Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-03-30

A Man Who Copies Signatures SC Closely
no One can cell Which Is Which.
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\ good handwriting i, getting to
l., pl.n ot til" lt-t arts. Tho father
a.d yIaudfa,hrr- IF til" rr' -,r4' zen
crati"u. ii, a general thing. Wro," !;
hand-um"r ;utl more l"gihl,' hand
:han IL tn" children and grand
children. There j. pueroint in pen
man>hip 10 which | have iu-t been
giving some attention. I; relates t.
the testimony of l@.uuWr.tin-. not
long ago Il man Was hanged III New
England by handwriting experts.
As /; class. such experts ought not To
have influence enough to hang d cat
And now it Is claimed that =Jlu-
Brussels murdrrers have been run
down by teil-tale tricks Of their pan-
manship The readers of this little
note may be assured that the writer
Of it knows individuals who can write
other people names 50 cunnlnglv
that these other people cannot decide
whether the signatures are their own
or not. l have actual cases in mind
where this puzzle has been tried One
notable instance | must mention.
The State of Massachusetts not many
years since had two Of its bonds pre-
scented for redemption which seemed
precisely alike. One was u forged
bond throughout. The officers whose
names appeared upon these bonds
could not tell which was which"
But this is nothing. l have IA man
near me who can write your signature
and mine or the signature of any per
son that may be placed before him as
a study SO cunningly that neither you
nor | can tell which is which 1t is
lucky that he is an honest man. or he
might do dangerous work with your
name on big check or note. Bank
ers in the United States place little
reliance upon signatures as means
ofidentiticatlon III payment of checks.
DC. The person who presents check
to a Boston bank for payment must
be positively identified before the
money will be paid to him. 1t is in
vain for him to offer as evidence that
he is the right man any handwriting
testimony. And does not make any
difference whether the check is pay
able to bearer or order. Identified
ton in both cases is demanded. In
England one finds a most marked
difference from this way of doing
business. The Paying Teller of a
London bank tries to assure himself
that the face of check is all right,
both in point of signature of drawer
and as regards the drawers balance,
and then slaps out the money to who
ever presents the check. 1t matters
not whether the check is payable to
order or bearer He demands nc
identification in either case He only
looks upon the back of the order
check to see if it has the name III
dorsed. This check paying custom
did not always prevail in England
At one time the English practice in
these premises was the same as ours
is now. At that time we copied oul
custom from them. They have since
progressed out of it. We remain tied
to their old style. We shall get out
of this rut one of these days The
great bankers of London long ago
found they could never get through
their business if the identification re
sponsibility was to remain upon them
They pressed the matter upon the at
tention of Parliament. Parliament
came to their relief. 1t said, pay checks
to whoever presents them. and your
whole duty is done. If 1 to-day drop
my check in London, made payable
to order of W. B. Morrill,, the first
rascal that picks it up in the streets
and puts Mr.. Morrill's name on the
back may collect that check and get
imprisoned for life for so doing. 1t
is, of course, the imperative duty of
any person who has lost a check to
have its payment stopped at once.