New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1892-01-20
ABOUT EXPERT PENMEN.
HE'S "A SKILLFUL AND PATIENT
DETECTIVE.
Nobody Signs His or Her Name Twice
Exactly Alike-Training in Litho-
graphy the Preparation
fo- the Work.

/ q
fo- the Work.
What is an expert in hand writingp
Popular Imagination pictures him, at
one moment as a charlatan whose
pretensions are founded on error. and
carried out by fraud, and, at another
(When he happens to be in agreement
with that abstract quality as a SUI
premely gifted being who is able in
tuitively to decide whether this or
that signature is genuine, or whether
a certain person really did write let
ter imputed to him.
Both views are wrong. The pen
man IS a skilled. patient, and laborious
detective. His first principle is
familiar to everybody that the hand
writing is as inseparable part of the
man as his nose or his ears At the
same time, it is an important axiom Of
his that nobody signs his or her name
twice exactly alike and that ones
handwriting may vary greatly accord
ing as one writes with a steel or Quill
pen, in the light or dark, when calm
or agitated, and so on. In these
simple facts we have the ground work
OF his art Comparison-minute ex-
haustive--this is the means by which
he puts his principles into practice
This seems very easy matter, but
in reality it is anything but that. To
begin with, it is almost. if not quite,
indispensable that the expert shall
have been trained as lithographer,
much Of whose work, as everybody
knows. consists Of making fac SMILES
of letters and circulars by tracing the
original writing through thin sheet
OF prepared paper on to stone from
which the circulars that find their w ay
to our letter boxes are printed. 1t is
obvious that man so employed could
not TAIL to note every mannerism in
hand, and that if kept constantly at
work, he would very soon draw up in
his own mind a philosophy of hand
writing.
Having had this training. then, the
penman knows whore to look for the
peculiarities of handwritin g-the
Jennings, the slope, the formation of
certain letters etc. By the aid of a
powerful magnifying glass he care
fully scrutinizes one document what
ever it may be, until he is familiar
with its characteristics. Then he
looks for corresponding characteris-
tics in the other document or docu-
ments and follows up a clue until he
runs it to earth. In due course he
proceeds to draw up his report which
is often veritable curiosity. Upon
this point Charles Reade's powerful
story, Foul Play" may be consulted
with advantage. for it contains a. re-
port made for the author by a we'll
known living expert. When great is
sues are at stake, however the docu-
ment is OF a much more formidable ma
ture than that given in the novel.
The expert draws up on sheets of
tracing paper. fastened to q white sur.
face, two columns of corresponding
peculiarities-one from the false
writing, the other from the real writ
ing of the person suspected-and to
each entry he attaches d reference in
red ink showing whence it was taken.
Experts have much work that no.
body sees or hears Of save themselves
and their employers. says the Saturday
Evening Post. OF matrimonial souab-
bles there is no end and penmen are
constantly being called upon to Danish
or confirm suspicious. Then wills
are documents, the authenticity of
which, in about fifty cases out of every
hundred somebody or other is pretty
sure to impugn.
Again romantic young lady of a
calculating nature and it is odd. BY
the-bye, how often the two qualities,
SO opposed in themselves. are found
together, is anxious to know whether
Alphonse really did send her certain
valentine, in which 'love'' rhymes to
dove y as of yore or whether after
ALL it came from young Jenkins, the
lawyers clerk, who has no expecta-
tions beyond those common to the
entire human race. Somebody, too,
takes offence at one of those monstrous
colored productions Qknown to the
little boys We believe as ..long uns''1
and wishes to know the name of the
sender, not for publicity but as a
guarantee of good faith. So it hap
pens that every February sees little
heap of such literature lying on the
desk of the expert. OF all such work
or, at least the greater portion OF
it. the outside public know nothing