Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-04-07
THE SCIENCE OF CRIME.
HOW CHEMISTRY Is SERVING THE
PURPOSE OF CRIMINALS.
All Traces OF Writing May BE he
moved From Paper-Som ih-
stances of Successful RascaiIty.


moved From Paper-Som in-
stances of Successful RascaiIty.
2RIsfINALS are now experts and,
to some degree, learned men,
~ says a New York letter TO the
Atlanta Constitution. Chemistry
serves the villain just as it does the true
scientist, and bank officers, as we'll rs
the higher grade OF detectives, have been
aware for soTe time that an epoch of
dangerous forgery has succeeded the day
of the expert sate.breaker and maske !
burglar.
Within few days a very remarkable
case has been on trial in the State of
Connecticut. A merchant OF Rhode lei
and, man of very high business stand
ing, named Peckham, was amazed last
fall when he received notification that
two notes, one for $4,000 aud another for
$1,000, were held by banks for collection,
and that he was the maker of them.
Mr.. Peckham repudiated the notes,
although he was compelled to admit that
his signature was genuine. He dec 'are1
that the body of the notes were forg-
cries.
The psyee of the note was grain
merchant named Tritt, living in Con-
necticut, and crimina. suit for forgery
was brought. The notes were submitte /
to experts; they were wri tten upon
sheets of business paper, at the top OF
which were the business cards in one
case of Mr.. Peckham's house and in the
other of Mr.. Tritt's. Mr.. Peckham
cliimed that in each case his signature
was signed by him to business letters,
aud that the body of the letters had been
bleached out by chemicals aud then a
note written in place of the CORES pond
ence.
A lew years ago it would have been
possible to have proven such bleaching
and alteration. Professor Doremus, au
expert authority, testified in court less
than year ago that where siginal writ
ing had been removed it could be repro
duced by chemical reagents. But il
chemicals failed to restore any writing,
then it might be regarded as established
that the only writing upon the paper was
that which appeared to the naked eye.
These two notes were submitted to
Frederick w. Slice, who is also an ex-
pert, and he subjected them to chemical
treatment. The paper upon which the
note for $4,000 was written under this
reagent revealed earlier writing, aud in
Mr. Peckham's handwriting. But no
treatment of the paper upon which the
$4,000 note had been written brought to
light any earlier writing. AS the frs;
trial was upon this note, aud as the only
evidence of forgery was Mr.. Peckham's
uucorroborated testimony that he had
never made the note, the case against
tho accused man failed.
But the fact that Mr.. Slice was not
able to restore earlier writing is no
longer proof that no such writing was
ever made OF that paper, and in this adj
vance in chemical knowledge lies one of
the greatest dangers to business men. A
year or so ago firm doing large in
surauce business in New York signel
three checks brought by the cashier to
them in the course of his usual business.
The checks were made payable to
another insurance company. Some tim.
after that this cashier disappeared and
no trace of him has ever been discov-
cred. 1t was then found by the officers
of the company that he had, by the use
of chemicals, obliterated the name OF
the payee on these checks and inserted
his own, aud in that way was aole to
draw the money, amounting to several
thousand dollars.
The company brought suit against the
bank, claiming that it had paid forged
checks, and Professor Doremus was
called as an expert for the bank. He
testified that if there had been oblitera.
ton of the name of the original payee it
would be established by chemical treat
ment. The checks were submitted to
such chemical treatment, but there was
no revelation of alteration.
Mr.. Slice was called as an expert. and
he testified that while Professor Dore.
mus's assertion would have besn correct
if made some months before, yet that it
was now possible to obliterate the names
on commercial paper in such way as to
defy chemical reagents, and to prove his
assertion MIR. Slice, in the presence of the
jury, wrote upon slips Of paper, then
obliterated the names by chemicals aud
Professor Doremus was unable by any
treatment to restore this writing, so that
it was then proven that chemical science
had now taught criminals how this thing
might be done, although such proof
served not to help the company, since it
could not be proven that it was done in
this case. The company was compelled
to pay the checks.
This trial has caused very great alarm
aud anxiety to business men and fol.
lowed up as it has been by decisions III
other cases, it reveals now tendency on
the part of courts which may cost bust.
ness houses many thousands of dollars,
since it puts the burden of proof of
forgery not upon the banks but upon
those who dispute commercial paper in
cases where there have been alterations.
! Mr.. Slice says that his investigations
have taught him that the marrying of
ink to paper so as to produce negotiable
bills or evidences of credit cannot be
done in such way as to prevent aItera-
, tions or forgeries with the chance very
greatly that the parties whose names or
paper are thus forged will have to stand
the loss instead OF banks.
These things have not made any public
excitement because forgeries of this kind
have not the dramatic aud sensational,
elements which used to attend great bank
burglaries. Yet this advance in criminal
knowledge is far more dangerous than
the old method OF crime, as some expert.
ences of the past few months will indi-
cate.
| A man with lnttpra nf INFORMATION