The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1885-10-17
FUNNY SIGNATURES.

o1VNA phIS9s
4 WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.-HI think
it's Simmons" said the signature ex-
pert of the Treasury, MS he laid aside
the magnifying glass and wiped his
eyes with a silk handkerchief. He had
for half an hour been examining Curl
GUS scroll on the back of u check. II
consisted of u black stroke of a pen,
tapering off to an irregular line, and
was there to represent the name of some
bank cashier.
"There is not Il letter in It," he said,
holding 1t up to tho light, "but it
means Simmons"
edo you have many of that sort ?"
"WOrse than that. Five or six hun.
dred different signatures pass through
here In a month, may be. and two-third
of them are illegible. Bank cashiers
seldom make any letters in their sigma
lures. They adopt certain form of
scroll generally, and always use it for
their signature. Some of them are
very curious. This, for instance" aud
he took from drawer paper across
which was scrawled character that
looked like schoolboy's sketch of a
whirlwind. The line had been spun
around and around in one piece like a
spiral spring then shot across the paper
about half an inch, when the gyration
was again repeated, and this was fol-
lowed by another dash ana some more
circles. "That," said the expert, "is
the signature Of the cashier of one of the
New York banks. OF course there are
no letters in it, but we know what II
means and could swear by it Mt any
time. I wouldn't want better sigma
ture. But if you want longer one,
here it is" and he handed out another
draft.
"The length of this" he said, s.is reg.
ulated by the width OF the paper on
which it is written. 1t always extend
from margin to margin. It consist.
you 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 IL name, but it is
just as good for US. 1t is always the
same, and as simple as 1t may seem.
don't think it could be counterfeited,
Here is another with the same pointed
strokes, but there are fewer of them,
and the signature Is higher than it is
long. But there is one signature we
get on checks principally which Is
moro remarkable than either of these.
The letters are all of the same height.
and will reach from top to bottom
across the face Of check. At first
glance nothing can be made of 1t, but
II you follow the line carefully you can
unravel the name, and you will be sur.
NNS0 fSJ nj .sxIss<
perfect in itself, but is so tall and narrow
that at first glance you don't compre.
bend what it is.
awe come across some very curious
signatures, and some mighty bad ones.
Those of Ben Butler and Horace Gree.
ley are famous for their ugliness, but
they would fall into insight ficance
along of the scrawls that pass through
here on drafts and checks"
elbow do you make them out ?'
"Generally the contour suggests the
name, though no letter may be formed.
Sometimes l know name at first
glance, when IL try TO analyzo IL ] am
thrown off the track entirely. Probab-
ly once or twice we had to write to find
out what name was, but generally,
when they are too much for me, tho
register of the banks will give the name.
When we come across q new signature
that is particularly hard to make out
we make a record of it, so that when
ever we see that same combination of
odd characters we know what il stands
for"
els bad signature "A sign of igno.
rance ?'
HBy no 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 can and see what it locke
like. That's the way it's done. Thess
men have to write their name so often
that they get to making the quickest
combination of characters possible and
adopt it as their signature"
"What is the easiest signature 10
forge?"
zone that is extremely bad or re-
markably good. Spinner used TO write
the worst signature of any man in this
department. Yet there were dozen
clerks who could counterfeit it so per-
fectiy that no one could tell the differ
ence. The perfect Spencerian signature
however, is the easiest to initiate. One
of the best signatures / have ever seen
is that Of the new Treasurer, Jordan.
1t is beautiful to look at--as clear and
legible as engraving-but / don't think
it could be counterfeited. He can