The Uncertainty of Eyewitnesses
Sometimes direct testimony is the most uncertain of all, while circumstantial evidence is the clearest. Professor McKeever of Kansas State Agricultural College, trained three young men to effect a hold-up while he was delivering a lecture, carefully rehearsing every word they were to say. In the midst of his lecture in rushed Jones, pointed a wrench at his pursuers, Smith and White, shouting, "Stop! I will shoot!" He then dropped to his knees, let fall a small bag, and dashed from the room. At his heels followed the other two students, calling on him to give up the bag, while White aimed at the fugitive a revolver from which the cylinder had been removed. The whole scene lasted but a few seconds, and then Professor McKeever explained his experiment to the frightened class, and asked each member of the class to write an account of what happened. It is said that if Smith had been on trial, it would have gone hard with him, for many declared that he snapped his revolver at Jones several times, whereas he had nothing in his hands whatever. White, the student who was really armed, was scarcely noticed, not one of the answers crediting him with carrying a revolver; and a great many different accounts were given of the personal appearance of the hold-up men and the words which they said. All of which, as one paper points out, shows how dangerous it is to rely on the human eye and the human mind when in a state of excitement.