He stored evidence from many investigations: Heinrich’s ephemera from cases can be found in carton 70, folder 15, oversize box 1, folder 3–4, November 2, 1923, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“The paint may be applied to dry walls”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, August 22, 1923, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
charted his own urine levels: These come from a chart in Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers; a letter from Heinrich to Theodore, August 20, 1940, box 23, 89–44, file 182, Theodore Heinrich Collection.
“Of course we are glad you are busy”: Letter from Marion to Heinrich, August 3, 1924, box 27, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“I hope now that conditions will adjust themselves”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, May 8, 1924, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“My work has been very light and expense very heavy”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, November 23, 1922, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“His determination to stick to the face value”: Letter from Heinrich to J. F. Dennisen, September 22, 1923, box 5, folder 53, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
a dingy shack that could scarcely be called a cabin: Details from the cabin and Camp No. 2 come from photos and their captions in Southern Pacific Company train robbery records (1892–1940), BANC MSS C-A 372, carton 5 and carton 70, folder 15, oversize box 1, folder 3–4, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
The U. S. Postal Service paper: Colin Wilson, Written in Blood (New York: Diversion Books, 2015), 314.
Oscar compared one hair on the towel in the cabin: Details about Heinrich’s conclusion come from various pages from carton 70, folder 15, oversize box 1, folder 3–4, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“The manhunt was astonishing”: Trail and Espinoza, “Tunnel 13”; “Real Sherlock Holmes, with Four Slender Clews, Pulled Net Around DeAutremonts,” News-Herald (OH), June 27, 1927.
“There is no trick at all to visualize”: Letter from Heinrich to Professor F. W. Martin, March 15, 1924, carton 85, folder 189, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“I feel a strong desire to sit: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, May 8, 1924, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“About this story”: Letter from editor to Heinrich, September 12, 1924, box 12, folder 27, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“The last person in the world one would”: “Real Sherlock Holmes, with Four Slender Clews, Pulled Net Around DeAutremonts.”
CHAPTER 8
Schwartz age and background: Bosworth and Jackson, eds., San Francisco Murders, 247.
“The Pacific Cellulose company”: From an article on page 38 of Oakland Tribune, June 14, 1925.
silkworm: “Silkworm Moth,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, September 29, 2006.
Price of silk dress: “Historic Prices—1927,” Morris County Library, https://mclib.info/reference/local-history-genealogy/historic-prices/1927-2.
“heart balm” lawsuit: Tori Telfer, “How the ‘Heart Balm Racket’ Convinced America That Women Were Up to No Good,” Smithsonian Magazine, February 13, 2018.
Vollmer is sued: “Wife Stands by Vollmer,” Los Angeles Times, August 8, 1924.
“The case is far too serious to use spectacular”: “Former Wife of Sued Chief May Assist Woman,” Oakland Tribune, August 9, 1924.
“Please reserve judgment on this for some time”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, August 12, 1924, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“This is merely a plot to discredit me in my business”: “Girl Sues Wedded Man for $75,000,” Oakland Tribune, June 9, 1925.
“Someday, my dear”: “When Justice Triumphed,” Daily News (NY), June 30, 1929.
chemist Charles Schwartz denied wooing the young woman: Details about July 30 from various newspaper articles and in Bosworth and Jackson, eds., San Francisco Murders, 255.
Clear liquid sloshed from a vat: Details about liquids inside lab from Heinrich’s typed memo from work journals in case file, carton 74, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
Night watchman’s recollections: Heinrich’s typed memo from ibid., 10.
“I plan to do some experimenting with ether”: “When Justice Triumphed,” Daily News (NY), June 30, 1929.
“There was music from my neighbor’s house”: F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925), 39.
the Roaring Twenties: “The Roaring Twenties History,” History.com, April 14, 2010, https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/roaring-twenties-history; “The Roaring Twenties: 1920–1929,” Boundless US History, Lumen Candela, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/the-roaring-twenties.
“I have faith in my invention”: “When Justice Triumphed.”
“I will send you something extra a little later as my money comes in”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, April 24, 1925, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“The funeral expenses of dead horses”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, May 8, 1924, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“My professional calls require me to travel”: Letter from Heinrich to Bennett F. Davenport, November 18, 1924, box 26, folder 12, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“I have an idea that I could write”: “The Detective and the Chemist,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 9, 1924.
The room was spacious but very bright: Details about undertaker’s room come from Heinrich’s typed memo in case file, carton 74, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“Exposures were made in each case”: Ibid., 1.
“He called me on the telephone”: Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 114.
“I’ve seen the body and it’s that of Mr. Schwartz”: Ibid., 116.
“He was murdered by people”: Ibid.
no gas or water sources: “Quick Finish of Slayer Expected by Crime Expert,” Oakland Tribune, August 10, 1925.
“Five gallon can of carbon disulfide”: Heinrich’s typed memo (p. 6) in case file, carton 74, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“A Sikes office chair was in the path of the combustion”: Ibid., 9.
“Did the explosion start”: “Unraveling of Crime Skein Detailed by Criminologist,” San Francisco Examiner, August 10, 1925.
“Cracks in flooring on east”: Heinrich’s typed memo (pp. 10–11) in case file, carton 74, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“By tracing the flames on the floor”: Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 121.
“Projection group—consists of several large stains”: Heinrich’s typed memo (p. 5) in case file, carton 74, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
it had dripped through the closet floor: Ibid., 13.
“That’s the tooth I extracted not very long ago”: Ibid., 117.
“Replaced the eye in socket prior to making photographs”: Heinrich’s typed memo (p.4) in case file, carton 74, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
When Oscar later dissected the eyeball: Heinrich’s work journal, August 7, 1925, carton 74, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“Every photograph of my husband”: Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 117.
his watch and change: Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 115.
Schwartz’s height: Bosworth and Jackson, eds., San Francisco Murders, 263.
“I’d like to know, first of all”: This quote and all details of Heinrich’s findings from Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 117–21.
“He tried to give the impression”: “Missing Chemist in Torso Mystery ‘Perfect Crimes’ Student, Police Declare,” San Bernardino County Sun, August 24, 1925.
“What interests me about murderers, captain”: “When Justice Triumphed.”
The Philosophy of Eternal Brotherhood. It had been found on the b
ody: Found in the “Schwartz” file, August 7, 1925, carton 74, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
an advertisement in a San Francisco newspaper: Bosworth and Jackson, eds., San Francisco Murders, 253.
Details of the bindle: “Quick Finish of Slayer Expected by Crime Expert.”
an undertaker in Placerville, California, told police: Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 126.
Schwartz’s deceptions: Bosworth and Jackson, eds., San Francisco Murders, 247–54; Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 117.
“Open that door—police!”: Ibid., 127.
Poison tablets were beside his bed: “Schwartz’s Suicide Bares Deliberate Murder Plan,” San Francisco Examiner, August 10, 1925.
“The only thing I did was I tried to burn him”: “When Justice Triumphed.”
“Schwartz was too familiar with crime detection”: “Murder Plot Being Probed,” San Bernardino County Sun, August 7, 1925.
“It was too perfect to have been”: Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 122.
“The criminal who leaves room for a chance”: “When Justice Triumphed.”
“some expensive mistakes [that] had been made in the past”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, May 8, 1924, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
CHAPTER 9
The saltwater marshes in El Cerrito: “Girl’s Death Indicated in Mystery Find,” San Francisco Examiner, August 24, 1925.
“New murder case”: Heinrich’s work journal, August 24, 1925, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
A dainty, delicate ear slid: Details about examination results in letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson,” June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
Detectives entered every duck blind and hunting lodge: “Nurse Was Killed Outright Is Now Thought by Officers,” Reno Gazette-Journal, August 28, 1925.
In his lab Oscar picked up a hatchet: “Girl Murder Revealed as Ear and Scalp Are Found by Boy in Richmond Marsh,” Oakland Tribune, August 24, 1925.
“I do not know how blood stains”: “Girl Murder Revealed as Ear and Scalp Are Found by Boy in Richmond Marsh.”
The study of insects in crime solving: “Investigating Forensics,” Simon Fraser University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 2010; Y. Z. Erzincllioǧlu, “The Application of Entomology to Forensic Medicine,” Medicine, Science and the Law 23, no. 1 (1983): 57–63, http://www.sfu.museum/forensics/eng/.
“Assuming an additional twenty-four hours”: Letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson,” June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“Small fragments of plaster, coal, decayed redwood”: Ibid., 6.
“The city editor is, without exception”: Letter from Heinrich to Kaiser, December 26, 1926, box 1, John Boynton Kaiser Papers.
“Size of rock particles indicate alternate current”: Heinrich notes, August 30, 1925, “Ferguson” folder, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“It’s somewhere around Bay Farm Island”: This quote and the remainder of conversation from Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 138–40.
quartz grain surface textures: Alastair Ruffell and Jennifer McKinley, “Spatial Distribution of Soil Geochemistry in Geoforensics,” Unearthed: Impacts of the Tellus Surveys of the North of Ireland, ed. Mike Young (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2016).
atomic force microscopes: D. Konopinski et al., “Investigation of Quartz Grain Surface Textures by Atomic Force Microscopy for Forensic Analysis,” Forensic Science International 22, no. 1–3 (November 2012): 245–55; “Atomic Force Microscopes,” an information sheet published by the Bruker Corporation.
“He is well balanced, quiet, courteous, and helpful”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, May 8, 1924, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“My dear big boy”: Letter from Heinrich to Theodore, June 13, 1925, 89–44, box 23, file 178, Theodore Heinrich Collection.
“The book which you remember”: Letter from Heinrich to Bennett F. Davenport, October 24, 1924, box 26, folder 12, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“Examined a skull which has been cut in several”: Letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson,” June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
flesh using chemicals: “Heinrich Turns Over Tule Clues to Authorities,” San Francisco Examiner, September 18, 1925.
“It may be tentatively assumed that dismemberment”: Letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson” (p. 6), June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
an Oakland dentist confirmed: “Slain Girl Identified as Oakland Nurse by Her Family and Dentist,” Oakland Tribune, August 25, 1925.
He asked about their family background: Details about Bessie’s family life come from Heinrich notes, September 28, 1925, “Ferguson” folder, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
Bessie Ferguson always had spending money: “Nurse Was Killed Outright Is Now Thought by Officers.”
expensive bags, stylish clothes, and even a diamond ring: “Eastbay Business Men Linked with Tule Death,” Oakland Tribune, August 27, 1925.
“The only way is to have her away”: “Letters to Aid Authorities,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 29, 1925.
“We never know what you are going to do”: Ibid.
“I won’t be with him long, though”: Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 132–33.
“The work is neatly done”: Letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson,” “Ferguson” folder, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
Jack the Ripper: Scott A. Bonn, “Jack the Ripper Identified,” Psychology Today, January 27, 2014.
Serial killers and mass murderers: Scott A. Bonn, “Origin of the Term ‘Serial Killer,’” Psychology Today, June 9, 2014.
“The skill shown requires the candidate: Letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson,” June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder, carton 70, folder 36–37, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
The killer likely had thick, dark brown hair: “Trace Killer by Two Dark Hairs,” Bakersfield Californian, September 16, 1925.
“She tried to persuade me by her deportment”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, July 10, 1924, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“Marion has been the lure”: Letter from Heinrich to Kaiser, May 7, 1946, box 1, John Boynton Kaiser Papers.
“Marion moves along in an orderly way”: Letter from Heinrich to his mother, May 8, 1924, box 29, folder 40–41, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
Oscar could smell death: Details regarding Heinrich’s visit to hunting lodge come from a letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson” (p. 12), June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder,” carton 4, folder 12–14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“Says Barnett wanted her to go to a doctor”: Notes, September 28, 1925, “Ferguson” folder, carton 4, folder 12–14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“The skill shown in the dismemberment”: Letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson,” June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder, carton 12, folder 6–7, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“Talking will fatigue men”: Lecture notes, July 19, 1920, “Criminology 113C: course materials and lectures 1920” folder, carton 12, folder 6–7, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
The students stared back at their professor: “Sherlock Holmeses in Embryo Should Attend This University Course,” Santa Cruz Evening News (CA), February 24, 1917.
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”: Letter from Kaiser to Heinrich, July 5, 1921, box 1, John Boy
nton Kaiser Papers.
“Typical of the policeman who has been sold in scientific investigation”: Letter from Heinrich to Kaiser, May 16, 1927, box 28, folder 14, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“The moral seems to be that”: Letter from Heinrich to Crossman, October 18, 1926, box 5, folder 30, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“I have long held the opinion”: Letter from Heinrich to Bennett F. Davenport, November 18, 1924, box 26, folder 12, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“I do not yet know whether to look upon”: Letter from Heinrich to Bennett F. Davenport, July 23, 1925, box 26, folder 12, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
“I found impressed in the fibres”: Letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson,” June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder, carton 12, folder 6–7, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
Frank Barnet: “Perspectives of a Newspaperwoman,” Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, Vol. I. (1970).
“I am not prepared to say”: Letter from Heinrich to Earl Warren titled “In re: Bessie Ferguson,” June 24, 1926, “Ferguson” folder, carton 12, folder 6–7, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
A hiker traversing a trail in El Cerrito: “Gruesome Find Starts Probe of Mystery Pit Full of Charred Bones,” Santa Cruz Evening News (CA), November 2, 1927.
CHAPTER 10
Martin Colwell stood at the door: Colin Evans, Murder 2: The Second Casebook of Forensic Detection (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2004), 60; Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 166–67.
“Wall bullet: 144.69 grams”: Notes on experiments, “Colwell” folder, carton 70, folder 1–3, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
History of ballistics: Thomas Gale, “Microscope, Comparison,” World of Forensic Science (Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2006); Lisa Steele, Science for Lawyers (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2008), 1–4.
The silver object came into focus: Trial transcript of People vs. Colwell (p. 28), “Colwell” folder, carton 70, folder 1–3, Edward Oscar Heinrich Papers.
Details about gun: Block, The Wizard of Berkeley, 169.
American Sherlock Page 33