CRIME DETECTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20786, 3 August 1929, Page 26

CRIME DETECTION.

ENGLISH AND FRENCH METHODS. Two crime mysteries are attracting attention; one in France and the other jn England. In botli cases there is the unsolved problem dear to the amateur and the professional detective, and, together, the cases throw an interesting light upon detective methods in the two countries (says a correspondent in the Melbourne Argus). . The English case is the arsenic poisoning tragedy which resulted in the deaths of Mrs Violet Sidney, a Croydon widow, and her daughter, Vera Sidney, a single of about 40 years. The Sidney tragedy is the more interesting because the doctors diagnosed death from natural causes in both cases. Miss Vera Sidney died on February 14, and her mother on March 5, and the bodies were exhumed on March 22. Only then was it found that deatli was due to arsenical poisoning. Dr Ryffel, the Homo Office export, has since stated that 1.48 grains of arsenious oxide were found in Miss Vera Sidney’s body, evidence that at least five grains must have been taken. In Mrs Sidneys body three grains and a-half of arsenious oxide were found. Dr Bronte, another Home Office expert, gave evidence that Airs Sidney took the fatal dose six hours before her death, but he ventured the opinion that she had also taken arsenic for five or seven days before death. The reason for the latter judgment was that arsenic was found in the nails and in the hair. Dr Bronte explained that the average growth of the nail in a healthy person was as eighth of an inch a week. As arsenic had to be brought from the blood to the skin, and thence to the nail, it would take the arsenic between five and seven' days to reach the top of the finger nails. One single fatal dose of arsenic could not account for arsenic being found in the hair or nails. Dr Bronte added that the fact that anyone showed arsenic in the hair or nails did not necessarily meaji there was any arsenical poisoning. It might have been taken medicinally. Two grains was a minimum fatal dose of arsenious oxide. In Mrs Sidney’s case the fatal dose was administered at lunch time on March p. At the moment there is no evidence incriminating anyone in the Croydon crime, or any evidence of suicide. There was . a tin of weed;killer in the house, consisting mainly of sodium arsenite, and containing 291 grains of arsenious oxide to the solid ounce. There was no evidence of arsenic in any food or medicine taken by either of the wonien, and it is merely assumption that the arsenic which caused the two deaths came from the weedkiller. Both Mrs Sidney and Miss Vera Sidney were.: women of some means, Mrs Sidney leaving about £9OOO, and Miss Sidney about £SOOO. This was inherited by Mr Thomas Sidney, a son, and Mrs Duff, a married daughter of Mrs Sidney. Both were examined closely regarding their knowledge of the weed-killer, as was Mrs Noakes, the housekeeper who lived with Mrs Sidney and Miss Sidney at the time of their death. None of /the three could explain how the arsenic was administered* though all seemed to be certain that suicide was an unlikely explanation of the tragedy. The inquest on both women has been adjourned for a month, so no solution of the mystery is to be expected for that time. .The British detective system is to move circumspectly, not to jump to conclusions, and, above all, to be sure of certain evidence before an arrest is made. Very different, is the .French ■ method, as may be seen in the circumstances surrounding Hie death of Miss Olive Branson at Les Baux, a picturesque village in the hill country of Provence. Miss Branson was a member of a well-known English family who married an English colonel whom she met on war service in France. The mani age nas.annulled two or three years ago, and Miss Branson resumed her maiden name. Having about £IOOO a year, she went to France, and she has been /working as an artist in Provence lor some time. Her home consitsed of Lf* *i o, a i • s i ttl J lK }' oom and a bedroom near the histone fortresri of Les Baux. Hcie she was found dead two or three weeks ago Dressed in her nightdress, with a bullet wound in her head, she was found in a cistern attached to her cottage The case was judged to be one of suicide, and it was only when Miss Branson s relatives insisted upon the unlikelihood of suicide that further examination was made. For this purpose M. Alexandre Guibbal was sent to Les Baux. Guibbal is a typical French detective of the new school. At once he asked himself why a frail little woman should walk bare-footed across a gravel courtyard and c y m “ a five-foot stone wall to the roof of the cistern in order to commit suicide. Even if this were likely, hbw had she torn up the stout wire netting covering the cistern, forced her way through a narrow break in the netting, and, standing in 44 feet of water, revolver in hand, shot herself Jn the forehead? When he considered the answers to his questions M. Guibbal was forced to reject the idea of suicide, and he. decided that a murder had been committed. Accompanied by Dr Beraud, head of the police laboratory at Marseilles, M. Guibbal entered Miss Branson’s house. Down he went on his hands and knees, using a powerful magnifying glass, until he found a cluster of brown spots in Miss Branson’s bedroom. The brown spots led him to Mies Branson’s bed, where the side of a mattress was found to be simiLirly marked. “Blood! ’’ exclaimed M. Guibbal. Guibbal examined a gardener named Girard, who worked for Miss. Branson, and Girard’s wife. Though Girard was arrested, it was soon plain that he wps not guilty. Then Guibbal found his suspicions turning to Francois Pinet, a 27-yeaf-old Frenchman who was managing the Hotel do Monte Carlo at Lex Baux. The hotel was an investment of Miss Brafison. Pinet finally admitted an attachment to Miss Branson, and a search in his room at the Hotel de Monte Carlo revealed the following letter in French:— “This letter is for you. I am writing it in bed. It seems likely that I shall live to be a dear old lady of 90, But one never knows what may happen, so I have decided to make a will in your favour. T shall bequeath to you my Hotel de Monte Carlo.” The holograph will itself, dated December 24, 1928, was also found. It read: “I, the undersigned, Edith Olive Branson, bequeath my Hotel des Baux et de Monte Carlo. to Monsieur Francois Pinet of Les Banx.” Until faced with the discovery of the will, Pinet said nothing about the bequest of the hotel, and M. Guibbal judged this reticence sufficient to Justify an arrest. He produced a warrant from his pocket, and charged Pinet with wilful murder, Pinet is still in Chaves Prison, awaiting examination. The rest of Mihs Branson’s property seems to have been left to two cousins, daughters of an Englishman named Fforde.* The wills to this effect wore dated February ami March, 1928. So far Pinet has confined his answers to a general denial ol murder. Indeed, according to English detective standards, there is little evidence against him at all. The French’ system, however, is to arrest first, in accordance with a general theory, and then to build up evidence against the prisoner. At the moment the Marseilles police laboratory, with its array of test tubes, X-ray machines, spectrographic devices and batteries. of -cameras, is hard at work upon the Branson case. The laboratory, under Dr George Beraud, is proud of being regarded ns a rival of the police laboratories at Paris and Lyons, and the Branson case gives it an excellent opportunity, A year ago an engineer anil his woman servant were killed at their villa near Marseilles, and an apache named Ziller was arrested. Hie accomplice fled to the mountains, Where he was killed in a vendetta, and Ziller pleaded that he was only an accomplice “after the fact.” The crimes laboratory, howevery, proved that two bullets were fired from different revolvers. Thus Ziller and his accomplice were equally guilty, and Ziller suffered accordingly.