The Siesta Murder: Forensic Clock vs. Political Firestorm in Cairo's 1917 Crisis

This excerpt recounts how a high-profile 1917 murder of a wealthy Frenchman in Egypt became a landmark case for early forensic science. Because the victim was a foreign national during World War I, the investigation was rushed into the Mixed Courts under heavy French diplomatic pressure. Dr. Sydney Smith, then a young but innovative forensic scientist, examined the luxury crime scene and established key facts: the death occurred between noon and 1 p.m., and the pattern of wounds showed the killer was someone the victim knew, contradicting the first theory advanced by the French doctor on the case. Smith’s findings steered police toward the victim’s servant, who soon confessed to stabbing his employer during an afternoon nap over theft and a dispute connected to the victim’s side business of renting his residence for illicit sexual encounters.