Notes from 1960-1965

I do not know when this started, but I noticed more and more around 1960 and 1961 that they were putting a report of what was found in the blood of the deceased (in the pink packet). The most important of these is the blood alcohol level. It seems as if a lot of the people who die have alcohol levels above .15 precent. This makes the circumstances of some of these deaths more understandable, since a lot of these people were drunk when they died. Another thing they test for is seminal material from vaginal smears. They do this for almost all the women, even if their death had nothing to do with sex.

BF 24 Feb 2008

Since 1960 I have noticed deaths due to cancer, or carcinoma, becoming more frequent.  Today I came across deaths due to cancer of the cervix and rectum.  With deaths due to cancer beginning to become more common in this period, I'm curious about this from a diagnostic standpoint.  It seems highly unlikely that cancer originated in the late 1950s and early 1960s, so I have begun to wonder what cause was attributed to cancer deaths before it was recognized as a common ailment. This is just one of many instances in which a little medical knowledge would be helpful in interpreting the coroner files.  I intend to keep track of the frequency of deaths due to cancer. 

TG 29 Feb 2008

While processing files from the winter of 1962 and 1963, I've noticed deaths involving heaters and heating devices to be quite common.  A handful of cases dealt with heaters exploding or leaking carbon monoxide in amounts that proved fatal.  One woman died in a fire in her home that resulted from a defective electric heating pad that became too hot and ignited her mattress.  It appeared overwhelmingly clear that during the winter months the frequency of fires went up drastically.

Cancer deaths appear to be maintaining their frequency in this period.  In less than half of one month's files, I came across three deaths due to cancer.  From what I can tell, this is a significant increase from the early and middle 1950s.  I encountered cancer of the ovaries, abdomen, and lungs. 

TG 3 Mar 2008

I have come across thinner case files than previously. While the ones from the 1950s were bulging with every single file from investigations and newspaper clippings possible, there are hardly any newspaper clippings. I have also come across many more murders that do not have detailed accounts of the incidents. It is really difficult to write up on homicides now because of this lack of information.

LB 5 Mar 2008

To add to what Lauren said about murders, I think that there are less details in each because the number of murders has gone up. This is especially true among African-Americans. I would say that at least half, maybe more, of the murders in Allegheny County happened to blacks, even though they only made a minority of the population. Also in the early 1960's I've noticed that the modern area code phone number system was in use. In these files, the people writing some of the police reports are now putting phone numbers next to names, something that didn't happen before. Maybe this is because everyone now had their own private phone number and could easily be reached without an operator, and also didn't have to share phone lines with neighbors. One more thing I noticed about the early 1960's is that when there is a murder, the crime lab tests blood samples at the scene to see if the blood type matches that of the victim or the suspect. They also compare hairs found at the scene with those of the victim and the suspect. This is like a precursor to the type of scientific investigations we see today.

BF 11 Mar 2008