Bay View Service Station
J. MURDOCH
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Telephone 983 Nanaimo, B.C.

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The B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company of
Canada, Limited, announces the open-
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VINCE’S GARAGE
220 Wallace St. Phone 1676

WESTWOOD HIRST

Chapel of Flowers
A DIGNIFIED SERVICE

—Ambulance Service—
Phone 56

Nanaimo, B.C.

F. W. WILFERT

SAWMILL AND LOGGING
ASSEMBLY DOCK

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NANAIMO

BORIS 81 TAXI

NANAIMO, V.I.
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Call Phone 81

ELKS’ HOME
No. 26
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Front Street Nanaimo, B.C.

Canton Cafe

594 Pine St.
We Specialize in Steaks

Nanaimo, V.I.

and Chinese Dishes

Phone 584

GLOBE HOTEL

25 Front Street Nanaimo, B.C.
25 ROOMS WITH AND WITHOUT BATHS
All Rooms Recently Renovated
All Modern Conveniences
Rates Most Reasonable
UP-TO-DATE REFRESHMENT PARLORS
Nat and Jimmy Bevis, Proprietors

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Page Fifty-four

injuries received in a mining accident.
His clothes were filthy, ragged and
torn by a blast of dynamite. When
removed, they were taken out to the
back, but fortunately not burned. In-
stead, they were hung on a line.
Several days later, some of the
patient’s friends after visiting him,
asked the nurses where his money
was. They were very much surprised
to find that the Chinaman had been
carrying $600 on his person when
working, as he had no other place to
keep his money, and did not believe
in banks. They at once went to the
clothes line and retrieved the disinte-
grating pair of trousers in which they
found the entire $600, quite intact
after several days’ exposure on a wash
line.
Murderous Assaults

In cases of homicide or assaults of a
murderous character, clothing plays a
very important role. For instance,
bullet holes may tell a story. There are
means of estimating the distance from
which a firearm was fired, by the
powder pattern on clothing or flesh,
or in the case of a shot gun blast, by
the area covered by the pellets. This
may be very important in showing
whether the shooting was in self-
defence or with murderous intent.
There is one case in which I assisted
a couple of years ago which illus-
trates this point. A man was charged
with attempted murder after shooting
his step-son. The culprit claimed that
the boy had shot himself while they
were struggling over the possession of
a gun with which the boy had
threatened his step-father. The boy’s
story was quite different. He stated
that his step-father had laid in wait
for him, and shot from a distance of
perhaps ten or twelve feet without
warning. The boy had then closed
with his assailant, and wounded as he
was, wrested the gun away from his
step-father, knocked him out, and
phoned for the police before fainting.
Here was a case of one man’s word
against another’s, and the prosecution
was faced with the legal maxim that
the accused must be given the benefit
of any reasonable doubt. It was quite
evident that some expert evidence
would be required to determine the
actual distance from which the shot
had been fired. The pattern of shot-
gun pellets on the boy’s back covered
a certain well defined area. As you all
know, a charge of buck-shot fired from
a shot gun, assumes a cone shape,
widening as it travels farther and
farther from the muzzle of the
weapon. Working on this principle,
Sub-Inspector Young, ballistics expert,
made a series of tests with the firearm
in question. Identical shells were
used, and a series of test shots were
made at distances from one-half inch,
up to fifteen feet from the muzzle.
From these test shots, a chart was

prepared showing the cone of fire.
Consultation of this chart showed
that the minimum distance between
the gun muzzle and the boy’s back
must have been at least eight feet, and
probably much more. This entirely
negatived the culprit’s assertion of
self-defence. The ballistic evidence,
coupled with the other facts of the
case, resulted in a conviction, and a
sentence of 20 years at hard labor.
The culprit had a criminal record,
and had been married a number of
times, most of his wives disappearing
inexplicably.
Preservation of Garments

While there are many cases of this
kind which could be told, the fore-
going will serve to illustrate the
point. Suffice it to say that clothing
is frequently of paramount import-
ance to the proper presentation of a
criminal case. Every care should be
taken in the preservation of garments.
If wet, they should be dried by normal
means, excessive heat being avoided
as this may destroy evidentiary ma-
terial. Clothing should not be allowed
to remain wet. As you all know, wet
blood tends to putrify, but keeps
indefinitely when dry. There mav be
some blood stains on a garment which
are not the victim’s. Those stains
are possibly due to some inury sus-
tained by the attacker, and therefore,
if sufficiently preserved to make a

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