Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-12-30
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
INDIVIDUALITY IN TYPEWRlTiNcs.
Many Little Pecullarities in the Work Of
Different Persons. =s,

Many Little Pecullarities in the Work Of
Different Persons. zs..
The typewriter page has no individual
ity for most persons, but a study of the
subject shows many characteristics by
which the work of different machines and
different operators can be distinguished
This field presents fewer opportunities than
does that Of the handwriting expert, but Is,
nevertheless, of some interest and impor-
tance. In legal contest the whole case
might hinge on the authenticity of a page
of typewriting.
court not long ago to find out whether one
page of the long typewritten document in
evidence had not been replaced with an
other in which some of the words had been
changed. In this case of course the sus-
pected page was written on the same lind
of machine as the others. The difference
between instruments of the various manu-
facturers was therefore of no service
An expert stenographer and teacher of
typewriting was called as a witness. In
reply to questions put by counsel he said
that as a general rule it was not difficult
for an expert to distinguish between the
writing done upon different machines of
the same manufacture. Two Instruments
might write so nearly alike as to make it
impossible to determine upon which of
them certain sheet was turned out. Still
there were many little marks Of variance
in the writing of different machines, and
even of the same one, at different times or
when used by different persons. The wit
ness did not believe that the page in ques-
tion was written at the same time that the
others were, nor by the same person. All
might have been written on the same ma
chine, but not consecutively.
The reasons given for this conclusion
were, in the first place, that the type used
on page seventeen was clean; on the others
many of the small letters were clogped up.
The sc" and "s' were especially bad, The
ribbon used for page II was not so much
worn as that for the rest of the docu-
ment, and the writing was more uniform
in color; the latter fact was in part due to
the superior skill of the writer of the single
page. The letters were in better alignment
on that page than on the others, in which
the It" and "e" were badly out of their
proper position.
In page II the 'i'' was accurately GEN.
tered; in the rest it was to the left of
where it should be. The ''p'' was upright
on the suspected sheet, and leaned triae
IN tne Others, being turned In the bar
The one sheet, also, had wider margin by
two spaces than those which followed and
preceded it.
When asked why he believed that diff.
ferent persons wrote the sheets he said
that the operator who turned out page
II was more expert than the other. The
formers touch was more uniform: none of
his letters seemed to override each other
as was sometimes, the case on the other
pages. His punctuation marks did not
perforate the paper. The indentations of
his paragraphs were six spaces, against
five on the rest of the document. He used
three spaces between his sentences: the
others only two. The first made space
after comma; the latter did not.
The writer of the bulk of the paper was
less acquainted with the rules of punctua-
tion than was the other man. One man
always put a period and colon after
the words Ito w.t." the other used only
comma. For the figure in the paging of
sheet II a lower case 81" was used; on the
other sheets capital H." The jury could
hardly help agreeing with the experts
conclusions.-New York Tribune.