1891.] MICEOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 221 



The Microscope in the Investigation of Burns and Scorches on 



Textile Fabrics.* 



By frank. L. JAMES, Ph. D., M. D., 



ST. LOUIS, MO. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : The subject which I 

 have chosen for my address is one that has partly a popular and partly 

 a scientific interest, as is meet in a mixed audience like that which 

 usually assembles to listen to the annual addresses of our presidents. 

 The experiences therein related belong to the domain of legal exper- 

 tise^ and are in a line not hitherto exploited, so far as I am aware. In 

 my investigations I was necessarily compelled to stray into paths in 

 which the microscope did not directly play an important part, but in 

 which it indirectly and finally proved to be the agent of saving a human 

 life, and establishing the innocence of one unjustly accused of one of 

 the most heinous crimes known to man — the cold-blooded and cruel 

 murder of a young wife about to become a mother. The steps by 

 which this result was obtained justify the title of my discourse. To 

 make these plain, a narration of the events will be necessary. 



It was in the eaidy spring of 1890 when Charles F. Vail, a young 

 business man of St. Louis, and his wife, a young and beautiful woman, 

 to whom he had been married less than a year, left the house of a rel- 

 ative, with whom they had been spending a few days, to take the rail- 

 road for home. The country house was some distance from the station, 

 and a spring-wagon had been brought to the gate to convey them and 

 some members of the family thither. The wagon was turned so that 

 the " hound " projected sufficiently to make a stepping point, and Mrs. 

 Vail started to climb to the seat. Her husband, standing behind her, 

 assisted her to rise, but just as she was about to step from the hound 

 up to the seat she lost her balance, turned, and fell backward, throw- 

 ing her husband, who was of slight build (while she was large and 

 solidly built), against the hind wheel. A muffled report was heard, 

 and Mrs. Vail fell into the arms of her husband, shot through the body. 

 She was carried into the house of her relative, where in the course of a few 

 hours she died. On examination it was found that a Smith & Wesson 

 pistol, thirty-two calibre, old style, had exploded in Vail's overcoat 

 pocket, as he claimed, by striking against the rim of the wheel. 



The matter was regarded as an accident at the time, by all the eye- 

 witnesses, and Mrs. Vail died protesting that it w^as such. In a few 

 days, however, ugly rumors were set afloat. It was discovered that 

 Vail carried accident and other insurance upon his wife to the amount 

 of upwards of $20,000. It was also discovered that there had been a 

 romance connected with the marriage of the couple, and that they had 

 been married for several months before Vail would consent that the 

 fact should be published. These and other rumors caused the insur- 

 ance companies to refuse to pay the policies. 



Without going any further into the minutise of the case, there was an 

 autopsy held upon the deceased, the coroner's verdict implicated Vail, 

 and he was thrown into jail. At the preliminary examination he was 

 remanded without bail, and subsequently indicted for murder. * 



* Presidential address delivered before the American Society of Microscopists, at Washington, D. 

 C, August II, 1891. 



