Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-12-26
GENUiNENESS OF LETTERS AND
SIGNATURES AS A STUDY.
Cases In Which the Testimony of These
Men Wa Important-Times When One
Has COMPOUNDED Another-Some Re-
markable Suits About Chirography.

heights, and spreads, and spaces of writ
ing. He has enlarged Photographic copies
OF the questioned writing, and makes COM
PARSONS or contrasts. He has a vocabu-
larry of technical terms about writing, and
he delivers the most emphatic opinions for
the side that employs him. Two hand
writing experts are frequently opposed to
each other.
Handwriting experts testified for many
hours in the celebrated case Of the colored
cadet Whitaker at West Point to prove
that Whitaker did and did not write GER
tain letters. Several years ago. in a trial
in this city, the ge%nuineness of a signature
Of the assistant treasurer of the United
States, Mr.. Cisco, was questioned. An ex-
pert on the witness stand protested to be
able to pick out Mr.. Cisco's signature. To
test him papers were handed to him bear
ing the writing Of Mr., Cisco's name. The
witness picked out one that he was positive
was the signature of Mr.. Cisco, but the
proof was overwhelming that Mr.. Cisco
did not write thut one, and that it was
written by a clerk in court while the wit
ness was on the stand. p
A FAMOUS SUIT.
A famous libel suit was tried in Plym-
outh, N. H. The defendant was Mrs. J. A.
Dodge, widow of the late president of the
Boston, Concord and Montreal railroad.
The charge was that she had slandered
Henry Raymond, the former confidential
secretary of her husband. Raymond was
a member of the church in high standing,
q prominent Free Mason and knight Tenn
plar. He had been the trusted secretary of
Mr.. Dodge for many years, and he was re-
lated to the family by marriage. The sis
ter of Raymond's wife got $4,000 by the
will, and Raymond and other relatives
were beneficiaries. 1t appeared that almost
while Mr.. Dodge was in the agonies Of
death Raymond got a check for s 1850, pur-
porting to be signed by Dodge, cashed ut
tho Plymouth National bank, and imme-
diately after the death of Mr.. Dodge. Ray
mond presented to the widow for payment
a note p%urporting to have been given to
Raymond by Dodge for s., 200.
The main point was that the widow had
charged that the check for e, 500 and the
note for 5000 were forgeries. Raymond
not only sued for libel, but also for the face
OF the note, and chose to try the libel suit
first. Counsel for the widow took the bold
ground that what the widow said was true,
and they had a most thorough examination
of the handwriting of q number of docu-
ments in the case.
At the close of the testimony of the ex-
pert even the counsel for Raymond were
satisfied that the note and check were for
gerles, and they consented that a verdict
should be rendered acquitting the widow,
and Raymond was subsequently held to bail
for forgery. Curiously enough, the COM
plainant had several experts ready, but the
demonstration of the forgeries was too per-
feet for contradiction. The fact that some
OF the documents relied on to sustain the
forgerics were themselves forgeries was
mainly proved by showing that some of
the words were absolutely identical with
the writing of the same words in other
documents of unquestionable authenticity.
This was considered a demonstration that
the writing was traced.
INGENUITY OF AN EXPERT,
A curious illustration of the ingenuity of
an expert was shown in the case of Redfield
against Redfield, tried at Syracuse several
years age A son of L.. H. Redfield, de-
ceased, alleged that his father had execut-
ed q paper the body of which was appar-
emily IN the handwriting of his law part
ner, Mr.. Foot. The expert obtained q con-
siderable quantity of Nj. Foot's handwrit-
ing and succeeded in finding all the words
that appeared in the questioned document,
by FASTING these words together he sue
ceeded IN producing a document in the un-
doubted handwriting of Mr.. Foot.
Inc difference was so apparent that the
questioned document vas thrown out as a
forgery and the estate saved $40, 600 and the
interest for twenty years. In this case the
jury believed the handwriting expert in
preference to the testimony of people well
acquainted with Mr.. Foot's signature.
Magnified copies of the questioned writing
showed where it had been painted over or
retouched in e%ighty-nine places or painted
over so as to resemble Mr.. Foot's writing.
A curious case of forgery occurred some
time ago, when an ingenious swindler got
possession of a check of G. W. Whitehead
for $3.50 on the First National bank, paw
able to bearer. When payment was de-
manded the check called for s., 600. The
swindler did not present the check directly,
He went first to Waters g. Son, and bought
$2,5OO worth of gold and silver for plating.
He presented the $1,000 check and asked
Waters & Son to send to the bank and get
it certified, and the paying teller did Ger
tify it. Then the swindler got his change
in a check for $4,000, payable to bearer.
When he presented this for payment at the
bank where Waters & Son kept their de-
posit, the teller threw it out because the
swindler spelled his name differently in the
Endorsement from the way Waters & Son
spelled it in the body of their check,
That saved Waters & Son the & 1890 on
their own check. They sued the First Ma
tional bank for the face of the Whitehead
check because the bank had certified it.
The banks defense was that the cei Utica
ton was only to the genuineness of the
signature, and that it was only responsible
for $40. SO, the amount of the check before
it was raised. Waters g. Son proved that
the whole check was a forgery, and that in
the writing of Whitehead's name were Mt
least twenty.seven variations, and the re.
suit was that tho First National bank had
to pay about s ,000.-New York Sun.
Clearly Habits.
Clearly habits should be a part of every
child's education; and If they have been
neglected in chat formative period Of life
let them be taken up and studied and ,prac-
ticed later on, for in this respect we are
surely "neycr too old to learn" 1t should.