Commonwealth v. Hoffman

Citations

• 52 Pa. Super. 272
• 1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 162

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law—Evidence—Trailing by bloodhound—Identification of ;prisoner.</p> <p>1. On the trial of an indictment for arson, the commonwealth maybe permitted to show that about one hour and a half after the fire was discovered a female bloodhound of pure strain and breeding, about five years old, was brought to the scene of the crime and taken to a point as near to the burning building as the heat would permit, and at a place from which all persons had been excluded, and where there was reason to believe from surrounding circumstances that the felon had been when the fire started; that the bloodhound there took up a trail or scent, and followed it bji- tortuous windings for a considerable distance, when the dog met the defendant in the line of the trail she was following, smelled at him, and quit working by manifesting the usual signs that she had successfully run down the object of the search; that the dog had been carefully trained by persons skilled in such work, to follow human tracks, and that in at least 100 tests she was found to run true to scent, and had never failed to locate the object of her pursuit; and that the person who had her in charge had owned her for over two years, and had frequently tried her out so as to be competent to manage her in seeming an initial scent, and following its trail.</p> <p>2. Such evidence is permitted to go to the jury for what it is worth, as one of the circumstances which may tend to connect the defendant with the crime with which he is accused.</p>