What good can result from submitting Bruno Hauptmann, the man convicted of the murder of the infant ind Mrs, Lindbergh, to test by Dr. W. Marston's lie detector it Is dificult to see. By means of an electrical contrivance it is stated that it possible to tell whether the person under investigation is telling truth or a lie, probably through some electrical variations brought about by psychological causes, But even ifthe machine discovered that Hauptmann was telling the truth, the fuding would be of no benefit to him, for the contraption has not yet received the [benediction of the courts as a truth discovering agency and the results obtained would be of no evidential value whatsoever, so far as relieving Hauptmann of the conviction under which he now stands. On the face of it the test would, in this instance, amount to nothing of worth. Hauptmann is lying, then he has been lying s0 long and so consistently that the psychological effects of interroz3- tion would be nowhere near as lmportant as they would be in an initial investigation, and, indeed, he may Ly this time so convinced himself of the truth of his story that the machine might very well give him full marks for veracity. Naturally Hauptmann would be only too willing to take advantage of anything which might give him a chance of avoiding the awful fate from which only the United States Supreme Court, or exlecutive clemency can now save hi: And because of that, the suggestion that he should undergo such a test savours of unnecessary cruelty. The machine has yet to be proved infal-Uble, and until that is done no court would take any cognisance of its find-
Ings, Consequently to raise unjust imiable hopes in the breast of the happy man serves no good purpose and may indeed inflict upon him quite unnecessary pain and suffering,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.