St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-07
LAST OF THE EXPERTS
E. B. Hay Closes the Exhibi-
ton in a Blaze Of Glory
and Humor.
Passages of Wit Between the
Witness and the States
Counsel.
The Prosecution Thinks That
Blaisdelfs Signature
Was Traced.
COLON Will Probable Take
the Witness Stand To-day
or Tomorrow.

instrument upon the table and under
it various signatures and parts of sig
natures, at which the jury, counsel and
judge gaZed in turn. When he got Ex-
hibit q into his machine, Mr.. yelling
ton wanted to know if the stem of the
letter d as shown in the word BlaiSdell
did not indicate heavy pen pressure,
which caused the two nibs of the pen
to separate. Mr.. Piper thought not.
"Now, DOCTOR" said Mr.. Wilson, you
may proceed TO show the jury any COM
PARSONS you have made between the
disputed signature and those which are
admitted to be genuine"
He produced a number of drawings
made by the camera lucida, and, hold
ing one up before the jury. he eX-
claimed: Here gentlemen. is the dis
puted signature and one that is admit
ted to be genuine. | can prove that
Mr.. COLON never wrote either one of
them"
Hold on" said Mr.. Wellington, "we
move to strike that out"
"YeS," said Mr.. Wilson, that may be
stricken out"
The venerable witness then proceeded
with his comparison. going over the dis
puted signature and genuine ones in the
most minute and painStaking way, and
discovering as he went the most remark
able resemblanceS, which, he said, juSti-
fed him in coming to the conclusion
that the questioned signature was writ
ten by the same hand which wrote those
admitted to be genuine. Having fin
ished this branch of his subject, DR..
Piper took up that of dots. Over the i
in the word Blaisdel there
in the questioned signature there
is a very peculiar dot. 1t
is like V, except that the right-hand
stroke follows the left-hand one up a
short distance and branches to the right
and upward in a lighter line than the
left-hand stroke. 1t resembles very
much in appearance the ordinary mark
used by person in checking off an in
voice, for instance, and the state claims
that similar dot cannot be found in
any of the 120 admitted genuine sigma
lures of Mr.. Blaisdell which are in the
case. On this subject the witness said /:
"a forger never thinks of initiating
dot. In fact. they are so small that he
could not do so if he tried. In the gen.
uine signatures the dots almost in every
instance point to the right. and so they
do in almost every case in the ques-
toned signature. would be willing TO
rest this case on the question of dots
alone" This closed the direct eXami-
nation, except that the defense offered
to show by the witness that Colon
could not possibly have written
the disputed signature. The state,
objected and the testimony was ruled
out. The eroSS-eXaminatiOn then COM
menced. The witness testified that his
drawings were all made by the camera
lucida process; that they did not con-
tain any of the characteristics of his
handwriting. With regard to the QueS-
ton of dots lie claimed that those III eX-
hibits 125 and 134 were practically iden-
teal in character with the one over the
i'm the word ''Blaisdell' in the disputed
signature. Mr.. Wellington did not agree
with him and submitted those exhibits
to the jury that they mightdecide which
was correct.
Now ] want the jury at this time"
shape of this dot over the Il with that
of the large photograph. You have
stated that you find all, or nearly all, of
these dots point to the right?'
"Yes, all or nearly ALL"
'sNow is that a strange thing for
right-handed person to point dots to
right?''
Il never examined that"
sometimes you don't find any jerk
to the right in these, do your"
Sometimes"
"Wel, how is this one pointing to
one)?''
''That is an exception"
Mr.. Wellington then attacked DR..
Piper'S statement in the morning as to
the crossed lines in No. 81.
Now. Mr.. Piper, take the disputed
ID Which way do the lines cross in
the stem?''
Il can't tell, they are so obscure"
"You don't know how itDis done,
then?'
II know it is crossed and suppose it
was done by man writing right
along"
You suppose so. 1t could be traced,
couldn't it?7'
Possibly it could"
And Mr.. Wellington smiled as he Sc
cured an admission ne desired. Then
he passed another letter to the jury that
Dr.. Piper had made, and wanted them
to compare it to the original. This an
moved DR.. Piper a little, and he said it
was not fair to compare the original with
an enlargement without a glass. The
jury used glass. Then Mr.. Wellington
asked the witness how old he was. The
witness said he was seventy-One. He
was fifty-five when he commenced
studying penmanship.
Does your hand ever shake when
you make traclngS"
Every rarely" said the witness.
Then Mr.. Wellington took the witness
to the chart and he admitted that there
were marked differences in the strokes
of the genuine and disputed signatures,
but maintained that the characteristics
in Mr.. Blaisdell'S hand were so striking
in both that they were all genuine. DR..
Piper was then excused, and the court
adjourned until p. m.
non reassembling in the afternoon lido
Ramsdell, of the RamSdell Engraving
Company of Minneapolis, was placed
on the stand to describe the process Of
tracing signatures for the purpose of
Photographic engravure, and to show
that the alleged forged signature could
not possibly have been traced, as it was
a process requiring much experience
ana care TO make the copy an exact re-
production Of the original.
He said he was sure that the disputed
signature was not traced, because all of
the up strokes were smooth, and there
hN4S AAO NhA0NhSOO Va A4OSAl0lAOA AOA
stopping.
On cross examination he admitted
that a pretty good copy of signature
might be made without stopping or re-
moving the pen from the paper. but
claimed that it would not be an exact
reproduction of the original.
E.H.Hay was the next witness called,
anu in response to the summons large
man with red face and general air of
confidence and good living took the
stand. Mr.. Hay said that he resided in
Washington, had made the matter of ex-
aiming questioned handwriting his
business for twenty-five years, and is
government expert, having been fire.
quently engaged in the departments at
Washington on that subject. He said
that he was neither microscopic nor
Photographic expert. but that he knew
something about metaphysics; that he
had examined the disputed signature,
together with 100 of Mr.. BlaisdelFs adj
mitted genuine signatures, and made
the positive assertion that if j. I. Blais-
dell wrote the latter he also wrote the
former. He also said that the Ques-
toned signature was positively not a
tracing. Being asked TO give his rea-