Solving a Baffling Mystery —

Using Forensics, NMS Students Look at 1914 Murder

By Jeff White

Who killed William Gore?

Newtown Middle School students set out to answer that question last Wednesday, May 17, during an annual activity which involves science students applying what they have learned in the classroom to a real life murder case.

The project, sponsored by the Science Project Improvement Team, aims to show students how science really works in the real world. Using forensic methods in chromatography, blood testing, finger printing and DNA testing, students were charged with using evidence and clues given during a scripted performance to solve the murder of German cobbler William Gore.

According to legend, Mr Gore, while walking back to his cobble shop from the Mary Hawley Inn, was bludgeoned to death with an ax in 1914. His killer was never brought to justice, though someone was arrested for the crime and later released.

A cast of characters played by middle school faculty members served to give students clues by acting out the crime on stage. Students learned of the whereabouts of the chief suspects in the crime, by also acting out the crime on stage.

 Students were told how Mr Gore’s brother, Werner, had long been on the wrong side of a family rift. Michael Brennan was a local resident known for a quick temper, with no explanation for fresh bloodstains on his shirt. Samuel Huntington was a fierce patriot and a known xenophobe. And there was Faulein Steubler, a German compatriot with known sympathies to her homeland, which was the talk of local government.

The story line, deftly narrated by Superintendent of Schools John R Reed, did add a few details and pieces of evidence that strayed from historical fact, but only to give students more to work with. Judging from their response, they enjoyed the challenge of solving the mystery.

“The most challenging part of solving the crime was probably the DNA,” said sixth grader Alana Wenick. “It was hard to split and analyze.”

For Alana’s classmate, Lola Aldrch, it was the fingerprinting. “The fingerprinting was the hardest part because you hand to match each finger print.”

The young gumshoes weighed the evidence, and concluded that it was the radical patriot Samuel Huntington who committed the crime. School Resource Officer Gladys Pisani made the arrest on stage.

However hard the evidence gathering was, the activity taught students to appreciate the work of crime fighters. “I learned how detectives and police solve crimes and what they do,” she said.

And that, for the most part, was the point of the evening: to give students an appreciation for careers that use science on a daily basis.

“I learned that it is very hard and interesting to be a forensic scientist,” said Louis Ritzinger.

Sixth grader Jim Wilkins concurred. “It was hard! The people who are actually forensic scientists must really know what they’re doing. So much evidence depends on what they find. There’s no room for mistakes.”