#36 BANG BANG: The St. Valentine's Massacre II
- Aiza Jamil
- Nov 18
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Hello, and welcome back, folks, to another episode of STEM on the Streets! If you are new here, my name is Aiza, and this is my partner, CAI (crime AI). Together, we stroll through the criminal-ridden streets of STEM!
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On February 14, 1929, seven men were lined up against a wall and brutally executed in Chicago during the Probation Era, the notorious event finding a place in the world of crime as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
We went through the whole crime in the last blog; this episode, we will be talking about where forensic ballistics actually came in and made a real impact in this horrendous crime.
A Forensic Challenge
As you would know, the aftermath of the massacre was chaotic to say the least. Officials began by collecting over 70 spent cartridges (a spent cartridge is an empty shell discarded from the gun after ammunition has been fired), and recovered bullets from the bodies and the walls. What made things confusing and chaotic was that the shooters were disguised as police officers.
A coroner was appointed: Herman Bundesen. If you don’t know, a coroner is like an independent public investigator appointed to deal with unnatural or violent deaths. Anyhoo, Bundesen appointed a jury; their biggest concern was to find if actual police officers were present at the scene or not.
Collection & Testing
That is when the pioneer of ballistics testing was brought in, Dr. Calvin Goddard (we will dive into him and his impact in forensic ballistics further in another blog). He was presented with the .45 caliber cartridge shells (caliber is a measurement for the diameter of a bullet, so when we say .45 we mean that it is forty-five hundredths of an inch) and was quickly able to deduce that they were from Thompson “Tommy” submachine guns. If you remember from the last blog, there were 70 rounds shot, and Goddard was able to conclude that 50 cartridges were from one "Tommy" gun and 20 from another.
Now, Goddard had two things left to do: determine if the assailants were police or not and find the true Thompson guns.
The Comparison Microscope
Goddard’s signature tool was the magical comparison microscope. This is a very special microscope that allowed him to compare the casings side by side. The comparison microscope allows two materials to be compared under the same illumination and optical conditions. Basically, it is two separate microscopes connected by a bridge of a system of mirrors and prisms, which allows the viewer to see both materials simultaneously, which allows, well, easier comparisons. Under the microscope, striations or tool marks, you can say, which were left by the barrel, were analysed (if you remember, every barrel has a unique pattern caused during manufacturing, leaving unique marks on the bullet. Other things, such as firing pins and breech marks, can also make the striations on the bullet unique. With the cartridge casings from the crime scene and from the police department, it was proven that there was not a single match, clearing the police’s name. But this also confirmed that the people who had attacked the seven men had impersonated the police.
The Real Murder Weapons
Once the police were eliminated, the original guns had to be tracked down and eventually were found in an associate of Capone’s hideout.
(✿◡‿◡)CAI: You mean house.
Same thing.
Anyways, those guns were test-fired and the bullets from them were compared to the ones found at the crime scene. Guess what? They had matching striations and impressions. This meant that those guns were the ones used in the massacre.
Goddard's work in ballistics played a major role in solving a crime that took the world by the throat, allowing more improvements to be made to the field.
Well, that is all for today, lovely people! Next blog, we’ll be diving further into the world of forensic ballistics
This is Aiza Jamil signing out!
I am a forensics sleuth. What's your mystery to solve?