Evening Star Newspaper, September 14, 1930, Page 111

hoping now against hope that something favor- able might happen jn the swamps while still the rain held off, . . NEXT day something did happen. This time Pea Soup brought the news. And again we packed the tools I trusted to find reason for using. In the evil heat past noon, I looked down into the pit. I felt a cheking gratitude. There he was at last, the fine pigmy hippo- potamus who was soon to take on a vivid per- sonality with the name of Horace. Merry industry was afoot: The boys scoured the swamps to cut enough trees to make a bot- tomless cage. After several hours all was built, Two-inch poles were laid criss-cross at the corners, where they were nailed and further re- inforced with liana wattlework. In and out through the poles were wound liana ropes. The cage we finally let down into the pit was a sturdy affair, 9 feet long, 5 fdet high, 5 feet wide, proof against all the angry floppings of Hoace. - The fun began. It was a nice task to fit the . cage over the hippo.” Some of the boys took Jong poles to help ease the cage over the ani- mal. Once over, it must be held there while other boys descended into the pit to build a floor. We passed down poles. They slipped them under, as I directed, while Horace bit savagely at the sides of his cage. The poles bhad been cut long enough to project 6 inches beyond the cage at each end, sa the boys could bind them to the wattlework. After the first pole was laboriously fastened, the task seemed to be carried through by rote. ‘One group of boys in the pit hurried in with the floor, while several others stood on the roof of the cage to hold all safe against Horace's strugglings. Horace, our hippo, was at last as secure as if already behind the barred tank in a zoo at home. Next we started the digging of an in- clined chute down to his cage. When the chute was finished, he rode out triumphantly on roll- ers up the dirt incline to level ground. There his cage was lashed to poles that gave the boys purchase for carrying him to the river bank. After threé or four weeks, we lashed two eanoes together with two 4-foot planks set side by side from boat to boat; upon them we set Horace's cage for the journey down the Wauwa. Then Chief Baulio and all the boys who had helped me bade us farewell. IN two days we completed our 40-mile journey down the river and across Lake Fisherman. It ended at Cape Mount village, where the old’ German storekeeper was proud to allow me a place in which to keep Horace while we waited for the Dutch steamer due from Monrovia be- fore the end of February. I made him a proper house of fine lumber. He arose from his rumination one day to knock down the fence completely. My son Warren rushed to save what he could, and Herace stopped and looked over the boxes at him as if he were “giving him the laugh.” At last the day arrived for shifting him. The entire native population turned out, curious and ready to give advice. After the omges had been lashed together end to end, I opened the two doors an dgave Horace a gentle hint by poking him with a wooden pole. He did not take the hint. I poked again, but Horace was uncon- cerned. Then began five of the most arduous hours of my life. The sun gradually sank lower; the villagers grounted and advised and laughed and grew weary. I prodded and pushed at 800 pounds of hippopotamus that had decided mot to budge. I longed for a miracle to compel this mountain of obstinacy to get up and walk. But at the end of the afternoon I was still working there. Finally I sat down for a bit and rested my head against a pile of colg-nut sacks. I shut my aching eyes. A small shrick made me open them sharply. The sight turned me giddy. Horace was-on his feet, walking sedately into the transporting cage! Next day many boys carried Horace in his new cage down to where the surf boat had been tipped sidewise at the water’s edge to help ease the animal aboarf. Riding at anchor in the harbor was the Dutch ship. At last we reached the steamer, and at last I was rising “up her sides on top of the cage of my hippo, which was hoisted with tackle. The ship weighed anchor and we set sail for Konakri. T Konakri we loaded Horace on a lighter which bore him to the wharf, where we landed him with a derrick. A cart drawn by several men received him. At headquarters we piled two tires of boxes afainst a fence of staves to inclose Horace in a neat little yard of his own. The rains came and made him friskyr~He arose from his rumination one day to knock down the fence completely. My son Warren rushed to save what he could, and Horace stopped and lcoked over the boxes at Warren as if he were, as the boys say, “giving him the laugh.” We allowed him to roam at large after that, since he showed no disposition to do any harm. - Late in April, we boarded the steamer Half Moon for New York. Horace quickly became the pet of all on board, as he cpened his great mouth for the bananas that crew and passen- gers brought to him. After the second day, he ran around at will on deck. - It seemed at first that he loved the yoyage. Then he grew pensive. The fifth day out he remained in his cage, which I covered with canvas, since he was cold. I warmed him some canned milk, into which had been dropped two tablespoonfuls of brandy. But, rejecting his food, he lay down his weary head. The seventh day he died. Horace has cost me much time and trouble. More than $500 had gone for his capture and upkeep. Somebody suggested that I could pre- serve his head for a museum. It would have saved me a little of the loss, but I did not have the desire. Into the sea went Horace, and some of my heart went with him. I hope to capture another pigmy hippo, but I shall never feel for him as I felt for my first. There could be but one Horace. > L (Copyright, 1930.) v UNCLE SAM’S SCIENTISTS TURN DETECTIVES Continued from Fifth Page Laboratory for a check on the Government's own verdict. It was the first official act of recognition ac- cord by the Government to Nerthwestern Uni- versity’s erime laboratory. Goddard's examinae= tion of the gun and bullets attracted Nation- wide attention in police and scientific circles, where it was realized that forensic ballistics was being subjected to a crucial test. Here was a bit of drama involving America's two out- standing authorities on gun and bullet identi- fication, a play of science versus science, with the climax due to decide the future prestige of gun experts in jurisprudence. If Goddard's report agreed with that of Dr. Souder, the standing of ballistics would be benefited im- measurably. If the experts should disagree, the new science must suffer incalculable harm. But Col. Goddard found no cause for dis- cord. There were tiny striations and scratches on the grim leaden slugs that told him the same story conveyed to Dr. Souder, viz., Camp- bell's revolver had fired the fatal shots, A new art had scored a decisive triumph! WHILE the Chicago laboratory is built largely » around Director Gocdldard’s firearms re- searches, none of the modern scientific ap- proaches to crime solution has been overlooked. The director has gathered about him a notable staff of criminological specialists, including Dr. Clarence W. Muehlberger, State toxicologist of Wisconsin and professor of toxicology at Northwestern University; Inspector Ferdinand Watzek of Vienna, European master of “mou- lage,” or the fine art of duplicating evidence in wax or plaster; Leonarde Keeler of “lie detector” fame; Jay Fordyce Wood, hand and type writing identification expert, and a num- ber of others, Dr. Muehlberger and Inspector Watzek have been made full-time members of the laboratory staff, with the respective titles of first and second assistant director. Each has a com- plete laboratory of his own in rooms adjoining the baltistics unit. - Dr. Muehlberger’s labora- tory is little different from the ordinary chem- ist’s research department—except for the pet rats kept in a cage for poison experimentation and the electrical refrigerator for preserving biological specimens. The moulage laboratory, however, is a weird place for the lay visitor. The inspector, a gray- headed veteran of many of Europe’s notorious crime inquiries and founder of Vienna's famous scientlific police laboratory, was at work on a plasier model of a human hand when the writer was introduced. On a bench before him lay a complete hand——so finely molded and real- istically colored as to bz ghoulish. On a table nearby rested a pair of astoundingly lifelike ears, and part of a man’s face, done in plaster and pigment. 5 Inspector Watzek laid down an artist’s brush with which he had been putting the finishing touches on one of the “hands” wiped his paint-soiled fingers on a piece of waste, and graciously took time to explain his strange art. . “In Vienna, where I had the privilege of or- ganizing the first moulage laboratory some years ago,” he said, “we found moulage of great value in identification work, in criminal in- vestigations and in proseecutions. “Suppose the corpse of an unknown person is found. Efforts to learn who he is or where he came from are a failure. The body cannot be kept indefinitely. In Vienna we would bury him after the third day. Usually only a photo- graph and a few articles of clothing remain as a future means of identification. Pictures of dead persons seldom resemble life photographs, and even close relatives of the deceased cannot recognize the likeness at times. “With moulage it is different. We make a cast of the face, body scars and other charac- teristics, and the cast remains as a permanent record. Years later, after the body itself has b disintegrated, a relative or a friend may con- summate the identification. Moulage also aids the prosecutor in courf. The judge and the jurors can see with their own eyes the exact nature of a fatal wound, the appearance of an automobile tire which left its mark at the mur- der scene, the shape of a shoe responsible for a footprint, and so on.” Inspector Watzek has been connected with ® the police department in Vienna for 24 years. He is proficient in fingerprint identification, ° hand-writing ~examination and microscopic study of hair, dust, textiles and the like. His knowledge of fingerprints was brought into play during the Watkins-Bamberger baby mix-up in Chicago, and he was one of the jury of Hho QOwns the Aré Continued jrom Sixteenth Page nounced that the number of air commerce regulations violated were on the increase. A report for the second quarter of this year shows many violations. There were 53 fines, 20 reprimands and 63 suspensions of licenses. There were 12 revo- cations of licenses and five denials for other violations. L “Violations of the air commerce regulations dealing with acrobatics and low flying led the list of specific offerises,” said Mr. Budwig, di- rector of air regulation. “There were 32 viola- tions of the acrobatic provisions and 31 of the iow-flying clauses of the regulations. Other specific violations were unlicensed pilot fly- ing licensed plane, 15; flying without naviga- tion lights, four, and flying without identi- fication numbers on planes, three. The mis- cellaneous offenses numbered 92.” Four years ago a Nebraska farmer was foreed to build a curious sort of fence to protect his cattle and poultry from being frightened by the planes from an adjoining flying school. For the first few days of thé plane maneuvers following the opening of the school, this farmer and his family were greatly entertained. But soon the students started to stunt over his fields, swoop down close to his herd of cattle and generally upset the routine of farm life. The hens wouldn't lay and the cows gave less milk. The farmer went to court about it, but was refused an injunction on the ground that the question of air ownership had not been estab- lished. At that time regulations concerning low and stunt flying were rather vague and much less strictly enforced than at the present time, Since he could get no protection from the law, the farmer set to work to build a line of 45-foot towers along the boundary of his land adjacent to the flying field. Between these towers he strung wire cables, making g huge fence. . THE question of privacy has its interesting angles in connection with flying, especially in this day of increasing use of roof space in the large cities. Persons indulging in sun baths have been forced to gather up their dressing gowns and what remained of their shattered dignity and flee into the nearest door as some unkind aviator zoomed overhead. o Carl Zollman, writing in “Law of the Air,” visions the possibility of planes hovering over houses for the express purpose of eavesdropping. In such an instance, he said, “The right of privacy may, therefore, become the subject of law suits in connection with aircraft.” It is the bellef of experts that the solution of the problems of air rights will be aided through “the development of wuniform laws. Among the organizations which are working toward that end at the present time are the Department of Commerce, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Committee on Avia- tion Law of the American Bar Association, the Committee on Aeronautics of the National Con- ference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws and numerous aviation interests. (Copyright, 1930.) Fireworks Output Huge, 'HE amount of money that went into fire- works displays last year would have created six millionaires and left over a fine start toward another. So far as the consuming public went, however, there is nothing but memories left. The total output of fireworks is set at $6,572,« 542 of which nearly $2,000,000 went to the wage earners in the 46 plants turning out the - various products, New Potato Packing ALE of “already wrapped” potatoes is on the increase in this country and the purchase may soon find it the general practice to receive a small sack of potatoes, 5, 10 or 15 pounds offered to him the same as sacks of flour or sugar. The use of the small package i$ spread- ing and the materials used are either cotton or burlap, with paper eartons alse figuring in the pre-sale packing. scientists who agreed the parents in that cele« brated case had obtained the right infants from the hospital. EELER, a fair-haired young Stanford Uni- versity graduate and médical student, has attained national prominence through his de- velopment of the so-caMed “lie detector,” an instrument for recording variations in blood pressure and respiration of suspected criminals under questioning. Keeler's enthusiasm eover the possibilities of his curious device is equaled only by that of Col. Goddard, who has much faith in the machine, and Gus Vollmer, who swears by it as a result of countless tests con- ducted under his supervision as chief of police in Berkeley. Goddard and Vellmer both join _ in a prediction that the “deception tester” eventually will supplant the “third degree” method in interrogation of prisoners suspected of crime, although at present there is some prejudice against it among the uninformed. “Keeler's method is the very antithesis of the third degree,” Col. Goddard pointed out, “for it can be applied only with the fullest co-operation of the subject, whose physical composure must be perfect if ' satisfactory re- sults are to be obtained. Like many other scientific advances, the technique of the mew method can be carried out only by persons of scientific training, thoroughly schooled in both phy:iology and psychology. There will be no effort made to distribute the ‘lie detectors’ broadecast, and great care will be exercised in selecting the proper candidates for instruction in their operation.” An idea of the scope of studies embraced by the crime laboratory may be gleaned from perusal of the following subjects listed by God= dard for possible research: Bones, gastric con« tents, hanging, industrial accidents, infanti« cides, occupational deformities and diseases, de= termination of paternity by blood grouping tests, poisons, psychiatry, wounds, explosives, fires, fingerprints, shoe prints, forgeries, hand- writing, invisible inks, counterfeiting, ammuni« tion and guns, teeth, textiles, typewriters, ceru= men, seals, soils, jewelry, dust, hair and stains, The services of the laboratory and its staff are available to all police, governmental and other law inforcement agencies at nominal cost. In certain instances “reputable private indie viduals” may make use of the institution’s facilities. “The Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory has appeared in America at last, and I believe it has come to stay,” Col. Goddard declared. “I predict that within a decade others, more or less like ours in Chicago, will be functioning in many of our great cities. In general, they will be integral with the police departments, POS= sibly handicapped by politics and lack of funds. The ‘old fashioned’ policeman will look upon these laboratories with- contempt and he will ignore them in his daily work. “I believe the university-controlled laborae tories, working with rather than for the Jocal police, will make rapid progress. To them we must look for advances in criminology that will enable us first to overtake, and finally, I firmly believe, to surpass Europe in the internuational warfare against erime.” T - (Copyrighted, 1930 )