The
writer can recall at least a dozen cases in his own experience
where the story of the defendant, that the revolver was
discharged in a hand-to-hand struggle, was conclusively
disproved by experimenting with the weapon before the trial.
There was one homicide in which a bullet perforated a felt cap
and penetrated the forehead of the deceased. The defendant
asserted that he was within three feet of his victim when he
fired, and that the other was about to strike him with a
bludgeon. A quantity of felt, of weight similar to that of
the cap, was procured and the revolver discharged at it from
varying distances. A microscopic examination showed that
certain discolorations around the bullet-hole (claimed by the
defence to be burns made by the powder) were, in fact, grease
marks, and that the shot must have been fired from a distance
of about fifteen feet. The defendant was convicted on his own
story, supplemented by the evidence of the witness who made
the tests.
The most obvious and first requirement is, as has been said,
to find the direct witnesses to the facts surrounding the
crime, commit their statements under oath to writing, so that
they cannot later be denied or evaded, and make sure that
these witnesses will not only hold no intercourse with the
other side, but will be on hand when wanted.
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