St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-10-27
IT HAD THE TREMORS.
That Was What Was the Mat
ter With Blaisdell'S Hand
writing.
Hence COLON Could Not Sue
eessfully Initiate 1t
on Notes.
So Says Professor Ames, the
Great Expert on
Forgery.
Saturdays Proceedings in the
Greatest Case in the His
tory of Minneapolis.

WI "a
The Cullom case was resumed yester-
day morning in the district court. Z.
T. Ames, the state expert, resumed the
witness stand. The large photograph
of the genuine and alleged forged sig
natures was placed upon the wall and
a blackboard was placed conveniently
for the purpose of illustrating the mat
ter in hand. Mr.. Ames had a pointer
in his h nd and proceeded, after the
manner of a school teacher, to demon
strate the truth of his assertion Friday
that the Endorsement of Mr.. BlaiSdell
on Exhibit A is a forgery. He gave it
as his opinion that the forgery was
traced from a genuine signature through
glass. "In doing this" he said, the
forger would not be able to tell
until he got TO the bottom
of a letter whether it had a round or an
angular curve there. Then a man in
writing his own name always makes the
same pressure, or nearly so, at the same.
point in each Signature. Mr.. Bfaisde1l
is not a practical and experienced pen
man, and therefore always presses
heavily upon his pen. An experienced
penman never does that, for it is one of
the first things lie is taught to avoid.
With it there is no possibility Of making
the fine lights and shades which distin-
guish good ~penmanShip-"
In exhibit A there are evidences of
the work of a fine hand-Of a penman
accustomed to writing. You will notice
that ii contains S0me fine lines that are
entirely wanting in the signatures
EDoVV0 I'm bP genuine.
in the J in his signature you will
notice that the upward turn is awk-
Watd."
Here Judge KOOn interrupted the wit
ness and wanted TO know if lie was con-
filming his comments to signatures that
were in evidence.
MI. Ames answered in the affirmative,
but said that he had examined other
signatures at Mir. Blaisdell's house, but
how many he could not tell.
The defense objected to the witness
t%estifying about other SIGNATURES until
he had been questioned about those
which he had examined. 1t was de-
cided that the witness should cOnfine his
testimony to the notes in court and he
then was crOSs-eXamined, during which
he said that he examined seven sigma
lures in New York, three of which he
thought were genuine. He spoke of
the apparent tremOr in all of the sig
natures, and SAID that they were diff
cult of imitation in a forgery for the
reason that a mans hand, which trem-
bled III writing, did so rhymithically-
that is, it would exhibit this popularity
tust about so often in the same space.
He can no more alter it than he can
change the pulSatiOnS i'll his wrist. 1t
is c0nstitut Onal.
Mr.. Ames said that it was clear to
him that the tremOr in the alleged forged
signature was feigned.
1.-The down strokes of Nj. Blaisdelrs
pen," he said, "are always heavy, and
when the rythmic spasm struck him he
enlarged the width of the letter. The
microscope reveals a square corner
where the letters are spliced, so to
speak, while in the forged signatures
the corners are rounded, as by a prac-
ticed hand.
Now, [ want to call attention to the
small ID The feigned heavy line in
that letter the microscope shows is
made of two light lines interlacing each
other.
lin the last letter of the genuine sig
nature the last stroke shows that Mr..
Blaisdell had completed the heavy task
of writing his name with a feeling of
relief. And so he lifted the pen from
the paper with a quick movement and a
little flourish. He does this rapidly that
usually there is nc turn in the line Not
so with the forger. He commenced with
the trembling motion and thought he
must keep it up TO the end
"There is an entire difference in the
articulation of all the lines" continued
the expert. "The down strokes are not
of the same strength. Here is the fixed,
1911 la-l rEnR,o ~ Of N cfaTf horA
hand, totally unlike the more delicate
handiwOrk of the forgery. The forged
signature is just as wanting in the de-
tails as it is in the general appearance.
1t is in the machine TO make this, and it
is not the machine that made that"
There are eighty-seven changes and
waivers in the forgery, which are en-
tirely different in character from the
tremOrs in the genuine signature. | am
speaking of these Tythmic that
are the natural expression of the stiff,
hard hand that made them. If you ex-
annie the genuine signatures you Will
find that there are from fourteen to
twenty-five wavers only in each sigma
ture. 1t is just as impossible that the
hand that made DISAPPOINTING to the
genuine signature-'Should have made
that''-pointing to the f~Orgery-'aS
that a saw mill should turn out -four"
"There is another markedi point of
difference in the signatures. Mr..
Blaisd dell makes round tops to most of
his letters. but the imitation makes
sharp points. Mr.. Blaisdell might
write his name by an effort as it is writ
ten on the back of Exhibit A, but it is
the constant recurrence of the points of
difference to which | have called atten-
ton which convinceS me that he. did not
write that signature"
Mr.. Ames was then submitted to a
cross-eXaminatIon at the hands of Mr..
Wilson. He said:
81 think the forgery was done by
tracing, placing the paper on a glass
with a light under it which shows
through the glass and the paper. These
signatures of Mr.. Blaisdell-EXhibits b,
c. ID, E and Fare fair average sam
pies CT his writing. l do not know who
selected them. l never saw them until
] came here"
Here the court adjourned until 2 D.
NJ, at which hour Mr.. Ames resumed
the witness stand, and the crosS-eXam-
nation was continued. He said:
"a fOrger usually retOucheS his work
TO make it perfect, although there have
been cases where he became so expert
that he could dash it off much as the
owner did, but this requires long prac-
tiee: .,
not reached this degree OF perIectIOn,
and was compelled to frequently stop
and look at his copy. In a number OF
forgeries IF the same signature by the
Fame person the peculiarities will not
nnanr uifh tho raUularitv Whiah thou do