The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-05-29
ABOUT HANDWRITING.
An Expert Explains How Easy 1t Is to Tie
Chalk from Cheese.

An Expert Explains How Easy 1t Is to Tell
Chalk from Cheese.
A profession which is an old and
honored one, but which has not received
distinguished recognition until recently,
is that of handwriting expert. This
kind of testimony now carries more
weight with Judge and jurymen thanit
did some years ago, by the manner in
which the testimony is given. The ex-
pert nowadays does not ask the court
and jury to accept his private opionion
as to the genuineness of a signature,
but produces such proofs of the reasons
which have made him reach the conclu-
sion by means of diagrams, photographs,
ETC., as to leave no doubt in their minds
Every person" said D. T. 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 acquaintances. The
forger, for instance, can not know his
own habits or control his own hand so
as to set it aside entirely at will. Mere
WALL power Cdu lldNt llIllC SllCCD UlAC
formation of letters. and even, although
he may try, the skillful forger cannot
wholly hide his own individuality. For
geries are more frequently confined to a
single signature. The forger has the
advantage of having before him copy
upon which he may pratice until he has
attained enough skill to reproduce it, or
he may make use of the various mechan-
zeal means for securing a correct out
line by which he will be guided in re-
producing his copy. Where the former
method is employed there is usually a
fatal lack of accuracy as to form. The
other method usually leaves signs of the
slow and hesitating movement required
for carefully following an outline, also
several retouches of the shaded lines,
which when examined under micro
scope are at once apparent. Forgeries
thus made may generally be demon
strated from the very character of the
work without any reference whatever
to the general signature
AN amusing instance of the detec-
ton of this class of simulations occurred
in my own experience some time since
when called to a certain law office for
the purpose of examining a contested
will The junior member of the firm
took occasion to speak disparagingly of
expert examinations of writing, saying
that clerk of his could copy his own
signature so closely that he was unable
himself to detect the difference, nor did
he believe that any expert could do so.
/ had never seen the writing of the law
yer or that of his clerk. After few
minutes the lawyer handed me a sheet
of legal cap covered from top to bottom
with his name. remarking that portion
of the signatures 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 looked
at the signature for not more than one
minute. You wrote that. that, and that,
said, indicating three of the signatures,
and your clerk wrote the rest The
lawyer admitted the correctness of my
answer, and expressed great surprise
at its readiness and accuracy, and asked
how had determined it. l explained
that in looking down the page l obser-
we'd 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 gener-
al want of homogeneousness. Soft was
very easy to tell them apart.-N. Y.
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