BATTLE OF WITS

Wairarapa Age, 31 March 1920, Page 3

BATTLE OF WITS

SCIENCE AND THE CRIMINAL

For ages there has been a war constantly in progress between the powers that prey and the powers that protect. The criminal on the one hand and the police on the Other* In the long-ago the methods of both were crude (says Mr H. L. Adam, author of "The Story of Crime/' in a recent article). But the criminal was ever a menace. The always been hard put to it to beat him. As the law advanced in its methods of prevention and detection, so also did the criminal advance in his predatory methods. The law had recourse to science, but the criminal proved himself equal to the occasion.] The very means the law adopted to subvert and unmask ithe criminal,, the criminal himself has adopted to anticipate and counfound the law. J How does the contest stand to-day? Well, unfortunately, the criminal ia as far from being beaten as ever ho was. In some instances he has been the leader instead of the plagiarist in adopting scinetific methods. The law has unconsciously helped him in the way of education. He has not been slow to improve . upon the uncouth procdure adopted by his illiterate ancestor, Bill Sikes. | Let us take a passing peep at a few of his scientific achievements. What one may term the professional •criminal is' migratory—a citizen of the world. He recognises neither laws' nor nationality. A country repre-' sents to hime a huge "crib to The world's scientists are his mentors. He closely follows the achievements of his confreres, and avoids their mistakes. He perceives where," and how, their acts led to detection, and he is careful tb avoid committing similar errors. Thus Devereux, the trunk murderer, copied and improved on the methods of Crossman, the English "Bluebeard." But the law beat him in the long ruj*. Up to the present time one of the most successful criminals of any age or country, so far as the public records are concerned,' is the French criminal Landru, also known as "Blue- 1 board." Here law and justice have a very hard nut indeed to crack. So far, no corpus delicti can be found, so that, according to the present condition of, the BVench cirminal law, no case can be formulated against the 1

prisoner. This man would appear to have copied and improved upon the methods of Crippen, who very nearly succeeded in effectually disposing of the corpus. In the case of Landru it would, at course, Ibe possible to pass a "special law to deal with him. The law is allpowerful and adaptable, as the recent war demonstrated . SECRET POISONS. The two great obstacles to the successful perpetration of murder have always been the weapon and the disposal of the body. In this connection the contest between the scientific achievements of the law on the one hand and the criminal on the.other has been fiercest. The multiple murderer Smith, of the "baths murders," is the only criminal within my knowledge who overcame both obstacles. His weapon was water, and the body had not to be destroyed or hidden. Had he held his hand sooner he would never have been discovered. The three crimes in which science has made the greatest headway are murder, forgery, and burglary,- the first-named being the greatest. The, most formidable murderer the law has ever had to deal with is the secret poisoner. The weapon he uses hallways been so subtle. At ohe timeHhe law was well-night helpless against the secret poisoner, who then invariably had a long career. Subsequently science stepped in with infallible "tests," and the way of the poisoner was henceforth for a time beset with pitfalls. But .only for a time. A tpw years ago Sir James Crichton-Browhe, the eminent toxicologist, made the follow- | ing observations to the writer : "The poisoner of the .future will not resort to any of the old blundering methods included in Schedule A. He will eschew alkaloids altogether; he will never be discovered through the_ medium of the tests of Marsh, Reinsch, and others ; he will even defy the law of circumstantial evidence, for his. weapons will be microbes.'' This forecast was confirmed shortly after by the Continental case of Count Buturlin, who was poisoned by the administration of disease germs. Every disease has its particular bacilli, and these may be cultivated and administered in plain water without any fear of detection. When one considers 'that cremation may also be resorted to as an aid to immunity from discovery, one is impelled to the conclusion that the law is far from having beaten the homicidal criminal. The Seddon case was a conspicuous example of the triumph o£ science oyer crime. ,

FORGED CHEQUE PERFORA- ' TIONS. t To-day the motor car is being used with the greatest ecuccess in boldly conceived burglaries. It is also helping the murderer speedily to dispose of the body of his victim. The remains of a woman were discovered in a wood at Winchfield, and it is believed that they were brdught there by motor car. A similar case occurred a few years ago at Yarmouth, where the body of a young woman was found on the beach, it having been brought there by motor car. In neither case has the culprit been traced. The scientific forger can still 'work' in spite of special vegetable ink, perforations, and the penetrative eye of the camera lens, which is capable of making manifest that 'which would escape the human eye. I know of a case where a forger filled up the perforations on a cheque with pulp, and re-perforated it for a sum many times larger than the original sum. And so the battle of wits goes on and is likely to continue. 1