Читать книгу Scouting for Boys - Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell - Страница 48

It may happen to some of you that one day you will be the first to find the dead body of a man, in which case you will remember that it is your duty to examine and note down the smallest signs that are to be seen on and near the body before it is moved or the ground disturbed and trampled down. Besides noticing the exact position of the body (which should if possible be photographed exactly as found) the ground all round should be very carefully examined—without treading on it yourself more than is absolutely necessary, for fear of spoiling existing tracks. If you can also draw a little map of how the body lay and where the signs round it were, it might be of value.

Twice lately bodies have been found which were at first supposed to be those of people who had hanged themselves—but close examination of the ground round them, in one case some torn twigs and trampled grass, and in the other a crumpled carpet, showed that murder had been committed, and that the bodies had been hung after death to make it appear as though they had committed suicide.

Finger-marks should especially be looked for on any likely articles and if they do not correspond to those of the murdered man they may be those of his murderer, who could then be identified by comparing the impression with his fingers. Such a case occurred in India, where a man was found murdered and a bloody finger-mark on his clothes. The owner of the finger-mark was found, tried, and convicted.

In St. Petersburg in Russia a banker was found murdered. Near the body was found a cigar-holder with an amber mouthpiece. This mouthpiece was of peculiar shape and could only be held in the mouth in one position, and it had two teeth marks in it. These marks showed that the two teeth were of different lengths.

The teeth of the murdered man were quite regular, so the cigar-holder was evidently not his. But his nephew had teeth which corresponded to the marks on the mouthpiece, so he was arrested, and then further proof came up and showed that he was the murderer.

[Compare the story in "Sherlock Holmes' Memoirs" called "The Resident Patient" in which a man was found hanging and was considered to be a suicide till Sherlock Holmes came in and showed various signs such as cigar ends bitten by different teeth, footprints, and that three men had been in the room with the dead man for some time previous to his death and had hanged him.]