The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-15

disputed signature is examined under the
microscope; it is photographed; it is thrown
upon the wall with stereopticon. And
/ after a conclusion has been arrived at from
/ long study and delicate examination OF the
writing there are other things to be consid-
| cred.
| There are several methods OF determin-
/ ing the genuiuenes5 or reverse Of a sigma
/ ture. The bank teller method is called the
/ inspiration theory" that is, something
| about the signature warns the paying teller
/ on the Instant that the signature is forg
cry. 1t may be because 1t is too much like
the genuine, or because it is not at all Ike
It. When this inspiration" seizes him,
| with a check before him, he compares the
| clerks signature with the genuine in his
book, and if ne still feels doubtful, inquiries
are made. This insplrational method does
not do for the expert who must arrive at
| bis conclusions by careful study.
When forgery is suspected, it is necessary
for the expert to determine how the forgery
| was done, Given genuine signature aud
an intelligent scouudrel, aad the signature
may be copied in a number of ways. One
way is for the intelligent sconndrel to lay
Q genuine before him and attempt to re-
produce it by initial it as closely as he
| can, slowly foil owing the outline OF every
| letter till the whole is completed. Another
way is to write TIE signature, following
| closely the style Of the genuine so many
| times that the making of it becomes
mechanical process. This is harder way
than the first, but a much more skilltul
way, for the signature has an appearance
Of genuine boldness and flowing penman-
ship that cannot be initiated by the first
method. Another wey is tracing, which
itself Is done in number of different ways.
The check to be forged may be aid
over the genuine signature and both
sheets be held against window pane while
the writing is traced. Or piece OF carbon
paper may be laid under the genuine sigma
ture and the paper upon which the forgery
is to appear be laid under the carbon and
the signature be traced with blunt stylus.
The tracing thus made upon the check or
other paper is afterward followed with
pen. Sometimes the tracing is made in
pencil and copied with pen. Sometimes,
again, the genuine signature is laid upon
| table, very thin sheet of glass is laid over
| it, and on the glass is put the paper upon
| which the forged 81 gnature is to appear, so
| that the signature will come In precisely
the right place. Tnis whole packet is
then raised to the window and the genuine
| signature is traced with pen.
The expert must have a method of de-
tecting each one Of these devices. In the
! last one, for instance. when the paper is
held against the window, its vertical posi-
| tion makes it necessary to hold the pen IN
| an unusual and unnatural way-that Is. the
| tip OF the holder must be kept elevated, or
the ink will all flow back in the pen. This
| gives an appearance TO the writing that the
| expert readily recognizes.
When he has finished his study OF the
handwriting, the expert devotes his atten-
tion to the ink and paper. Paper and INK
have sent many forger 10 the penitentiary
| through his using the wrong quality
| of paper and the wrong kind OF
ink. The will that was ostensibly
made fifty years ago, but was written on a
| kind of paper that was first made within
twenty years, is familiar story in fiction,
and such things have often happened. The
paper and ink are very important parts Of
| a document. Here is a thirty~day note, for
example, for $4,000, said to have bsen
made by John Smith. Esq. the well known
and highly respected Wall street banker.
The signature has, to the ordinary eye,
every appearance Of being genuine; but
Mr.. Smith says that he never saw the note
before and that 1t is q forgery. The original
holder OF the note, which is written upon a
piece OF ordinary foolscap paper. swears
that Mr.. Smith signed il in his presence,
while sitting in his private office.
The expert not only knows handwritings,
but he is familiar with all manner of pa
pers. His knowledge of papers alone is suf-
| ficient to entitle him to call himself an ex-
pert He puts the disputed paper under
| his powerful microscope and the texture
| and finish show him in moment that the
| paper is piece of the Constitution" brand,
! made only in the Climax mills at Holyoke,
Mass. The Climax mills people are com
municated with and they recognize their
paper and will swear to it, for although all
foolscap looks very much alike, every maker
| can recognize his own paper. Then the
| question arises, did John Smith ever have
| any Constitution" brand of paper in his
| office. He has bought all his stationery for
| many years, as he can show, from Brown &
SHOCKS, the stationers aud they never had
any Climax mills paper in their store.
| When these things are proven the first step
is taken toward showing that John Smith
| did not make the note and that the claim
ant is lying.
But there may be hitch in this chain OF
| circumstantial evidence. Then the ink Of
fers lis silent testimony. There are many
kinds of ink, and the expert is familiar with
them all. The kinds he distinguishes not by
their names, but by taeir natures. There
are chemical inks, IN which the ingredients
may be OF any color, but make black or
| fluid when combined; and there are what
| may be called natural inks, made of sub
stances that are themselves black. The ex-
pert brings out his little bottles of acids,
among which sulpburic and muriatic oc-
cupy prominent places, and takes a tiny
drop from one Of them upon the tip of a
cameps hair brush and touches
one of the letters of the
| disputed signature. The letter
| Instantly turns a pale yellow, and
| he knows that it was written with "nat-
| uraln ink, because the acid he used would
not affect a chemical ink In that way.
With that question settled, the next step is
to determine what natural ink it is-for
there are many makes of such inks. For
this purpose he produces another bottle,
but what these bottles Of chemicals contain
the expert is not inclined to tell, for his
| compounds are his trade secrets. He
knows, however, what Brown & Jones' ink
is made of, and what are the ingredients OF
johnson & Thompson's, these two repre-
senting the natural inks most commonly
| used. If this signature was written with
| the Brown & Jones ink, drop from a GER
tain bottle will give peculiar color 20 the
ink; If it is the other ink, a different color
will be indicated.
When it is thus established that a natural
ink was used, and Broker Smith shows that
he never used in his office any ink but
| Arnold's. which 10 q chemical fluid, another
strong point is made in the pro #. Occasion
ally an inkmaker produces some new ink
| that he Insists is utterly ineradicable. Nc
acid can touch it. no combination of acids
affects it. Mr.. Carvalho was experimenting
with one Of the latest of these "ineradicable'
inks when the reporter called upon him.
He had a sheet of paper that had been
! prfrtaD ,,Dop with the iuk sOma dRVa bA.