These are items I found in books that seemed intriguing to me. Maybe they'll spark a story some day. Maybe not.
I update this even less regularly than the rest of this page, so this is probably a one-time only visit for you.
"In eighteenth-century Venice, when masked balls were common, it became a convention that a person who wished to go about the street and be treated as if he were disguised needed only to wear a pin in the shape of a mask on his lapel. Thus accoutred, he was considered masked and could act out any part he wished without fear of shame or retribution or recognition."
[Turtles All the Way Down, Jane Yolen, pp. 73-74 as reprinted in Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, St. Martins Press]
"In the 1960s in California, an atypical crook was captured after a gunfight with police. When the officers searched him, they found a small spiral-bound notebook in his pocket in which he had written his own methods for committing successful crimes. A practial document, it is not quite what one would expect from Simon Templar.
"The following are the 'combat rules' this robber had written down for his own guidance and apparently had followed successfully on some occasions (though not at the time of his capture).
- Taking concealment forces an opponent to seek, thus making him subject to ambush or surprise action.
- Use cover for protection and also to confuse the opponent as to the next point from which attack will come.
- A post provides cover but no safe route of departure.
- In occupied rooms consider using people as a deterrent to the opponent's gunfire.
- A gunman can draw and fire at a moving target while a man moves 15 feet from a standstill.
- Before entering a building, know all possible exits and the concealment and cover adjacent to each.
- If pursued in car, make right turn and stop on left side of street. Get out quick and use door or parked car for cover.
- On a divided highway pull over to the right as far as possible and near a spot with cover close by. Stop and get out the right door.
- On other highways, pull over to the left, unlatching door before stopping.
- Remember that a shot to wound is less danger to him than to you.
- Police are trained to take less than natural regard for their personal safety when in pursuit of a suspect.
- Don't grab a hostage, persuade him.
- Combat means to escape under possibility of exchange of gunfire; therefore:
- If indoors, get outdoors.
- Can the building be effectively surrounded?
- Commandeer a car for getaway (filling station, stop signal, market parking lot).
- The only effective defense against radio is to move fast, in an unpredictable course, and use only those areas where support is scarce, or access is hindered.
- The only safe area is one that cannot effectively be surrounded by the police available."
[Fatal Fascination, Phil and Karen McArdle, p. 82.]
"The face is usually pale, the pupils of the eyes dilated. The lips and tongue (which may protrude slightly between the teeth) may be cyanosed -- a blue discoloration of the skin caused by deoxygenated blood -- and considerable petechial haemorrhaging will be found under the conjunctivae.
"The phenomenon of penile erection has been greatly exaggerated by popular mythology. Nevertheless, slight degrees of engorgement -- with or without the presence of semen -- can be observed in cases of death by hanging, as with other forms of death. It is thought that the effect is due to hypostasis, or perhaps rigor mortis."
[...]
"The internal post-mortem appearances are those for asphyxia; the brain shows considerable congestion, and petechial haemorrhages may be found in the trachea and larynx and on the epiglottis. The hyoid bone may be fractured, the sternomastoid muscles damaged, and the thyroid cartilage broken."
[Hypostasis is also called livor mortis or dependent lividity; it refers to the tendency of blood to sink in a body where the heart is no longer beating; the conjunctivae are the whites of the eyes.]
Encyclopedia of Forensic Science