The first autopsy found some similarities to the description of Gouffé–
such as a missing tooth–but the heights were different, as was the colour of
the hair, and the age. The first autopsy estimated the age of the deceased at
between thirtyfive and fortyfive, while the missing man had been nearly
fifty. Gouffé’s brotherinlaw failed to recognise the corpse when he viewed it.
In the autumn, the head of the Paris Sûreté, Goron, received an anonymous
piece of information. He was told that shortly before his disappearance,
Gouffé had been seen in a bar along with a known confidence trickster,
Michel Eyraud, and his‘moll’Gabrielle Bompard, and that these two had left
Paris the day after Gouffé had gone missing. The shipping label on the trunk
was tracked down–it had left the Gare de Lyon in Paris on that same day, and
the trunk had been heavy enough to have contained a body. Surely the body
found in the Rhône was the missing man, despite the autopsy results.
The exhumation was subsequently carried out, and the second autopsy
began. Dr Lacassagne was horrified by the condition of the remains. Bones
had been misplaced, the sternum had been destroyed, internal organs removed
and placed in a basket, and the top of the skull removed not with a saw but a
hammer. Add to that the effects of several months’burial, and it was obvious
the doctor faced a formidable task.
He began by assessing the age of the deceased–as the skull was so
damaged, he examined the pelvis, the coccyx and the teeth and jaw. The state
of the teeth led him to revise the original age estimate upwards–to between
fortyfive and fifty–and he could also surmise that the man had been a
smoker. He then turned to the man’s height. He took advantage of the new
science of anthropometrics–a statistical analysis of bodily dimensions –
based on studies by one of his own students, Rollet. Once again the original
measurement was revised upwards. Now it matched the records of Gouffé’s
tailor and his military service record.
There was still the matter of the hair colour. Gouffé had chestnutcoloured
hair, but the corpse had black hair. Repeated washing of the hair from the
corpse revealed that it was indeed chestnut–it had been stained by the effects
of the putrefaction of the body. Tests proved that this was a natural event–no
hair dye had been used. The hairs from the body and the hairs from Gouffé’s
own hairbrush, when viewed under a microscope, were of identical thickness.
Further detailed examination of the corpse showed the presence of an old
ankle injury and probable gout. The right leg was weaker than the left, and a
renowned surgeon who studied these for size and weight confirmed that the
whole right leg was less well developed. Investigations into Gouffé’s history
turned up the fact that the man had injured his right leg when he was very
VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN CRIME