The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-03-19

paper, something like a boot, Just under the
name-a white stain. Do you remember
whether that was there when the deed was
executed?"
"I don't remember. I think it was.n
"Did you append you name as a witness
before or after Prescott had signed?"
"After, of course"
"You saw him take the pen, dip it in the
"No, I didn't. I dipped the pen in the
ink myself, handed it to him, and then saw
him sign"
"Ah1 You remember that distinctly"
"And did you sign with the same pen'"
"After dipping it in the same inka"
"You are sure of that factg"
II am"
"Positivelyf"
"Of course. I remember perfectly WE'LL"
Permit me to be sure that 1 have your
that you dipped the pen in the ink, handed
it to Mr.. Prescott, who signed his name
with it, and then you took the pen from
him, dipped it again in the same ink, and
signed your name with the same pen and
the same ink, as attesting witness, in his
presence? Is that your evidence?"
M'Kissen hesitated.
81 won't be sure" he said, "that 1 dipped
the pen before I signed. There may have
been enough ink left for me in the pen."
ooe Wv SAS NAoh 49, SNAAS
Eyes"
"That will do. You may stand aside"
When Spencer had rested his case, I
| opened for the defendant. I said substan-
TALLY: "With permission of the court, we
propose, gentlemen of the jury, to supple
ment and strengthen the case of the plain
tiff by way of su~bstantiating our own. We
propose to show you that the name of Abel
Prescott on this deed was written by him;
and we admit that he was sober when he
wrote it; that it was written in the pres
ence of Moses M'Kissen; that the signature
OF Moses M'Kissen was put to the paper
after that of Abel Trescott." Here I paused
to enjoy the establishment in the faces of
judge, jury, litigants and spectators. eve
then intend to show you that the signature
of Abel PRESCOTT was never appended to
that deed; and that the deed was never ex-
ecuted at all. We intend to show you that
Moses M'Kissen has committed willful and
corrupt perjury on this trial; and that his
evidence in regard to the matter is to be
utterly disregarded. We propose to prove
by parol evidence. By the deed, which is
in evidence before you, you will see that,
instead of being one of the customary
printed forms, filled in by writing, it is
ginning, as usual, on the first it be-
gins on the second, and end on the third;
that the sheet has been originally folded
in a different way, and was turned for
convenience in effecting the fraud; and
that the paper has a peculiar bluishitint,
except in one spot, partly under Trescott's
name, where the color has been removed
by some acid substance; AMI that the sig
nature of the assumed grantor, instead Of
being written with the same ink as that of
Moses M'Kissen, was written with a differ
| emit ink from that m from the body of tho
deed. And we propose to show by parol
evidence that the attesting witness did now
sign in the presence of the grantor named;
ILL H. I'LL
it, was written before the date of the deed;
that the paper containing his signature,
and nothing else, was purloined from q
| third party, and the body of the convey
ance fraudulently added, without Trescott's
knowledge; and that the deed was not Of
fered for record before his death made it
impossible for him to denounce the fraud:
And when we have shown all this, gentle
men, we shall not only demand a verdic at
your hands, but we shnll move the Court to
of perjury, and both to wait Indictment
for forgery and conspiracy"
When 1 had concluded the excitement in
court was intense. The Judge said: Let
me look at the deed, Mr.. Clerk" It was
handed to him. After inspecting it care
fully, he said: "H'ml Pass that to the
jury" The jury examined the instrument.
When it came back to the table Spencer
looked at it, and then inquiringly at his
client, who shifted an indignant denial, but
SAS ANSS VI O"O SoA4Ux Oh uuO
face of M'Kissen was pal1id.
TIL first witness l called was Peter
Brown. His evidence was as follows:
About fourteen months before that, he
goods, and while there had ordered a new
set of blank-books, journal and ledger,
from a bindery. Thu day before he left he
vent to get and to pay for them. Tn binder
offered to treat him, and then and there
mado a pitcher of iced punch. Brown was
not much given to mixed rotations, or, as
he explained to the court n jury-"gen-
orally took his liquor reverend" but, as the
book.binder was "a friendly sort of per-
son." accepted his offer. Whether his
want of familiarity with the drink, or it's
inhibition on top of a deal Of reverend"
or undiluted liquor that day, affected his
nerves, he did not state, but merely hat he
spilled some of it on a ream of tinted paper.
b lemon-juice in the punch took out the
color where it fell. He offered to pay for
the damage, but the binder merely laughed,
and said it was an outside quire of the
ream, and would go among the casse-pa-
per. In reply to an inquiry he was told
that casse-paper was made up of creased
outside quires and spoiled sheets, and was
generally sold for a trife to those who
wanted cheap writing. paper. Thereupon
he bought a lot of it, that quire among the
rest, and had it packed with the books.
This particular quire, being larger, thicker,
and finer than the remainder, was not used
at first. One day, however, having occa-
sion to make a blotter, he picked this out,
and placed it on the counter, intending to
While it lay there, M'Kissen came in to get
some ink. A few minutes after, Trescott
walked in and asked for some tobacco. Not
being served at once, he lounged against
the counter, and, taking a pen from the
desk, wrote his name on the outside of the
book quire. Brown, seeing it, snatched the
paper away, and chided him. PRESCOTT re-
piled that he made a great fuss about a
good-looking name on his "map of Italy"
abiding to the stain over which he had
~written-and, getting his tobacco, went of.
Brown took the spoiled sheet from the 9TH
ers, leaving it on the counter, put the rest
away, and went to serving other custom
ers. M'Kissen went out shortly afterward,
and Brown thought no more about the
written sheet, and made a blotter of the
rest. TheSnext time he saw the sheet was
in the Clerks Office in the shape of this
deed. That was the sheet, and that was
the name Prescott wrote.
The Judge put a question here:
"Mr. Brown. can o explain how you
SO certainly identify both the sheet and
signature?"
"Certainly, your honor. I have brought
the sheets that were left, in this blotter.
The thread has been taken out. You will
see the same stain, a little smaller in each,
on the first three leaves. By smoothing
the creases, and turning the deed, you will
see it just fits on them. Then, l identify
it by the ink. The ink | sell l buy ready.
made. 1t is cheaper than 1 can make. The
ink 1 use in my books 1 make myself, after
a recipe used in the British Exchequel
Office. 1t is pale when you write with it,
but gets very black in time. The ink 1 sci.
is apt to get rusty in time. Then, my OWL
ink has gum in it, which makes il glossy
Hold the deed slantwise, and you'll see the
difference between Trescott's name and the
rest of the writing. M'Kissen's lame and
all the rest of the writing is written in the
| inI T coll ond TrnSn0ff,c in fha N T m Ia ,
"But M'Kissen has sworn" 1 said, "tha1
he wrote his name with the same ink Tres.
colt did"
"That's not so. You can see for your
J SELF"
But where was M'Kissen when Trescot'
wrote his name?"
SIN the store"
The deed and the boob under went a criti