As late as the 1950s some American judges were still using unusual methods to arrive at a suspect's guilt or innocence. In March 1951 in Charleston, South Carolina, Magistrate Gene Herron balanced a Bible on the forefingers of a woman accused of stealing money from a restaurant. "By Saint Peter, by Saint Paul / By the grace of God who made us all, / If this woman took the money, / Let the Bible fall," intoned the judge. The Bible fell.

Afterward, the woman confessed and led the police to the missing money, which she had hidden in her house.

Source:

Time, (5 March 1951): 24.