◆ SpookStack

a hee oot cellos. | - 12 - . I think you will be interested in a recent ballistics case that came to our attention. Sometime ago the Chief of Police of a southern city came’ into our Laboratory, located in the Bureau at Washington. There’ had been a murder committed in his town. He had under arrest a murder suspect and brovght with him the bullet taken from the brain of the murdered man. Our expert ballisticians examined this bullet and told him it was fired from a .25 calibre, foreign make, automatic pistol. The Chief of Police went back to his city, searched the home of the murder suspect, whom he had under arrest, and found @ .25 calibre, foreign make, automatic pistol, which he brought to our Laboratory. He was positive he had the murder weapon. Our ballisticians fired test bullets frow this pistol, compared them with the bullet taken from the brain of the murdered man, and told him positively that it was not the murder weapon. He immediately conceived the idea that the science of ballistics was just a lot of "bunk." ‘ . In the meantime, our baboratory had obtained specimens of foreign pistols und we were able to tell him the name and make of the foreign pistol that fired the murder bullet. He went home deeply disappointed. Howeve-, he returned to Washington a few weeks later and. brought with him this time an- shop, where it had been pawned the day after the murder by a closes friend of the murder suspect. Our ballisticians fired test tullets from this pistol, compared them with the bullet taken from the brain of the murdered man and told him positively that this second pistol was the murder weapon. When he went home the last time, he believed in the science of ballistics which, as you know, is a very exact science today. , Thére is Still another case that turned upon a point of scientific ‘evidence, in which I think you will be interested. You may have read how two members of our organization were shot: to death near Chicago more than two years ago by "Baby Face" Nelson, whose real name was Lester Gillis, and Jonn Paul Chase, both members of the Dillinger gang. "Baby Face" Nelson was shot seventeen times and that removed him rather permanently from the crime pic- ture! John Pau) Chase escaped temporarily, was caught upon tne West Coast a few weeks later and returned to Chicago where he was tried in Federal Court for the murder of one of our men. c- This case turned on one point of scientific evidence. Chase's sole defense was that ne didn't know our men were Federal men. That they fired at him first and that he thought he was being hi-jacked or "bumped off" by members of some rival gang. That all the bullet holes found in the wind- shield of his car and in the back window were made by being fired from outside _the automobile, That was not true but we had to convince the jury that it-was not true, We sont one of our experts from our Laboratory in Washington to Chicago where he took the witness stand in Federal Court and convinced the jury in a few minutes that all of tha bullet holes in the windshiold of the murder car ‘and in the back window wore made. by shots fired from inside the automobile! oo