Death in the desert. The sabotage-derailment of "The City of San Francisco"

The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 was a milestone in American history. Seventy years later in August 1939, the westbound, new Southern Pacific Railroad streamlined passenger train "City of San Francisco," was intentionally derailed at high speed in northern Nevada by saboteurs who had moved a rail out of alignment. This resulted in a spectacular wreck, claiming the lives of 24 passengers and crew. Despite the finding of physical and trace evidence; and lengthy, exhaustive investigations by railroad police, the FBI, and forensic scientists, the perpetrators were never brought to justice. Deaths resulting from vandalism and sabotage are among the least common of railroad-related deaths; however, acts of vandalism and violence including train derailment are increasingly frequent in this country. Law enforcement officers and forensic scientists must be able to place these incidents in their proper perspective and to successfully investigate and solve them by employing all means at their disposal.     

Homicidal death following blunt trauma in a vulnerable host, with secondary infections including local tetanus

An uncommon type of homicide resulted from complications of an ordinarily nonfatal injury after a 59-year-old obese, hypertensive, diabetic man was struck in the face with a two-by-four, sustaining a grossly contaminated laceration. It was cleaned and sutured primarily, and a tetanus booster was given. On the fourth hospital day there was evidence of anerobic wound cellulitis, including Clostridium tetani. The wound was surgically debrided, but 2 days later the patient developed local tetanus. Only then was it discovered that he had never been immunized against tetanus. He did not develop systemic tetanus, but 2 days later he died with bronchopneumonia and sepsis. The assailant was indicted for involuntary manslaughter, but after a contentious trial he pleaded "no contest" to a reduced charge. The decedent was a vulnerable host, his contaminated facial laceration initiating an unbroken course of events that led to his death.     

The Paradox of the State-Run Media Promoting Poor Governance in China: Case Studies of a Party Newspaper and an Anticorruption Film

ABSTRACT

This essay draws on the analysis of media texts and ethnographic fieldwork to present case studies of the production, distribution, and consumption of two kinds of media products in China that are used for educating cadres about official policies, law and morality, namely, a Party-produced prefectural newspaper and an anticorruption film. Such pedagogic media products merit study because they are consumed by a huge audience of cadres who are entrusted with interpreting and implementing state policy and with carrying out the daily work of the different institutions that make up the Party-state. The case studies show that the internal circulation of pedagogic media products within the Party-state apparatus works in two ways to reinforce “organizational involution,” which causes poor governance. First, the content of the media products and their methods of distribution buttress the norms and institutional practices that entrench unchallenged power, corruption, and official malfeasance within the system. Examples include the role of top-down administrative fiat in determining the content of the media products and the ways in which individuals and institutions are compelled to purchase materials and participate in pedagogic activities to secure their positions. Second, state pedagogy deflects attention away from the structural failings of the Party-state system. The pedagogic products enable the Party-state to portray itself as the leading crusader in the fight against corruption, despite the corrupting consequences of its continuing unsupervised monopoly on power. Meanwhile, self-improvement exhortations in the media texts sidestep the question of systemic political reform.     

DNA Analysis of Natural Fiber Rope*

Abstract: When rope is found at a crime scene, the type of fiber is currently identified through its microscopic characteristics. However, these characteristics may not always unambiguously distinguish some types of rope from others. If rope samples contain cells from the plants of origin, then DNA analysis may prove to be a better way to identify the type of rope obtained from a crime scene. The objective of this project was to develop techniques of DNA analysis that can be used to differentiate between ropes made from Cannabis sativa L. (hemp), Agave sisalana Perrine (sisal), Musa textilis Née (abaca, “Manila hemp”), Linum usitatissimum L. (flax), and Corchorus olitorus L. (jute). The procedures included extracting the DNA from the rope, performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the extracted DNA as a template, and analyzing the DNA products. A primer pair for PCR, chosen from within a chloroplast gene for the large subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, was designed to be specific for plant DNA and complementary to the genes from all five plants. The resulting PCR fragments were approximately 771 base pairs long. The PCR fragments, distinguished through base sequence analysis or restriction enzyme analysis, could be used to identify the five different rope types. The procedure provides a useful addition to visual methods of comparing rope samples.     

Introduction: The Future of British Political History

Politics and history are closely intertwined and historians play a vital role in British public life. Yet, British political history, which has a critical contribution to make for understanding British politics today, faces two urgent challenges. First, academic history has retreated from subjects that remain hugely popular in media and trade publishing and of interest to social scientists, such as the histories of political institutions and formal power structures. Second, political history is disconnected from innovative trends in the wider historiography of modern Britain. Combined, these issues leave political historians in an ambiguous position in relation to the wider field, to other academic disciplines and to contemporary political debates. After discussing these challenges, this introduction surveys this special issue, which reflects on what (if anything) is distinctive about political history as practised today, and what its contribution to historiography, social science and public life should be. It ends by posing key questions for historians of all methodological stripes who investigate Britain's political past.