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43 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci. 812 (1952-1953)
Charred Documents, Their Handling and Decipherment: A Summary of Available Methods for Treating Burnt Papers

handle is hein.journals/jclc43 and id is 824 raw text is: CHARRED DOCUMENTS, THEIR HANDLING AND DECIPHERMENT A Summary of Available Methods for Treating Burnt Papers Donald Doud Donald Doud is an Examiner of Questioned Documents who is associated with John F. Tyrrell in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has been a lecturer on various training programs for investigators, prosecutors, and attorneys at universities in the mid west, and his present paper is based upon his lecture given at the 7th Annual Arson Investigators Training Course at Purdue University. Mr. Doud is a member of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners and has participated in various programs of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences where he has also read a paper on this subject.-EDoOR. The handling and decipherment of charred documents is one of the perplexing problems in the field of questioned document and arson in- vestigation. The reasons are obvious. A burnt document is exceedingly fragile and requires infinite care in handling and in processing. Then too, its blackened, carbonized state renders ordinary restorative pro- cesses ineffectual. An entirely new approach to a unique problem is re- quired. Some of the greatest advances in the field of charred document deci- pherment took place during World War II. At that time it became imperative in England and other war torn countries to develop effective method s of handling and deciphering public documents burned in the air blitz. Among those contributing their scientific skill and knowledge were Walls, Taylor, Jones, and Grant of Great Britain and Black of the United States. Experiments by these men added much to the already accepted techniques of Mitchell, Lucas, Tyrrell, Gross, Davis, and other early pioneers in the field. Today as a result of this scientific work, it is the surprising fact that with most charred documents not completely reduced to fragments their original contents can be deciphered. Truly a contradiction of the old adage Black is not White. This paper will summarize the most important decipherment proce- dures developed during the past 50 years. All have produced successful results on certain specific problems, although it does not necessarily hold that any single technique will achieve results with all charred documents. Charred papers vary in physical composition and are burned under many different conditions. It is not to be expected that all will react the same when treated. The document examiner and laboratory technician may find it necessary to attempt several of the methods before finding one that will achieve a successful result. HANDLING OF CHARRED DOCUMENTS Field Investigation. The handling of charred remains must be carried out with the greatest of care. Some slightly calicinate fragments may be

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