The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-02-20
PULLING SCRAWLS.
SIGNATURES THAT EXPERTS FIND
1T DIFFICULT TO DECIPHER.
The Chirography of Public SIen-Bank
Cashiers Names-COntonr, and Not
Letters, the Key to Mysterious
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
lCor. New York SUM-

lCor. New York SUM-
Il think it's Simmons. said the sigma
ture expert of the treasury, as he laid
aside the magnifying glass and wiped his
eyes with his silk handkerchief. He had
for half an hour been examining q curious
scroll on the back of a check. 1t con
sisted Of black stroke Of a pen, tapering I
of to an irregular line. and was there TO
represent the name of some bank cashier. /
&There is not a letter in it, " he said, /
holding it up to the light, "but 1t means
Simmons.
@Worse than that Five or six hun
dred different signatures pass through /
here In a month, maybe and two-tnros
of them are illegible Bank cashiers sell
dom make any letters in their signatures
They adopt certain form OF scroll, gen
orally. and always use it for their signature.
Some of them are very curious This, for In
stance and he took from drawer pa
per across which was scrawled charac-
ter that looked like schoolboy's sketch
of a whirlwind The line had been spun
around and around in one piece ike
spiral spring. then shot across the paper
about half an inch, when the gyration
was again repeated, and this was followed
by another dash and some more circles
SThat," said the expert. is the signature
of the cashier of one of the New \ ork
banks OF course there are no letters in
II. but we know what it means and could
swear by it at any time. / wouldn't want
a better signature But If you want
longer one, here it is, 4" and he handed out
another draft
FROM MARGIN TO MARGIN.
sThe length to this. he said, is
regulated by the width of the paper on
which it is written. 1t always extends
from margin to margin 1t consists, you
see, merely of high up-and-down strokes.
perfectly pointed at the top. and all OF
-. hafr
no name at all. 1t is simply the sign of a
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 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. But 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 first glance nothing can
be made of it, but If you follow the line
carefully you can unravel the name, and
you will be surprised at its plainness.
Rach letter is perfect in itself, but is so
tall and narrow that at first glance you
don't comprehend what it Is.
ave come across some very curious
signatures and some mighty bad ones.
Those of Ben Butler and Horace Greeley
are famous for their uglineSs, but they
would fall into insignifcence alongside of
the scrawls that pass through here on
drafts and checks.
NOT LETTERS BUT CONTOUR.
@How do you make them out?"
sGenerally the contour suggests the
name though no letters may be formed
Sometimes / know a name at first glance,
when, if try to analyZe it l am thrown
of the track entirely. Probably once OF
twice we have had to write to find out what
q name was. but generally, when they are
too much for me, the register of the banks
will rive the name When we come
across a new signature that is particularly
hard to make out, we make record OF 1t,
so that whenever we see that same com
bination of odd characters we know what
its stands for.
as q bad signature a sign of ignor
anee9"
are those of educated men, generally banh
officials. They are always written freely
and quickly. Write your name as fast a
That's the way it's done. These mel
have to write their names so often tina
they get to making the quickest comblna
ton Of characters possible, and adopt !
as their signatures
FoRGERIRS.
"What is the easiest signature t
Zone that is extremely bad or remarks
hlv good. Spinner used to write tn
r'oxss signature of any man in this dc
partmenL Yet there were dozen clerk
who could counterfeit it so perfectly tina
no one could tell the difference. tn
perfect Spencerian signature, however,
the easiest to initiate. One of the bes
American signatures / have ever seen
that of the new treasurer, Jordan. 1t
beautiful to look at-as clear and leglbl
as engraving-but don't think. 1t coul
be counterfeited. He can write his nam
quicker than any man l ever saw A
sistant Secretary Fairchild and Ih1r
Auditor Williams write their names vel
too.
"The most ponderous signature eve
struck was that of Drake De Kay, WI
was assistant adjutant general under Nj
CIellan. When he signed letters and p
pers of various kinds they used to |
spread out on the floor, where the su
80 would strike them to dry. This is fac
don't know what he used to write witt
but think it was a sti ok.
"Do you ever come across any 10
geries2"
Yes; but the large majority OF the
are innocent They grow out OF 1gno
ance Sometimes checks come in with
mans name signed to them, and when '
come to look over the papers in the clal
against which the check is drawn, we M
he can't write at all and has used ma
only. Then. of course, we know the
has been a forgery committed But
generally turns out that the man has ht
some one sign his name for him, and Z
parties have been led into forgery inn
Gently