It was late afternoon in the summer of 1923. A man stepped off the curb and straight into the path of a speeding automobile. He was killed instantly. Who was this man? Who was the driver of the automobile? Why did it happen? Who were the witnesses and how do they explain the circumstances of the accident?

In every county in the nation, by law, this kind of accident must be investigated by the county coroner or medical examiner. The results of such investigations may generate reports in the form of a few lines or several reams of paper. Case files are frequently full of personal information and rare glimpses into the personalities under investigation.

In the case described above, a coroner’s jury listens. The witnesses are called to the stand one by one. In their own words, they tell what they saw. Did the dead man look both ways before he began to cross the street? All agree that he did. Did the dead man appear to be under the influence of alcohol? A neighbor who witnessed the tragedy testified that his friend never touched a drop of liquor and was avidly opposed to "the drink." Had the deceased been ill, or was his hearing or vision impaired? Well, yes. He had suffered from the flu for many weeks and wasn’t quite up to strength. He was beginning to feel his age, and his eyeglasses had been bothering him a bit as of late.

The son of the deceased was asked to describe the events as he saw them. "Well, my father had a tradition of going to the candy store across the...

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