“Dr. H. Burdell was discovered stabbed in his personal space in this metropolis. There was negative feeling present between him and his housekeeper, but science has taken out some of what were being at very first solid indications of guilt. A dagger was discovered in her drawer faintly stained with blood these stains are proved by chemical examination to be rust. A incredibly palpable bloody stain on a blue silk dress proved to be sugar or fruit preserves. A knife from the spot of business of a suspected boarder, and a newspaper discovered in his space, confirmed stains which responded to the chemical assessments for blood, and below the microscope confirmed the blood disks or purple globules to be arterial.”

—Scientific American, February 1857

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