The Case of the Mischievous Doll

“Well, here’s one, to start with,” Lt. Tragg said. “They have almost identical whorl patterns in the centre.”

“All right, proceed.”

“Now, here’s a junction...”

“Go right ahead, Lieutenant.”

Tragg looked at the fingerprint thoughtfully, then said, “I’ll just trace out these points of similarity, if I may, because once the projection is removed from the paper, there will be nothing to indicate what points of similarity I was referring to.”

“That’s quite all right. Go right ahead,” Mason said. “There’s a sheet of white paper on which I am projecting this fingerprint and you may make tracings of any of the points of similarity which you discover.”

Lt. Tragg took a pen from his pocket, traced lines, studied the print, made more tracings and finally after some five minutes backed away from the print.

“Any more points of similarity?” Mason asked.

“No,” Tragg said, “I see none at the moment.”

“Now, how many points of similarity have you discovered, Lieutenant?”

“Six,” Lt. Tragg said.

“The exact number that you had discovered with the print of Dorrie Ambler,” Mason said. “I think, Lieutenant, that is rather a graphic and dramatic demonstration of the fact that an absolute identification cannot be made from six points of similarity. You have now established that this defendant is the dead woman you discovered.”

Lt. Tragg studied the two fingerprints with frowning concentration for a moment, then returned to the witness stand.

“I have no further questions,” Mason said.

“No redirect examination on this point,” Hamilton Burger said. “The witness said earlier that six points of similarity did not necessarily prove identity.”

“That’s all. You may leave the stand,” Judge Flint said.

Mason switched out the light in the projector, removed the slide and said, “Now, I believe the Court instructed that this slide was to be placed in an envelope and marked for identification.”

Mason put the slide in an envelope and handed it to the clerk.

Hamilton Burger thoughtfully studied the tracings of lines which had been made by Lt. Tragg on the white paper underneath the projected fingerprints. He beckoned to Lt. Tragg, and Tragg, on his way from the witness stand, paused to confer in whispers with the prosecutor.

Now that the projection had been removed, the six points which Lt. Tragg had traced on the white paper showed out with startling clarity.

Suddenly Hamilton Burger pushed Lt. Tragg back, jumped to his feet, said, “Just a moment, Lieutenant. Return to the stand. Now, Your Honor, I do have some questions on redirect and I want to get this envelope from the clerk. I want that projection to be put on the white paper screen once more.”

“I’ll be only too glad to accommodate the prosecutor,” Mason said.

“You keep your hands off that envelope,” Hamilton Burger shouted. “I want someone to take that envelope, that very identical envelope right there, which you have just had marked for identification. I don’t want any hocus-pocus here.”

“I think that insinuation is uncalled for, Mr. Prosecutor,” Judge Flint said in an acrid rebuke.

“You just wait a moment,” Hamilton Burger said, his voice so excited that it was hard for him to control it. “Just wait a moment and see if it’s an unjustified criticism. Look at that paper screen with the marks on it and then look at the photograph of the fingerprint of Dorrie Ambler.

“Not only did Lieutenant Tragg find six points of similarity between the projected print and the print of the dead woman, but they’re exactly the same points of similarity as shown on the Dorrie Ambler fingerprint.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Judge Flint said.

“Well, I understand,” Hamilton Burger said. “That print that was projected on the screen wasn’t the fingerprint of the defendant at all. Perry Mason took her thumbprint, pretended that it had been smeared, went back to take another print and that gave him an opportunity to juggle slides. The fingerprint he projected on the screen wasn’t the fingerprint of the defendant at all but was a fingerprint of Dorrie Ambler which he had managed to have made into a slide by some photographic process which would duplicate the appearance of a freshly made fingerprint.”

“Are you making this as a charge, Mr. Burger?”

“I’m making it as an accusation and I demand that Mr. Mason be searched. I want that other slide taken from his pocket before he has a chance to destroy it. This is a fraud upon the Court, it is an attempt to conceal evidence, it is a criminal conspiracy and unprofessional conduct.”

“Now, just a minute,” Judge Flint said. “We’re going to go at this in an orderly manner. Mr. Clerk, you will put that slide back in the projector. Mr. Mason, you will stand right here, please, and the Court is going to ask you to take the other slide from your pocket, the one that you said was smeared, and hand it to the Court.”

Mason put his hand in his pocket, handed a slide to the Court.