, 1885-10-30
PUZZLING SCRAW WIS.
SIGNATURES THAT EXPERTS FIND
1T DIFFICULT TO DecIPHER.


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Il think its simmons. - said the sigma
ture expert Of the treasury. as he laid
aside the magnifying glass and wiped hil
eyes with his silk handkerchief lie had
for hall an hour been examining a curious
scroll On the back Of "A cheek. Ii con
sisiei Of a black stroke Of a pen. tapcring
of 10 an irregular line and WIS there 10
represent the name of some bank cashier.
There is not n letter in il. " he said.
holding ii M to the light, but it means
Simmons.
DO Jou have many Of that sortl'
Worse than that. Five or six hun
bred different signatures pnss through
here Ia a month. maybe. m two thirds
If hem are illegiblc. Eank cashiers sci
lom make any letters in their signatures.
They adopt a certain form Of scroll gen
rally and always use 1t for their signature
some OF them are very curious. This. for in
lance. - and he took from a drawer n pa
per across which was scrawled n charac-
Ter that looked like a schoolboy's sketch
of n whirlwind The line had been spun
around n around in one piece like II
spiral spring. then shot across the paper
about half an inch. when the gyratiOn
was again repeated. aud this was followed
by another dash aud some more circles
That " said the expert. is the signature
of the cashier of one Of the New York
banks. Cf course there are no letters in
It. but we know what il means. and could
swear by II at any time ! wouldn't want
@ 'cttcr signature. hut If you want a
nSei one. here il Is, y aud he handed out
1op - draft.
FRuM MARGIN 10 MARGIN.
The length TO this. " he said, "is
regulated by the width of the paper on
which it Is written 1t always extends
from mnrgin TO margin. 1t consists. ynu
see, merely Of high up-and-down strokes,
perfectly pointed at the top, and all of
about the same height Again you have
no name at all 1t is simply the sign OF a
name, but 1t is Just as good for us 1t is
always the same. and. as simple rs II may
seem | don't think it could be counter
feited Here is another with the same
pointed strokes but there are fewer of
them, and the signature Is higher than it
is long. Blu there is one signature We
get on checks principally which is more
remarkable than either Of these. The
letters are all the same height. and will
reach from top to bottom across the face
of q check. At inst glance nothing can
lie made Of il, but ii you follow the line
carefully you can unravel the name. and
you will be surprised at its plainness
Each letter Is perfect in itself. but is so
tall and narrow that at first glance you
don't comprehend what it is
We come across some very curious
signatures. and some mighty bad ones
Those of Ben Butler and Horace Greeley
are famous for their uglincss. but they
would fall into insigniiccnce alongside %
the scrawls that pass through here on
drafts and checks.
q LETTERS BIT CONTOUR.
allow do you make them out.n
"Generally the contour suggests the
49, a.na a.. laHgauH A..a il. Faua.al
Sometimes / know n name at first glance.
when, If try TO aualyze 1t | nm thrown
off the track entirely Probably once or
twice we have had 10 write 10 find out what
a name was, but generally. when they ARE
too much for me. the register Of the banks
will give the name. When we come
across n new signature that is particularly
hard to make out, we make II record OF ii.
so that whenever we see that same com
bination Of odd characters We know what
its stands for.
as "A bad signature "A sign Of ignor-
ancey"
by nc means. The worst signatures
are those OF educated men. generally bank
officials They are always written freely
and quickly Write your name as fast as
you raj and sec what il looks like
That's the way its done. These men
have TO write their names 30 often that
they get to making the quickest combina
ton Of characters possible, and adopt il
as their signatures.
fORhEHiE-.
What is the easiest signature TO
forgeY"
zone that Is extremely bad or remarka
bly, good. Spinner used to write the
worst signature of any man in this de
partment Yet there were q dozen clerks
who could counterfeit 1t so perfectly that
no one conld tell the difference. The
perfect opuucerian signature, however, IS
the easiest TO initiate. One of the best
American signatures | have ever seen is
that of the new treasurer. Jordan. 1t is
beautiful 10 look at-as clear and legible
as engraying-but 1 don't think II could
be counterfeited lie a write his name
quicker than any man | ever saw, As
sistant Secretary Fairchild and Third
Auditor Williams write their names well,
too.
The most pOnderous signature | ever
struck was that Of Drake De Kay, who
was assistant adjutant general under Nc
Clellan, When lie signed letters and pa
pers of various kinds they used to be
spread out on the floor, where the sun
would strike them TO dry. This is fact
| don't know what he used to write with.
but think it was u stick.
DO you ryer come across any for
esrios3s
Yes; but tho lnrge majority of them
are innocent They grow ont Of ignor
ance. Sometimes checks come IN with a
mans name signed TO them. and when we
come TO look over the papers in the claim
against which the check is drawn, weind
he can't write ct all and has used a mark
only. Then OF course. we know there
has been a forgery committed But it
generally turn. oui that the man has had
soma one sign his name for him aud the
parties have bom led into a forgery limo
Gently
Ling "A Of Heat waves
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