The Portland daily press., 1891-06-10
ABOUT HANDWRITING.
An Expert Explains How Easy II Is
TO Tell Chalk from Cheese.
New York Recorder. I

Aprofession which is an old and hon
ored one. but which has not received
distinguished recognition until recently,
is that of handwriting expert This
KIND Of testimony now carries much
more weight with judge and jurymen
than it did some years ago, by the man
ner in which the testimony is given.
The expert nowadays does not ask the
court and jury to accept his private
opinion as to the. commences OF sigma
ture, but produces such proofs of the
reasons which have made him reach the
conclusion by means of diagrams, photo
graphs, etc., as to leave no doubt in their
minds.
"Every person." said Mr.. d. 7. Ames,
the famous handwriting expert the other
day, "has peculiar characteristics, and
no two handwritings are exactly alike.
Personalities enter as much into mans
penmanship as in his daily intercourse
with friends or acquaintance. The
forger, for instance, cannot know his
own habits or control his own hand so
as to set it aside entirely at will. Mere
will power can have little effect ON the
formation of letters, and even, although
he may try, the skillful forger cannot
wholly hide his own individuality.
Forgeries are more frequently confined
to single signature.
"The forger has the advantage of hay
ing before him copy upon which he
may practice until he has attained enough
skill to reproduce it, or he may make use
of the various mechanical means for Sc
curing correct outline by which he will
be guided in reproducing his copy.
Where the former method is employed
there is usually fatal lack of accuracy
as to form. The other method usually
leaves signs of the slow and hesitating
movement required for carefully follow
ing an outline, also several retouches of
the shaded lines, which when examined
under microscope are at once apparent.
Forgeries thus made may generally be
demonstrated from the very character of
the work without any reference what
ever to the general signature.
can amusing instance of the detection
of this class of simulations occurred in
my own experience some time since when
called to certain law Office for the pur-
pose of examining contested will. The
junior member of the firm took occasion
to speak disparagingly of expert exami-
nations of writing, saying that clerk
of his could copy his own signature so
closely that he was unable himself to de-
tect the difference, nor did he believe
that any expert could do so. had never
seen the writing of the lawyer or that of
his clerk. After few minutes the law
yer handed me sheet of legal cap COW
cred from top to bottom with his name,
remarking that a portion of the sig
natures had been written by himself and
a portion by his clerk, and reiterating
his belief that it was beyond the power
of an expert to determine which were
his and which the clerks.
Taking the paper in my hand I
looked at the signatures for not more
than one minute. You wrote that, that
and that I said, indicating three of the
signatures, and your clerk wrote the
rest. The lawyer admitted the correct
ness of my answer, and expressed great
surprise at its readiness and accuracy,
and asked how had determined it, /
explained that in looking down the page |
l observed that the writing of one class
of names was entirely homogeneous. In
its turns, shades, grace of line and all |
there was apparent full, natural move
ment, while in another set there were
hesitancy in the lines, angles in the place |
of round turns, shades varying in place
and degree, different slant and general
want of homogeneousness SO it was
very easy to tell them apart"