Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1893 — AN ELECTRICAL DETECTIVE. [ARTICLE]

AN ELECTRICAL DETECTIVE.

Novel Way In Which a Murderer Was Brought to Conl'essiou. Those who are accustomed to frequent the courts in which murder cases aro tried find themselves drifting into the habit of attaching grea» significance to actions, gestures and expressions which under ordinary circumstances would esoape notice. A prominent eleotrical journal relates how this habit led to the conviction of a murderer through the aid of electricity. The murder had been one of unwonted atrocity and the prisoner appeared absolutely indifferent. In fact, it was impossible for the keenest eye to detect any change in his countenance or attitude during the examination of the witnesses who gave thij most damaging testimony against him. The prosecuting attorney, however, noticed that he nevor once relaxed his hold on the arms of the chair in which he sat, but seemed to support himself by the pressure which he brought to beai ou them. Knowing that under intense mental excitement, no matter how outwardly calm an individual may he, the hands will involuntarily contract and relax accoiding to the intensity of the emotion and the susceptibility of the person aflected, the counsel saw here a chance of securing evidence of great value. He thought that if the arms of the chair could only be made to communicate the pressure of the invisible contractions of the muscles of the hands and arms of tho witness, an important light might he thrown on the case. He called an electrician to his aid, and during the absence of the prisoner from the court room the arms of the chair were removed and split in half and in each was placed a hard carbon plate, which served as a variable resistant. Wires were run from metal plates, placed on either side of the carbon, through the legs of the chair and under the floor to a telephone receiver and battery placed in an adjoining closet. The arms were again upholstered and the chair replaced. Every increase in pressure on the arm of the chair now affected the carbon, which, acting as a transmitter, caused sounds to issue from the mouth of the receiver. On the resumption of the trial a court official was placed in a closet, aud by a series of signals arranged beforehand signified the feelings of the prisoner as they were betrayed through the muscles of his hands. The main points against the prisoner were thus determined. They were presently formulated and read to him in privacy, and he was so overcome that he made a confession of hisorime.—fChicage Tribune.