224 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [October, 



two-inch objective, examining the surface by direct light, I could dis- 

 cover little or no evidences of powder-burn as usually seen. With the 

 aid of the glass, however, I was able to trace out the exact limits of the 

 stain and its shape, which was that of a figure 8, or rather of two cir- 

 cles, each about seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, overlapping each 

 other at one point about one-quarter of an inch from their peripheries. 

 The centres of these circles seemed somewhat more deeply eroded than 

 the balance, but even then there were no tell-tale ends of burned fibres. 



If these are burns or scorches, I asked mj'self, how came they in this 

 position in the pocket, and how were they caused.^ An examination 

 of the pistol, or rather of an exact duplicate of it, at once gave the clue. 

 If you will examine any of the repeating fire-arms of the Colt, Reming- 

 ton, or Smith & Wesson patterns, you will note that between the muz- 

 zles of the revolving cylinder and the barrel there is a small space, say 

 the fiftieth of an inch, left intentionally by the makers to allow for ex- 

 pansion of the parts under heat, and to insure free revolution of the 

 cylinder. In firing the weapon, no matter how narrow the space, some 

 of the inflamed gases must here make their escape, and will leave their 

 record on any substance in close proximity to the weapon. 



What sort of a record must this flame leave .^ A little reflection will 

 show that this will depend largely upon the breadth of the space through 

 which the jet of inflamed gas makes its escape, upon the " quickness" 

 of the powder, upon the nature of the substance burned, and upon the 

 pattern of weapon used ; but, in all events, it will be a veiy superficial 

 one — a mere scorch. There will be no actual burn such as we find on 

 surfaces " powder-burned" from the close proximity of the muzzle of 

 a discharging weapon, simply because no unconsumed or partially con- 

 sumed and red-hot powder can escape through the aperture. 



What should be the shape and size of this scorch ? This I deter- 

 mined partly by geometrical methods and partly by experience. As- 

 suming from known facts in physics that the escaping gas would not 

 shoot outward as a narrow belt of flame of the thickness of the aper- 

 ture, but that immediately on issuing from this aperture it would 

 spread and assume a pyramidal form, the base of which constantly 

 widens up to a certain point (which depends, of course, upon the in- 

 tensity of the jet) , but that its greatest energy would remain in a line — 

 in this case a circular plane, passing at right angles through the axis of 

 the weapon. If there were nothing in the way, nothing to break the 

 force of the jet, it is plain that if a surface, a sheet of paper for instance, 

 be placed parallel to the axis of the weapon folded, and touching the 

 cylinder, we should liave, upon discharging the weapon, a mark on the 

 paper somewhat similar to an hour-glass, intense at the point nearest 

 the source of the flame, and gradually weakening and fading the fur- 

 ther ofi^ therefrom. In actual pi'actice, however, there are three 

 sources of modification of the shape of the scorch. The first in the 

 broad cap and bottom pieces which unite the barrel and the stock, and 

 between which the cylinder revolves ; the next is the pivot on which 

 the latter revolves; and, finally, the shape of the cylinder itself. For 

 practical purposes the latter can be ignored, but the two first-named 

 put an exact limit to the area of the scorch, obstructing as they do, and 

 cutting off' the path of the flame, and giving us two oval scorches 

 touching or overlapping each other and forming a more or less accurate 



