ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 807 



The prosecuting attorney inquired of me whether or not the Micro- 

 scope would reveal additional proofs of the similarity of the two pins. 

 I had at that time never made a critical examination of hairpins with 

 the Microscope, and was not aware that such examination had been 

 made by others ; I so informed him. I was commissioned to investi- 

 gate the subject. 



The two pins were of the pattern known as the ' crimped ' or 

 curvilinear hairpin ; I therefore directed my investigation to the 

 structure of these pins and the mode of their manufacture. I found 

 that these ' crimps ' are made by a punch which bends the wire ; and 

 it became evident that the pins made in the same machine would 

 probably exhibit the same punch marks or indentations at the curves. 

 An examination of numerous packages of crimped hairpins showed 

 that such was actually the case ; all the pins from a given package as 

 bought in the store, showed precisely the same marks at the same 

 points on the pin. Pins of different manufacture, even though similar 

 to the naked eye, showed different punch marks, corresponding to their 

 production in different machines. Nos. 1 and 2, Fig. 134, are specimen 

 punch marks, the two pins photographed having 

 been obtained from different packages. Of course Fig. 134. 



merely a small fragment of the pin is repre- 

 sented. 



All the hairpins contained in the package 

 from which No. 1 was taken, exhibit the same 

 indentation at the same point on the pin ; all 

 of those in the package from which the second 

 hairpin was taken, exhibit the same mark as is 

 pictured in No. 2. However close the resem- 

 blance to the naked eye, therefore, such pins 

 can be readily identified or distinguished with 

 the aid of the Microscope by means of these 

 marks. 



The two hairpins already mentioned in connection with tho 

 Carpenter case were sent by express to my address ; one of them — 

 that found in the girl's pocket — was unfortunately lost en route. 

 Upon examining the other with the Microscope, I found that it 

 presented four distinct machine marks, the most prominent of which 

 is represented in No. 3. The loss of the other hairpin seemed at 

 first to vitiate the value of the information which might probably be 

 derived from a comparison of the two. However, it was ascertained 

 that on the morning of her departure from home (in St. Elmo) for 

 Lincoln, the girl's father had purchased for her at a country store a 

 package of pins, some of which she had used in making her toilet, the 

 remainder being placed in her pocket. The prosecuting attorney 

 forthwith bought all tho hairpins in stock at the store where this 

 purchase had been made. Tho stock was found to consist of the ono 

 variety of pin from which a small packet had been sold to tho girl's 

 father. Microscopic examination of these pins showed precisely the 

 same machine markings as were exhibited by the pin found in 

 Carpenter's buggy. A photograph of the indentation on one of these 



