discovered. As the body had been
found around 7:30 p.m. or so, the
medical examiner reasoned that the
victim should have had some _ in-
dication of the contents in her
stomach of what and when
she had last eaten, which might
be of value in tracing her movements.
A post mortem was done at once. The
contents of the stomach revealed much
more than the medical examiner had
expected. There was evidence that the
victim had consumed a meal within
a half-hour or so of the time she met
her death. The meal had been one
cooked in the Italian style, and had
contained such material and condi-
ments as ravioli, green peppers, celery,
ripe olives, and raisins. With this in-
formation a canvas was made of all the
restaurants in Boston which served
meals of this kind. The investigating
officers interviewed the waitresses and
asked them whether they had served
a young woman of the victim’s de-
scription with such a meal within the
last couple of hours. Finally one girl
was found who thought she had served
the victim. On being brought to the
morgue, this was confirmed by her
definite identification of the victim.
However, she did not know the girl,
in fact she had never seen her before
that night. The victim had dined in
the restaurant with a man, but the
waitress did not know him either. On
being further questioned, the girl

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recalled that the man had eaten in the
cafe on a previous occasion with
another man whom she did know.
The police were not long in follow-
ing up this clue, with the result that
the assailant was in custody within
12 hours of the murder.

Anything which the victim of an
assault or other form of crime in-
volving the person, has with him, or
about him, should be safeguarded. A
cigarette case or a pocket flask, or
perhaps a mirror, may have the assail-
ant’s fingerprints on it. DON’T, as
they do in the movies, carefully wrap
the article in a handkerchief and put
it away. This is the surest way of
obliterating the entire latent finger-
print, or at least in blurring it to the
point where it will be valueless as a
means of identification. The article
should be placed in a receptacle where
the suspected surfaces will not come
into contact with anything at all.

When preparing a_ person for
medical care, attention should be
given to his or her hands. ‘They may
be cut or scratched when the victim
attempted to defend himself, and
thus indicate the type of weapon used
in the assault. Again in fighting off
the attack, the victim may have
scratched or gouged the attacker’s
face or hands. There may be tiny
fragments of epidermis under the
fingernails, or even flecks of blood.

Fingernail Scrapings

Where we find dead bodies showing
marks of criminal assault, one of the
first things the police do is to remove
the fingernail scrapings and preserve
them for later examination. Quite
often there may be a hair or two
which will be of assistance in identi-
fying the culprit. A great deal may be
learned from a single hair. An esti-
mate can be made of the race, whether
male or female, whether it comes from
the head or elsewhere, and perhaps,
how recently it has been cut. If the
hair is pulled out by the root, addi-
tional information may be secured.
A single hair may be a big help in
the solution of a crime.

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A rather unusual, but nevertheless
interesting factor in the examination
of victims of homicidal violence, is
the presence of teeth marks. If such
marks are found, they should be
drawn to the investigator’s attention.
They can be photographed and thus
preserved. If they are of a peculiar
character or pattern, they may later
be identified with the assailant’s
denture, thus adding another piece of
evidence to the case.

In at least one occurrence I know
of, lipstick marks told a story of
murder. This case happened in the
eastern United States some time ago.
A young woman was occupying a
room in a hotel. The chambermaid
came around in the morning to tidy
up the room but found the occupant
apparently fast asleep. The maid re-
tired quietly. Some time later, the
maid returned to the room, knocked,
and receiving no reply, opened the
door. She found the sleeper in identic-
ally the same position, so she stepped
up to the bed and took a closer look.
The woman was dead. Hurrying to
the hotel office, the maid babbled out
a story of finding a dead woman in
room so-and-so. The hotel clerk at
once sent for the police, who in turn
notified the medical examiner. A

routine investigation was made. It
appeared the young woman had died
of natural causes, and the medical ex-

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Page Fifty-seven