RESTORING THE FEATURES OF THE DEAD.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 74, 7 September 1865, Page 8

RESTORING THE FEATURES OF THE DEAD.

(From the 'Lancet.') A case of singular interest has recently occurred at Alta, in California, in which the process of Dr. Richardson for. restoring the features of a dead body that has undergone putrefaction, described in the 'Lancet' two years ago, was applied. with the most satisfactory results. It appears that on Tuesday evening*, the 14th of March of the present year, a dead body Avas discovered buried a little way underground. The earth over the body was only six. inches deep at the head, aad tAventy inches at the feet of the corpse; and; as. the ground had been disturbed by dogs or by boys passing over it, portions of the dress of i the dead Avere exposed. A person named M'Glone first made the discovery, and communicated it to the police, Avho shortly afterwards disinterred and conveyed to the dead house a dead man, who, from the marks of injury inflicted on him, had evidently been murdered. The skull was crushed, and the rope by Avhich he had been dragged to the grave was left round the body. " Afthis time the process of decomposition was so far advanced that recognition or identification was impossible. In- the difficulty that arose, Dr. J. L. Heriry 'suggested to the coroner that he should use the method of restoration which had been previously carried out by Dr. Richardson. '• The suggestion was assented to. The body Avas placed in water in a water-tight shelf; twenty pounds of common salt and one pound of hydrochloric acid were added to the water, and the immersion Avas sustained three hours. The body Avas then removed; the face was washed with simple water, and afterwards with chlorine Avater; and, finally, a current; of chlorine gas was passed freely over the face. The restoration of .the features

was thus rendered so perfect that the body* was positively identified as that of Charles T. Hill, a man twenty-seven years of age, and a native of the State of New York. The report before us, from the 'Alta California,' says that as soon as the body had been changed in appearance by the chemicals, it was recognised by a young gentleman connected with the press, wno was cognisant of the fact that several weeks before the deceased had arrived at Alta in company with a female whose acquaintance he had made in New York, and who ', was then residing in the toAvn. The girh-J was soon found/ and deposed thatihe haa* not seen Hill for some time, but that she - / knew he had. been residing at what was called the Mansion House. Enquiries at, the Mansion House (evidently an inn or boarding house) led- to the statement by the landlady that Hill had left on the 24th of February, and had never returned ; but that on the 24th a young man came for the trunks of Hill, saying that he had been deputed by their owner to remove them ; the landlady, however, refused to let them go. Further research proved that this man was a person called Byrne, a man of very bad character, and who had already been tried for burglary. He was at once arrested; his lodgings were examined, and some keys and an imitation diamond pin, with other articles belonging to the murdered man Hill, were disclosed. Pressed on all sides by the evidence against him, and brought face to face with the murdered man, Byrne confessad that he had been out for a drive with Hill on the 20th, and accounted for his own possession of the property in a manner that only tended to implicate himself the more seriously. He was forthwith committed for trial on the charge of murder: Whether or not the true murderer has been detected, the case is one which shows iri a remarkable manner the important aid which science may render to justice by this procedure, for it is clear that, without it the irian whe was murdered would never have been known.