The New York herald., 1872-09-07
Livinsstone's Chirography 70 tn
Herald-Our Vac-similes To-Day.


Herald-Our Fae-similes To-Day.
It will, perhaps, be one of Dr.. Livingstone's
greatest surprises on his return to civilization
to find that incredulity should have existed
anywhere as to the identity Of his letters to
the HERALD. he would surely say that he had
written enough in his time to place within the
reach OF any intelligent person the means of
judging whether they were go or not When an
enterprising contemporary hastened to per-
ceive similarity between the writing of Liv-
ingstone and Stanley, and on that to found an
opinion, there were undoubted specimens
Of the explorers chirography at hand, had
they been sought for, which would easily
have proved the opposite. The onus Of
disproof, which our contemporary took
upon itself, might have directed it to
seek these specimens but it was not
done. The HERALD felt the security Of
its position and did not annoy itself about
them. They were, however, kindly brought
to the HERALD, and we thus reprint to-day our
fac-simile of Livingstones letter to the editor
of this Journal written at Ujiji in November,
1871, with as much Of these contributions as
we can find space for in facsimile form. These
include portion Of letter addressed by
DR.. Livingstone to the President of the
American Geographical Society, written on
the River Shire in January, 1862; portions of
letter 10 williar. +. Stearns, Esq, of this
city, and formerly of Bombay, written from
Zanzibar in February, 1866, and letter of
authority to Mr.. Stanley, dated Unyanyembe,
March, 1874 The most careless glance at these
letters win convey the same impression as the
closest analysis. They exhibit over ten entire
years fidelity TO long-formed style of writ
ing, which is particularly striking. The words
'that" 'the," 'to," "and," s.but," &C.,
which may be found in all of them, are dis
tinctive of the man. In the letter to the
Geographical Society, as in the letter to the
HERALD, the words Geographical, "Africa,"
''miles," &C., will be found exactly alike, with
the exception that in the first letter "Geogra-
phical' is, of course written with capital g.
The process of further examination we leave
to our readers, merely adding that, for our
part, we were convinced always of the authen-
ITCHY Of the letters, the smallest shadow of
doubt that could have existed being
put out of the question by the knowledge
that no one short of an idiot could have
hoped to palm of as genuine an entire letter
written by another hand and purporting to be
Livingstone's. The amount of omniscience
necessary 10 manufacture such fraud sue
cessfully is, happily, out of human reach.
Here we are content to let this matter of the
great explorers handwriting rest We have
done what We deemed necessary to establish
for all people the truth of what we put forth
as true. The authenticity of our letters had
been called in question, possibly, as we said
heretofore, for the most humanely generous
ofpurposes we have now given all this doubt
ing Thomas business its coup de grace, and the
accomplishment of this necessary feat will be
our apology to the readers of the HERALD for
troubling them further with the details of this
prosss: ssd q .szssslngs ay on the wheel"
Aequittsl OF DR.. schocppe-ThS Value
OF seientiae Evidence ~ Seen In the
Trial. ss-syfx sssys,---..
The trial Of DR.. Schoeppe for the murder Of
Miss Steinecke is virtually at an end. The
result will be somewhat startling to the public
who have felt such an absorbing interest in the
question of this mans innocence or guilt.
There is something in the mystery that sur
rounds deaths from poisoning that irresistibly
attracts the imagination and fixes public atten-
ton spell-bound on every detail of the
drama In the case of DR.. Schoeppe the
evidence of guilt was far from conclusive, and
If it had not been for the production of the
will, naming him as the old lady's heir, which
seemed TO supply q motive for the crime, it
would have been impossible TO obtain verdict
against him. 1t appears now, from the evidence
elected on the last trial. that the family of
the deceased had no suspicious of
foul play until this will was made
known. The prospective loss Of property,
however, aroused their suspicious, and the
charge of murder was the consequence. 1t is
unnecessary for ms 10 recapitulate the facts
here, as we have furnished the public through
our columns with an extended account of the
proceedings during the progress Of this most
interesting trial Few, even of those who
crowded the court room at Carlisle yesterday,
had any conception that the trial would have
resulted as IL did.
The prosecution finished their case without
being able 10 substantiate the proofs Of crime
alleged TO exist Indeed, the chief reliance of
the State Attorney was on the suspicious na-
ture Of the viii. and the evident motive IL gave
10 Schoeppe to wish the old lady out of the
way. On this moral evidence, which could
only weigh where there was strong proof that
q crime had been committed. aud ON the result
of the chemical analysis by q so-called
Professor Aiken. which went to prove the
existence Of traces Of prussic acid in the
stomach Of the deceased. the charge Of