Case of the
Telltale Shadow
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CHOCOIATF PINUCHf COCONUT
As they left the church, a youth took their picture. They thought it was 2:15 p.m., but the photo proved they were wrong.
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by William T. Brannon
Art by Elmer Jacobs
A man we'll call Tom Koren was
the most powerful political
figure in Omaha, Neb., and
when he called the police on the
afternoon of May 23, 1910, a squad of
detectives rushed to his home. He
pointed to a suitcase he said he had
found on his porch. Trailing from it
was a length of white cord.
The police took the suitcase to a
vacant lot. and carefully cut it open.
It contained a revolver set to fire if a
string were pulled and enough dyna
mite to destroy Koren's home and
anyone near it. The police knew
Koren had made enemies and the
attempt on his life wasn't surprising.
Suspicion immediately focused on
Frank Erdman, a lesser political fig
ure best known for his bitter opposi
tion to Koren. He was arrested and
charged with the crime.
Attorney John O. Yeiser was con
vinced of Erdman's innocence. He
believed the whole thing had been
rigged by Koren's political sup
porters who wanted to get Erdman
out of the way. Yeiser volunteered to
defend Erdman, and the case went
to early trial.
Seven witnesses testified they had
seen Erdman near the Koren home
shortly before the suitcase was
found. Five were Koren supporters,
and Yeiser was able to discredit
them as prejudiced. But the testi
mony of two witnesses two young
sisters was not so easily dismissed.
They said they had been to church
that day. As they came out with four
other girls and three boys, another
youth snapped a picture of them.
They said it was 2: 15 p.m. They left
immediately afterward and, a short
distance away, they saw a man in a
checked suit near the Koren home.
Erdman, who still wore the checked
suit, was identified in court by the
two sisters. He took the stand and
admitted he had been in the vicinity,
but insisted it had been after 3
o'clock. By that time the suitcase
had been found and the police were
on the scene.
The sisters insisted they were right
about the time, and Yeiser was un
able to shake their testimony. As the
trial was recessed for lunch, he ob
tained a copy of the picture they
mentioned. The lawyer studied it for
a long time before he discovered that
it might help.
Yeiser asked that court be recessed
so he could look into new evidence.
Then he hurried to the church and
stood on the steps. Satisfied, he
hailed a cab and drove to Creighton
University. There he talked to apro
fessor and left the picture with him.
When court convened the next
day, the defense called a new wit
ness, Father William Rigge, a Jesuit
priest who identified himself as pro
fessor of astronomy at Creighton.
Yeiser asked him if it was possible,
from the photograph, to determine
what time it had been taken.
"Yes," Father Rigge replied. "I can
tell you within one minute."
"You can? How?"
"By the angle cast by the shadow
of the church steeple in the picture."
The priest then fixed the time at
3: 12 p.m. almost an hour later than
the time given by the sisters.
Frank Erdman agreed this was
about the time he was in the vicinity
of the Koren home; and by that time
the booby trap had been taken away
by the police.
The astronomer's testimony
couldn't be refuted, and the prosecu
tion couldn't prove that Erdman had
been there before the suitcase was
found. He was acquitted.
Nevertheless, there were doubters.
Many people questioned the accu
racy of the astronomical calculations,
and some said it couldn't be done at
all. Father Rigge, the chief of de
tectives, and others interested in the
case agreed on an experiment.
One year later, they Ftood on the
church steps and were photographed.
The following year they again posed
for a picture on the church steps.
In both instances the photographer
snapped the picture when the shadow
was in the exact position shown on
the original snapshot of the girls.
The result convinced the skeptics
that it was possjble to pinpoint the
time from the shadow on a picture.
In both cases, the pictures had been
" snapped at exactly 3: 12 p.m. and the
angle of the shadow on both was
identical with the original picture.
18
Family Weekly, February 2. 195