Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-04-22
1ancaster f,ltellige1lcer.

EVENING. APRIL AZ. 1890.
Expert Evidence Again.
Two Whitaker cases excite the atten-
tion of the country just now. and in both
inquiries the testimony of experts as to
handwriting is main feature. In the
Philadelphia will case the testimony Of
fered on each side is equally decided as
to the genuineness and falsity of the sig
nature to the will which is in controversy.
There being two parties in the case, the
enc interested in proving and the other
in disproving the will, it is a necessary
result that experts are found and pro-
duced who swear stoutly for the side en-
gaging them. The West Point cadet
case is a one-sided sort of inquiry in
which nearly all the parties are interest
ed in getting at the truth, and conse-
quently the expert testimony may posi-
bly, be found to harmonic, though the
chances are about even that it will not.
Experience has demonstrated the abso-
lutte unreliability of expert evidence, and
in handwriting especially has it been
found deceptive. 1t seems plausible
that a handwriting should be capable of
Identification, and under most cir
cumstances it is. The only protection
bankers have is their knowledge of the
style of signature of their customers and
they are not often mistaken. But some
times they are deceived, and it appears
that the most skillful in identifying
handwritings may be deceived by those
skilled in forging them when fair op-
portunity is given the latter to exercise
their art. Just as in war the assailant
has the advantage in appliances over the
defense and big gun can always be
made to pierce the heaviest armOr, SO the
forger with the necessary science and
skill can generally beat the banker.
1t is the fact that there can never be
absolute certainty in the mind Of the ex-
pert witness that makes his testimony
really worthless. He can only testify to
resemblances and is bound to admit that
with the necessary care and skill those
resemblances can be counterfeited. Per
haps he may not so admit, but it is nev-
erthelesS the fact, as common experience
teaches. Mr.. Rauch, one of the witnesses
in the Whitaker will case, testified that
a certain writing was made by the
6 wrist movement and another by the
shoulder movement" whereas it ap.
peared that one had been written with
the toes and the other with the elbows
the writer's in each case having lost Their
hands.
These facts, of course, deprived Mr.
Rauch's testimony of any practical
value, and yet did not necessarily con.
tradict it !; since, rs he said, he only testi.
fled as an expert to appearances and not
to positive facts. The appearance OF
the writing may have been, as he said
that of wrist and shoulder writing. But
appearances are notoriously deceptive
and it is not surprising that the testi
mony of experts founded upon such 9
bed of sand should prove so treacherous
Yet it is still called for in the court. Il
is taken not as a positive proof but as al
approximation to it. But, obviously
it only serves to ensnare the trutl
and destroy it. 1t needs to he corrObO
rated by other evidence sufficient in itsel
to prove the facts and if this is done il
may be dispensed with. The propensit!
of the courts to accept such evidence
would work great deal more wrong
than it does, but for the fact which w
have noted, that it is always possible tt
get expert evidence on both sides of ;
case, and it therefore is neutralized ant
practically thrown out. This was con
spicuously the case in the Hay
den murder trial, where e1per
testimony was so ardently reliet
upon that the state sent professor tt
Europe to examine the arsenic manufac
tories, that he might return and sweal
how two packages of the poison differed
from each other and never could hav'
come out of the same jar. He proved
it scientifically and conclusively unit
the other side got a chance, when they
clearly showed that it was all nonsense
and the jury after listening for two
months to experts, were compelled tt
ignore every word they had heard OF
either side, and to exercise al
their charity to believe that the
witnesses were neither fools nor knaves
We have ourselves had occasion to test
the power of one of the handwriting ex
pertS who has testified in one of these
Whitaker cases, and who is probably as
good as any of them, and he showed by
the peculiar formation of the letters, OF
which peculiarities he gave an exhaus.
tive catalogue, that the writing was that
of particular individual, but in short
time afterwards another person acknowl.
edged that ne was the writer. Probably
if the fees of professional experts were
smaller their confidence in their art
would be smaller and their number few
er.
The Columbia Herald has grave ap-
prehensions lest the Democracy in these
parts are drifting to ruin, and has ad-
- &l,,& oE