Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-11-22

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IN found 10 rest on his individual 0pin'
ion. An ex'lunogate who had q loug
experience with expert photographers
has said that II an expert photographer
should b. admitted TO testify at all, Then
lie should be employed exclusively - q
court officer. and his opinion should be
iiual, that II. beyond criticism and eFoss'
questioning ly lawyers, surrogate, OF
| fudge, The steps by which tho court
photographer reaches his conclusion
should, however, bu capable OF demon
stratiOn to any skilled photographer,
Al II H. aow, lawyers can bring experts
on each side who hold exactly contrary
opinions, Tho people have inhtlnetlyely,
AMI with reason, misifusied these opin'
donated exp rts, ! have lost faith Ia my
own former opinions. aud yet they prob
ably have had weight IN deciding im'
pOrtant will contests,
photography" ho continued, ''has
Tor fourteen years been admitted into
law courts 10 furnish evidence, and it,
functions arc not yet understood, Now,
there arc number Of ways In when the
photographer may be IN error, and yci
ie IL IN honest man while his evidence
II taken Tor more than II IL worth, l
, believe for instance, that tho expert
evidence In the Whitaker court martial
and the MOrey letter can n was worthless
where II was true, aud false and mislead-
ing where II amounted 10 anything
"Can you show that 2
~ can. Remember that tho thorough
bred expert always han q Anospup hy,
pothcsis to set before the Judge aud il.
ry, and That he brings hi, photog 0phed
handwritings into court, and argues in
favor OF or against their similarity In tho
lines made by similar strokes OF the
pens. II Is absurd TO reason at oil In
this way, because 10 man writes his
name twice alike, as any bank cashier
will tell you. But, aside from this, you
see, tho export rests his argument on his
enlarged photograph OF the writings,
and II these photographs cannot be re-
lied on as absolutely accurate reproduc'
tons OF tho originals, then tho argu'
mcnts OF the theorists amount to moth.
ing. Tho Photographic fac-simile may
be imperfect, because tho writing is not
set perpendicularly in front OF tue cam.
era in my direction, then the lines in
the photograph are distorted, by being
either Enlightened or shortened. In the
second place, error may, nay, II must,
creep in through tho nature OF photo
graphic paper itself. 1t is not strong
material, and in passing through wet.
ting and drying processes tho picture
expands and contracts. A small sheet
Of the paper is quarter OF nm inch
shorter one way and longer the other
way when dry than it is when wet. If
you print the image lsngthwise of the
paper, then the image is elongated II
sidewise, then it is contracted, IL is
idle to expect an exact copy OF tho
original writing, and mary 4 time ! have
placed copy upon the original writing,
and noted the great difference in the
two. Yet the expert will argue from the
witness box that because these pieces OF
writing are unlike, therefore the pl OTTO.
graph shows that it could not have been
written by the person who wrote the
original, which is nonsense.
"Dut the experts thought they had
won a great triumph wnon they adapted
photo. photography to their USE" the pho
tographer continued. Packages OF
photographic paper were taken before
the Whitaker court martial. The pro-
cess of making them is this : A common
Photographic negative is made in the
usual manuer, only stronger than usual;
that is, there is little shading, and when
the picture is printed it is back and
white. A transfer is made on gelatine
paper, which is afterwGrd blackened
with transfer ink, and then transferred
to the photographic stone by pressmen.
On the stone the handwriting is etched
by workman, who may easily make a
slip with his craving tool. A piece OF a
line in word may be lost, or a false
line added to q word, Now, take
these possibilities OF error and notice
that the theories OF experts rest on the
slightest variations in handwriting, and
you must confess that their arguments
and conclusions rest on doubtful pre-
misses. They argue frequently from
grounds which have no existence.
"The written note which Whitaker
claimed he had received as warming
that he was to be foully dealt with, was
discovered to be covered with words
similar to those in the note OF warning,
written criss. cross, upside down, and
everyday. The expert argued from this
that Whitaker had written the words
to practice concealing his handwriting
before he wrote the note to himself, and
had then partially erased the lines. 10
arrive at this result the expert enlarged
the photograph eight times its natural
size by means of microscopic lens and
then photographed it. Then he studied
the picture thus obtained and thought
he detected this practice writing. Now
mark, the alleged words were OF the
usual size OF handwriting after IL c note
of Warming had been magnified. They
were very faint even to the discoverer's
eye, and to make them palmer lie put
carbonized paper under the note and
with hard, blunt point traced the al
legged under writing on separate sheet
OF paper. The argument was made from
this sheet OF paper; but 1 reduced the
writing to its natural size by photo
graphing sheet, and it was about the
size of agate type. 1t was absurd to
suppose that Whitaker or any one else
could write with pencil as fine as that.
That had not occurred to the expert
who made the discovery of the under
writing. Ii he had enlarged from the
Photographic negative he would have
proceeded in correct manner. but he
enlarged from the paper photograph.
Paper is made of anything and every
thing. Its fibers turn this way and that
way, and when it is magnified you can
build castles in it just as you can in a
CRATE of burning Goals. 1t was all opti-
cal delusion, born OF the experts intense
desire to find something"
"What, then, is the proper province
OF the photographer in court ?"
Many lawyers and judges believe
now that they are OF no use, and that
the only sure course is to use magni.
flying glass on the suspected handwrit-
ing in court. OF course. il any OF the
lines in suspected signature have been
painted or transferred to the will from q
genuine signature by means Of tracing
paper, powerful maenifying glass will
make such forgery plain 10 any eve.