Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1871-05-25
Proprietor.
Singular Experts.
Interesting Facts for Business
sIe2 ~ Men. sF lF'

AHtcacStAhS ractS IOr buSlnos
/ 1893 ~ Men. si 80
ea as ieE. 9fg
S. S. Packard, Fnoted as
skillful penman, writes to til
New York Ma1, eoncernin;
''signature experts,9 the occa
sion being the late Taylor vii
case, which turned in a grea
measure ON the commences OF
the testator's signature: s
snMore than twenty years age
in Cincinnati, I copied the Dec
laration of Independence, ap
pending fac 8im5ile8 Of the sign
ers' names!f Mr.. Thomas Ste.
vens. at the same time editor of
the Cincinnati Atlds, took oc-
casion, in a pleasant way, tC
doubt my assertion that i hac
copied the signatures with apen
70 convince him, [ asked him
to sign his name on a sheet of
paper, which he did. / imme-
diately wrote ten copies of his
signature, above and below the
original, and handed him the
paper to select his own. After
a careful examination he selee-
ted one as his own. He was
wrong. He, tried again and
again, with the same result, and
finally, by mere guess-work, he
hit the right one. And it was
a remarkable fact that after he
had really discovered his own
.,he could see the most astonish-
ing absurdities in all the others,
Some six years ago i was
speaking with a welI-known
publisher of this city, who sat
at his desk signing some checks
that the book-keeper had pre-
pared for him. The signature
was Of the firm, and was a pc
cuhar one as he wrote it. ]
casually remarked that it was
an elegant signature for a for
ger. He promptly responded
that there was no forger that
could sign that name SO as to
deceive him.
'.Oh, yes, there is, saidI. 8
Where is he?" ans
''IIe is standing at your ell
bow" " =
"Do you mean to say" said
he, .sthat you can initiate that
signature so that / cannot de-
tect the forgery y sl, ant'
81 mean, to say. said /, 'sthat
/ think / can do it, and am Will
ing to try it. " 9l s
..If you will write that sigma.
ture,0 he replied, $50 that | cam
not distinguish it from my own,
/ will .4osira at
"There, there, don't be rash ;
| should dislike to take advan-
tage of your present excite
ment, If you will just write
the signature at the top of that
letter sheet, we'll see what alit-
tie impudence can do.''
He did as requested. / took
the sheet and went to the book
keepers desk. Here / ex-
changed it for another of the
same kind, and in the slme re-
latiye position / initiated the
signature in a very free, care
less way, not attempting a SER
vile copy, but preserving the
characteristic stroke. j then
very carefully wrote underneath
it three faithful signatures, all
my own. These / took to the
proprietor and told him to Sc
ilect his own signature. With
surprisingly little effort he
pointed out the first signature,
and at once began to criticize
with severity my base imita-
ti0ns.
"Well," said I, II will con-
fess they are not as well done as
Iexpected to do them, or as /
could do them if my nerves
were steady. But really said
1, "don't you think that if one
of these signatures was placed
at the bottom of your ordinary
check your bank would honor
the check 2"
"Well, no" said he, ~ don't
think it would. I"
II suppose" said 1, ''there is
no doubt about the signature
that would bring the cash p
"Oh, yes, | should like to see
our bank refuse that signature
for an ordinary sum.
/ then went to the book
keepers desk and produced the
original Siornaturo