Kirk, Paul L.

Longhetti, Anthony

English

Northwestern University Illinois, School of Law: Scholarly Commons

Journal of Criminal Law and CriminologyVolume 41 | Issue 4 Article 171951Restoration and Decipherment of Erasures andObliterated or Indented WritingAnthony LonghettiPaul L. KirkFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclcPart of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and CriminalJustice CommonsThis Criminology is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons.Recommended CitationAnthony Longhetti, Paul L. Kirk, Restoration and Decipherment of Erasures and Obliterated or Indented Writing, 41 J. Crim. L. &Criminology 518 (1950-1951)RESTORATION AND DECIPHERMENT OF ERASURES ANDOBLITERATED OR INDENTED WRITING*Anthony Longhetti and PauI L. KirkPaul L. Kirk, Ph.D., has contributed a number of outstanding papers to thisJOURNAL and has for several years served as an Associate Editor on our EditorialBoard. He is Professor of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Cali-fornia, Berkeley, and last year was also appointed Professor of Criminalistics inthe newly established School of Criminology of the University.Anthony Longhetti is a graduate of the University of California where last yearhe served as an assistant to Professor Kirk. He has recently been appointed to thestaff of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.-EDITOR.Many studies have been made of methods for restoration of variouserasures, obliterations, and indentations from writing implements, andthese are well known to document examiners. Examination with obliqueillumination, the use of ultraviolet and infrared rays, fuming of thepaper with thiocyanic acid, ammonium sulfide, iodine, and other gaseousmaterials are all useful at times, and frequently more than one methodmay be employed successfully in the study of a single document. No dis-cussion of these procedures is necessary at this point.It remains true that instances arise in which none of the above methodsare successful, or in which none of them produce completely satisfactoryresults. Photography with oblique illumination is difficult. Writing re-stored by chemicals is often evanescent, allowing no good permanentrecord, and photography of faint fluorescence of some erased writingmaterials is extraordinarily difficult. Pencil writing, both with leadand indelible pencils, may often be erased so as virtually to defy restora-tion. It is the purpose of this communication to describe certaintechniques that have been found to yield highly satisfactory results insome of the restorations that have proven difficult or impractical byother methods. Also described are some modifications of standardmethods that give superior results in many instances.THE NEBULIZERThe DeVilbiss Co. of Toledo, Ohio, markets a device used fortreatment of sinus and other respiratory ailments which emits a liquid inthe form of an extremely fine mist or fog termed an aerosol. The appar-ent advantages of such a device for fuming are that a uniform concentra-tion of liquid fuming reagents can be applied to a paper surface withoutany apparent wetting and resulting staining. It should apply the reagentin higher concentration than is possible with gaseous materials such asammonium sulfide or thiocyanic acid.* Aided by a grant from the Research Committee of the University of California.518RESTORATION AND DECIPHERMENT OF ERA4SURESFigure 1.Top, unerased indelible pencil; middle, as erased; bottom, restored by alcohol.Experimental test of the device verified all the expectations. In 5 to10 seconds, ink writing obliterated with sodium hypochlorite was fullyrestored with either ammonium sulfide or thiocyanic acid. As stronglines were observed as were possible by direct application of liquid, yetthe paper did not appear wet nor was there any staining or irregularity.Several minutes fuming with the corresponding gases did not produceeither as strong or as regular results. Reagents such as potassiumferrocyanide which do not form gases may also be applied effectively.Only iodine fuming has not yet been found practical by this procedure.The fine differential action of the vapor was not duplicated by the liquidaerosol.Indelible pencil writing which has been well erased poses a difficultproblem to which the nebulizer offered a simple and very effectivesolution. By applying an aerosol of ordinary alcohol, the minute frag-ments of dye remaining on the paper fibers were locally dissolved andspread, thus bringing out the original writing with considerable clarity.This technique has been employed most successfully in investigation ofthis type of erasure. Other liquids were tried, but none was found thatproduced the immediate striking results given by alcohol. (Figure 1.)It is believed that the nebulizer should have many important applica-tions in applying reagents to evidence where staining and alteration ofthe original must be avoided while at the same time a considerable con-centration of reagent must be applied uniformly.WRITING INDENTATIONSPencil writing, particularly, produces relatively strong indentations1950]ANTHONY LONGHETTI AND PAUL L. KIRKFigure 2.Arrangement for casting replicas: A, lead weight; B, plate glass; C, paper pad carryingquestioned document. The plastic sheet is placed between B and C.both in the paper itself and at times in underlying paper. The sameis true of ball point pens, and to a lesser extent, ordinary steel andfountain pens. Whether the indentation carries no color, as with anunderlying paper or blotter, or whether the writing is erased or obliter-ated, the indentations remaining may offer an opportunity for restorationor decipherment. The only common method for this lies in the use offlat or other special illumination, which may be rendered ineffective byother markings or obliterations, or by the shallow or confused characterof the indentations themselves. Recording by photography of theseindentations is also very difficult at times, particularly when there issuperimposed writing, printing, or other disturbing element.For some years in this laboratory, fine structures have been duplicatedby means of replicas made with Vinylite or other thermoplastics.' Itappeared that a replica of an indented writing sample might be madeto carry all of the significant characteristics of the original indentation,while losing the disturbing features of obliteration and opacity of thepaper. Such a replica would have the added advantage of being trans-parent and relatively permanent. All of these advantages were realizedalong with others such as greater speed of recording, greater ease ofdecipherment, and universal application to indentations of all types.In order to make replicas of paper surfaces, the method previously usedwith hair' required modification to avoid the somewhat difficult useof the hot plate, and to obtain better control of the temperature andtime of heating. The technique finally developed was found to be farmore convenient and reproducible than previous methods and to beequally satisfactory for hair casting and other similar applications aswell.1. Kirk, P. L.; Magagnose, Stanley; and Salisbury, Doris, Casting of Hairs-Its Tech-nique and Application to Species and Personal Identification, J. of Crim. Law and Criminol.40, 236-241 (July-August 1949).[Vol. 415ESTORATION AND DECIPHEBMENT OF EIASURESPREPARATION OF REPLICASThe paper to be reproduced was placed on a tablet or scratch pad togive a slightly resilient backing. On it was placed a sheet of Vinyliteplastic 3 inches square and 1/32 inch thick. On this was laid a sheetof plate glass about 5 inches square and Y inch thick. On the plateglass was placed a specially cast lead weight having a square opening3 inches on a side, outside dimensions of 4 by 5 inches and a height of1 jinches. The arrangement is shown in Fig. 2. Heat was applied bymeans of an ordinary infrared heat lamp with reflector placed immedi-ately over the opening in the lead weight and as close as convenient. Theheat rays were little absorbed by the glass but strongly absorbed bythe plastic which rapidly became warm and softened. The process wasobserved visually, noting that the plastic appeared to wet the paper asit softened. When this wet appearance was uniform over the entiresurface, the heat lamp was removed, and the plastic allowed to coolafter which it could be readily removed without adhering to the paper.This process could be carried out as often as desired with the samepaper without in any way damaging the paper or diminishing the depthof any indentations on it. As many as 24 replicas were made from asingle sample, and no visible differences could be observed between thefirst and the last.VIEWING OF REPLICASThe replica, being different in thickness at the point of all indenta-tions, would seem to be examined best by pressing the surface showingthe indentation against a glass plate and filling the thin space betweenwith some colored material which would give a differential coloration tothe various portions. Many materials were tried, ranging from redlacquer and balsam through to printers ink. Of all the materials tried,nothing was completely satisfactory, and this attempt wa-s eventuallyabandoned. Another method which was used with some success wasdirect projection in an enlarging camera using the replica as a negative.The slide was treated with rouge before projection. This produced onphotographic enlarging paper a black on white picture of the indentedmaterial which was legible but usually quite flat, the contrast beinginsufficient in the replica. The most satisfactory rapid method founduntil the very last stages of investigation was the rubbing of the surfaceof the replica with finely powdered rouge. The rouge tended to adherein the low regions and to rub off the raised portions of the replica so asto enhance considerably the differences between the two. Illustrationsof the results achieved by this procedure are shown in Fig. 3. This1950]ANTHONY LONGHETTI AND PAUL L. KIRKFigure 3.Replica Reproductions.Top: The originals photographed with oblique illumination; Middle: Replicas buffed withpowdered rouge before photographing; and Bottom: Replicas reproduced by shadowphotographs.method, while satisfactory, still left something to be desired inasmuch asthe technique of rubbing the replica smoothly and uniformly with rougerequired considerable care. Toward the end of the rather extendedinvestigation of the best method of developing the replica for photog-raphy it was discovered that if the latter was raised very slightly abovea piece of white paper with illumination at about 450, the shadows fromthe replicas showed on the light paper with startling clarity. By photo-graphing through the replica to obtain a picture of the shadows aswhite on black, excellent results were obtained as is also illustrated inFig. 3. It should be mentioned that replicas were rather easily vieweddirectly with the eye by holding the replica before a light in the properposition. Almost always the material reproduced on it was clearlyvisible. It could not, however, be photographed readily because of thevery critical illumination necessary. The use of a shadow, however,eliminated this difficulty rather effectively. Either the rouge develop-ment or the shadow method is quite suitable for photography. Natu-rally, the photograph does not show as much as can be seen by carefulvisual inspection.It seems clear that the use of plastic replicas as a means of developingindented material on documents marks a definite step forward in thetechnique of decipherment and restoration of indented writing, oferasures, and of obliterations to the extent that indentations are present.[Vol. 41

Restoration and Decipherment of Erasures and Obliterated or Indented Writing

https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3827&amp;context=jclc

Restoration and Decipherment of Erasures and Obliterated or Indented Writing

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Northwestern University Illinois, School of Law: Scholarly Commons