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The Delorme Affair
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 | Scene where the body of Raoul Delorme was discovered, 1922. [ ...] | | © Musée de la civilisation |
On January 7, 1922, the body of Raoul Delorme was discovered in Montreal's Snowdon district. Reverend Adélard Delorme, the victim's brother, was accused of murder. In Quebec's Catholic-dominated society of the time, accusing a priest of fratricide was unimaginable. Reverend Delorme's first trial culminated in a plea of insanity, and the accused was found unfit to stand trial. A year later, Dr. Brochu, medical superintendent of Saint-Michel-Archange hospital where Delorme was being kept, stated that Reverend Delorme exhibited no sign of dementia. His case was therefore reopened, and two sensational trials ensued.
During the proceedings, Detective Georges Farah-Lajoie used a take-apart model reproducing the rooms in Delorme's house in order to show the jury the presumed scene of the crime. With the help of this model, whose sections came apart to reveal the interior divisions of each of the floors, Farah-Lajoie described his visit to rue Saint-Hubert, explained the layout of the premises and related his conversation
with the priest.
The famous Delorme affair was one of the first cases where ballistics analysis was used as evidence. In the 1920s, ballistics analysis was in its infancy both in Canada and the United States. During the second Delorme trial, Dr. MacTaggart presented the results of the comparisons he made between the bullet holes in the victim's skull and a bullet found during the autopsy. For his part, gunsmith Haynes, who sold Reverend Delorme the pistol, examined bullets fired from two 25-calibre Bayards. His testimony revealed that, to the naked eye, they exhibited similar grooves but that the one fired from Delorme's Bayard showed a separate streak, no doubt caused by a defect in the interior barrel. A wooden model reproducing this bullet showed in white the streaks left by the barrel groove when the projectile exited the firearm.
Dr. Derome, then the director of the Laboratoire de recherches médico-légales [Forensic research laboratory], was summoned to testify as a ballistics expert. He explained the technique known as "bullet rolling", which he had learned in Paris. The technique consists in rolling a bullet on carbon paper or foil paper, thereby leaving an imprint of the defects and grooves. The paper is then photographed with the help of an oblique projection of very intense light, producing a photograph that highlights clearly all the characteristics of the bullet.
During the third trial, Dr. Derome experimented with a new method of ballistics analysis: by pouring a sulphur-based mixture into the barrel, which he removed after it hardened, he obtained a faithful reproduction of the grooves inside the barrel.
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| Writing on a package, related to the Delorme affair, 1922-1924. [ ...] | | © Musée de la civilisation |
Other analyses tended to prove Reverend Delorme's guilt, in particular an analysis of the handwriting on a package sent to Chief of Police Lorrain. This package contained Raoul Delorme's watch. Three experts in document analysis-Charles Hazen, J.J. Lomax and Albert S. Osborne-were then called to testify. By comparing the writing on the package addressed to Chief of Police Lorrain and that found on documents belonging to the accused (cheque, tickets, bills, etc.), the experts revealed about 15 characteristics leading them to conclude that the handwriting was produced by the same person, namely Reverend Delorme.
Despite the overwhelming evidence, the jury members could not agree on Reverend Delorme's innocence or guilt. The case was closed, and Adélard Delorme was freed in the fall of 1924.
References :
- Jean Monet, La soutane et la couronne. Le procès du siècle: l'Affaire Delorme. Saint-Laurent, Trécarré, 1993. 218 p.
- Daniel Proulx, Les grands procès du Québec, Montréal, Stanké, 1996. 261 p.
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