, but it generally happens that the victim, although thought to be mortally wounded, is still able momentarily to place the criminal in danger. The victim may cry out, take to flight, or place himself on the defensive. Thus are explained those struggles the details of which clearly appear upon expert examination, and from which wo learn that tihe murderer, while only intending to deliver a> single blow at his victim, has continued to strike long after his worw is fully accomplished. It frequently happens that immediately after the crime, the criminal in ■ea> eh for valuables, groping in the

darkness, opening and shutting doors and windows, seizing jugs to wash himself, leaves behind on all kinds of articles the impressions of his hands and his several fingers. It is, therefore, easy to explain the relative frequency of the presence of these fingerprints; they must be always sought after and registered. The most difficult part is the search for them, for they are as a rule small, made up of fine lines, are less easy to see than even the smallest drops of blood, and finally are frequently only to be found in out-of-the-way places. When in the course of a murder investigation a detective is searching for fingerprints, particular attention must be paid to certain portions of furniture. The underneath part of a table, top, drawers at the places where they are laid hold of to be drawn out, papers whifch the criminal has handled while searching for money are of equal import, so are covers of books which have interested him. The traces having been found and described it is above all necessary to establish, with the assistance of medical experts, from what portion of the hand they proceed. This point it is frequently impossible to decide until after' continuous trials and minute study, which however, sometimes be carried out on the spot. The impression may come from the forefingers of the left hand, the palm of the right hand, left foot, etc. This point elucidated, the work becomes

Sixth article from book by Dr. Hans Cross, former professor of criminology at the University of Prague. The book is still the greatest text book of criminology.

' easier, and the most urgent thing next to be done is to establish whether these ■ impressions do not, perhaps, proceed from the victim of the crime himself. - Not many years ago a celebrated pro- • fessor waa found dead baside his bed. > He had several wounds on the forehead ! and left temple; these wounds were i bleeding profusely, and seemed to have ■ caused his death, especially as he was I old, and unable to defend himself i against such bodily attacks. Suspicion was doubled when it was observed that ' a drawer of the office table in the room, > at some distance from the bed, was • open, and the clear impressions of three ' blood-stained fingers were seen upon a ' newspaper on the table. 1 The newspaper was resting near the - far corner of the table. The staircase ' leading to the old man's bedroom gave on to a large ante-room, when the ' rooms occupied by his family were I reached, his room, which served both as » a study and bedroom, being however, > situated quite apart from the rest.

He had chosen this isolated room so as to be able to work, go to bed, and get up at will, so that neither the famly nor the servants had the least suspicion of what was happening on the night of his death. The murder theory immediately took shape, being supported by the suspicious position of the professor beside the bed, the wounds upon his head, his excellent state of health the night before, and the open door, all leading to the same conclusion. Moreover, some zealous t friends noticed that tome important 3 manuscripts and chemical preparations i were missing from the study. But the most sinister piece of evidence " was the bloody hand of the murderer • on the paper; its significance was far too clear to admit of the idea of a e natural death. e , On top of all this, some unhappy f creature took it into his nead to link n up a series of the most insignificant t facts and forge a story which spread ( throughout the town, growing from g day to day, and because the horrible is e always the most readily believed, so a a large number of people in the town were soon convinced that the old man e had been robbed and murdered by his e own son. The public found these suse picions all the more overwhelming, for ; the son was a man of calm and learning, e rejoicing in the general esteem. s But the magisterial inquiry, most carefully conducted, resulted as follows: The old man had been attacked during

t the night with heart failure, a com- i plaint he frequently suffered from. Full i of solicitude for his household, a-s was 1 his custom, and not desiring to trouble j the sleep of anyone, he left his bed to search for some medicine in the drawers of his table. Arriving there, he had been attacked \ with another spasm, and had fallen to , the ground, wounding himself on the corner of the table. This was the cause ■ of the wound in the temple. The professor had then placed his hand to the wound, and tried to get -jp ' with the assistance of the table; this was the origin of the blood upon tin newspaper. At last he managed to get ' back to his bed, where he was the victim of a renewed attack, which caused him to fall a second time, striking his head upon the foot of the bed, the carving of whtch exactly corresponded to the wound he had then received. Finally, he had succumbed to general failure of the heart's action. In spite of the irrefutable results of this inquiry, much time elapsed before 1 the _ public abandoned its unfortunate ' pre-conoeived opinion. 1 The following eaee shows in what 1 out-of-the-way places traces of blood ' may be found. An old woman had j been killed and robbed. The author of the crime had apparently given himself • a wound in some way or other, from which the blood came drop by drop. When the place was inspected, this : fact could be easily proved, for. beside ; the front door (a glass door with cur-

* ; sains) which pave straight on to the street, there were several groups of ' >lood drops which could certainly not lave come from the murdered woman. ' The likely supposition was that the * murderer had, after the crime, gone ' several times to the door in question, 1 md peeped through the curtain to ascertain whether the coast was clear < for his escape; each time be had thus approached the door drops of blood had ' fallen from his hand, and formed the groups above mentioned. But the room had another entrance ' on to the court-yard, and thence along a corridor into the street. Quite close to this latter door (to the left on poiji£ nut) was a fairly lon<? table covered with a light cloth which fell nearly to the ground. On searching for other traces, this cloth was lifted up, when under the cloth, towards the back part of the table, and on the jrround, was found a drop of blood. Xo one could explain the presence of this drop of blood, at spot which, as -we have stated, was hidden by the portion of the cloth which fell from the table like a curtain. It was noticed, however, by the merest chance, that on opening the door near the table, a draught was each time produced, which blew the hanging part of the light table-cloth under the table, so that the place where the drop of blood was found could be seen. It was therefore beyond all doubt that the murderer had opened the door with his right hand, that the cloth had been displaced by the wind, and that from his left hand a drop of blood had fallen which was hidden from view as soon as the cloth had attained it.-, original position. This bloodstain thus brought about the discovery of this important point, that the author of th>, erisM. was wounded in the lefl hand