PHOTOGRAPHY AND MURDER,

Evening Post, Volume LII, Issue 93, 10 September 1896, Page 2

PHOTOGRAPHY AND MURDER,

TO THE EDITOR. Sib — In confirmation of the statements made in a letter signed " B." in your last night's issue, allow me a short space in your valuable columns. About a year before 1 left the Old Country— i.e., about 1866 or 1867 — a sensation Avas oreated by'several very mysterious murders being committed in Paris. The following circumstances connected with the crimes made the rounds of the European press. Some time— five or six hours — after the committal of the first crime, a young doctor was called in. He,hasDeninjt

to be an amateur photographer, had the idea of taking a photo of the eye of the corpse after raising the eyelid. An enlarged copy of the original having been taken, the features of a man appeared. The doctor sent them to the Prefecture, who at first pooh-poohed the idea; but, after due consideration, made enquiries at the gates of the town if a person similar to the photo had been seen passing. The man thus was traced to Orleans, thence to the Italian frontier, thence to Milan. The Milan authorities recognised the pinto as one of a convict, who had formerly escaped, but was lately recaptured. The man was handed over to the French authorities and, after his trial, confessed to being the perpetrator of the deeds. Thus the photo of the eye of the murdered person led to the conviction and punishment of the culprit. "Why this discovery should not have been followed up is a mystery to me, as after due consideration the process is no more than natural. I am, &c, 9th Sept. . Vox Popuii.