Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-05-04
Concerning Signatures.

signatureswith pen. To convince him,
asked himto sign his name on sheet of
paper, which he did. l Immediately
wrote ten copies of his signature, above
and below the original, and handed him
the paper to select his own. After care
full examination he selected 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 remarkable fact that after he
had really discovered his own, he could
see the most astonishing absurdities in all
the others.
Some six years ago was speaking with
well-known publisher Of this city, who
sat at his desk signing some checks that
the bookkeeper had prepared for him
The signature was of the firm, and was a
peculiar one, as he wrote it, l casually
remarked that 1t was an elegant signature
for forger. He promptly responded that
there was no forger that could sign that
name 80 as to deceive him.
"Oh, yes, there is" said l.
Where Is her"
He is standing at your elbow"
"Do you mean to say" said he, "that
you can initiate that signature SO that l
cannot detect the forgery 2"
II mean to say" said l, "that think l
can do it, and am willing to try it,"
If you will write that signature" he
replied, $50 that | cannot distinguish it
from my own, will
There, there, don't be rash; l should
dislike to take advantage of your present
excitement fyou will just write the sig
nature at the top Of that letter sheet, We'll
see what little impudence can do"
He did as requested. / took the sheet
and went to the bookkeeper's desk. Here
exchanged it for another Of the same
kind, and in the same relative position |
inflated the signature in very free, care
less way, not attempting servile copy,
but preserving the characteristic strokes.
then very carefully wrote underneath it
three faithful signatures, all my own.
These | took to the proprietor, and told
him to select his own signature. With
surprisingly little effort he pointed out the
first signature, and at once began to criti-
else with severity my base limitations.
well, said |, Il will confess they are
not as well done as l expected to do them,
or as could do them if my nerves were
steady. But really" said /, don't you
think that If one of these signatures were
placed ST the bottom of your ordinary
check, your bank would honor the
checkY
We'll, no. said he" / don't think it
would"
q suppose" said l, "there is no doubt
about the top signature-that would bring
the CASH.
"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 signature.
How about thisl" said |.
He looked at the signature-then at my
"base imitation at the crowd Of
interested spectators who had quietly
gathered around, and who were beginning
to take in the richness of the joke, and
finally he burst out in an expression of
establishment, chagrin, merriment, vcxa-
ton and perplexity, and holding out his
hand with unconditional surrender writ
ten all over his face, he exclaimed,
Sold"
That was the only word in the Ameri-
can language that could adequately ex-
press the situation.
But the sell was very easy one, and re-
quired no skill at all. The fact is that
when the original signature was com
pared with the forgeries, the discrepan.
cies were so palpable that "a wayiaring
man, though fool" need not be taken in /;
and yet if my friend had not been a
deacon, which he was-and is-and if
had been as most forgers, / could have
won very nice sum had offered TO stake
it on the issue.
Finally, to convince the deacon that he
was not the only fool N the firm, | called
upon one OF the other partners, and show
ing him the three false signatures, asked
him to decide which was the genuine.
With great show Of ready discernment
he selected the top one, and began at once
to point out the weak points in the others
simply by comparing with what he con-
sidere1 the genuine. "Yes," said he,
"they are pretty fair limitations, but don't
you see the length Of this g and the turn
Of this M Now look at the original, and
see where this capital J swoops around.
There Is an attempt at 1t in the imitation,
but it Is very weak one"
Then you couldn't be imposed upon
by one of these lower signatures" said l..
No, not /. They bear forgery upon
their very face"
well, how about the first one2 No
mistake about that You would readily
cash check with that signature."
Oh yes, that is ali right. Anybody
who ever saw the deacon's sign manual
could tell II at a glance"
So the deacon divided up his chagrin
with the junior partner, and felt better--or
worse, I've forgotten which.
The fact is, no man Is safe in swearing
TO his signature-not even Horace Greeley
10 his own--for no man writes sigma
ture twice alike, although he may pre-
serve the characteristics. And would
give very little for the testimony of EEK
perts," unless backed by pretty strong col
lateral evidence. 1t would not be diff
cult, ordinarily, to identify body of writ
ing, such as page, or even dozen lines,
but to decide as to the genuineness OF q
single word or signature is more than |
should like to do If either life or happi-
ness depended upon it.
A MIsER recently died at Lewiston, Me,
who had for many years denied himself