The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-03-31
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for, BnsiusSeM eH,

/ .ssfS f0fs HnSaDD4HsM GNs ,y.a. D. 4 $50:
| 8. g. Packard, noted as a,skflfai pefinan,
Iswrites.to the New York lafant concerning
signature experts the. occasion being
ltestators signature: = More than twenty
years ago, in Cincinnati, 1 copied the De
claration OF Independence, appending FAC
sifnttes of the signers names. i Mr.. Thomas
Stevens. at that time editor OF the
Cincinnati atlas, took occasion, In @
pleasant way, to doubt my assertion
that j had copied the signatures with
pen. To convince him, l asked him to
sign his name on a sheet Of paper, which
he did. I Immediately wrote ten copies oil
his signature, above and below the origi.
nal, and handed him the paper for him TO
! ton 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 q
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
q well-known publisher of this city, who sat
at his desk signing some. checks that the
book keeper had prepared for him. The
signature was Of the firm, and was pc
culiar one. as he wrote it. / casually re-
marked that that was an excellent sigma
ture for forger. He promptly responded
that there was no forger who could sign that
name so as to deceive him.
ooh. yes there is" said I. -
Where Is he:"
''He is standing at your elbow" ....
"Do you mean to say said he, " that
you can initiate that signature so cannot
detect the forgery" t,...,.,
81 mean to say" saidI, "that think I
| can do it, and am willing to try it," ""'1
IF you will write that signature" he
replied, $50 that cannot distinguish it
from my own, I wil'- ID. ID.
"There, there. don't be rash. !. I should
dislike to take advantage of your present
excitement. Hyou will just write the sig
| see what little impudence can do.
He did as requested. took the sheet
and went to the book-keeper's desk, Here
/ exchanged it for another of the same
relative position. / initiated the signature
in very free, careless way, not attempting
a servile copy, but preserving the charac-
teristic strokes. ] then very carefully wrote
underneath it three faithful limitations,
making four signatures. all my own. These
l took to the proprietor and told him to Sc
lect his own signature. With surprisingly
|
ture, and at once began to criticise with Sc
verify my base limitations. !
WE'LL" said /, " j will confess they are
not as we'll done as I expected to do them,
or as / could do them if my nerves were
steady. "But really" said I, I" don't you
think that if one of these signatures we're
placed at the bottom of your ordinary
check your bank would honor the cheeky
"We!l, no." said he, 81 don't think it
81 suppose" said 7, ''there is no doubt
! about the top signature-that would bring
the CASH." .s.a
"Oh. yes. should like to see our bank
refuse that signature for an ordinary sum-
then went to the book-keeper's desk
and produced the original signature.
elbow about this ?" said I.
He looked at the signature-then at my
"base limitations at the crowd of
| interested spectators who had quietly gath
cred around, and who were beginning to
! take in the richness of the joke, and finally
he burst out in an expression which was
mixture of establishment, chagrin, merri-
! ment, yeNation, and perpleXity, and hold
ing out his hand, with unconditional sur
render written all over his face, he ex-
claimed, "Sold - %. :. So. .-~
This was the only word in the American
language that could adequately express the
situation.
But the sell was very easy one, and re.
CURED no skill at all. The fact is that when
the original signature was compared with
| the forgeries the discrepancies were so PAL
pable that ''a wayfaring man, though a
fool" need not be taken in; and yet, il my
| friend had not been a deacon, which he
was-and is-and if / had been as most
! forgerS, I 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 In the firm, called
| up one of the other partners, and, showing
him the three false signatures, asked him
to decide which was the genuine. With.a
great show of real discernment he selected
the top one, and began ut once to point opt
the weak points in the Others simply BY
comparing with what he considered the
genuine. eyes,. said he, they are pretty
fair limitations; but don't you seeY the
length of this and the turn OF this n? Now
look at the original, and see where this
capital ] sweeps around There Is an at
tempt at it in the limitations, but it is very
weak one." 80" ..."} af'ri+'.- se.st ]
"Then you couldn't be imposed upon BY
one OF these lower signatures?" said I.
Ono, not 1; They bear forgery upon
their very face" -. .'>' go - - u. iH@ il
"Weli, how about the first one? No
| IDlSIuhC dUOut Uuab1 lou FNOulu ISdulfy
cash a check with that signature I
"Oh yes that is all right. Anybody
who ever saw the deacon's 2sign-manuhl
could tell that at glance" /
| So the deacon divided up his chagrin
with the Junior partner, and felt bettcr-or
worse, Pve forgotten which. /
The fact is, no man is safe in swearing TO
| his signature--not even Horace Greeley to
his oWn-for no man writes signature
twice alike, although, he may preserve Gthe
characteristics. And J. would give very
little for the: testimony of "experts" uh-
less backed by, pretty strong collateral EVIL
dence. It would not be difficult, ordinarily,
to identify a body Of writing, such ash a
page or even dozen lines, but to decide as
| to the genuineness Of single word or sig
nature is more than should like to do if
either life or happiness depended upon 1t.
| A mother trying to get her little daugh-
ter of three years old to sleep one night
said Gamma, why don't you Try to goto
sleep?" d" am trying" she replied. t1.SBut
you haven't shut your eyes.a =" ;WelL cams
help it., they comes unbuttoned."
'"The bright side of life in Libby; the
! stories we told and the songs we sung, -. Is
the suggestive title of lecture delivered
by the eloquent Chaplain &c. McCabeiin