The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-09-17

forgeries-some notable tases-Ihe
Difficulty of Proving Human Blood.
1t is the opinion of pleasant little gen
tleman, guest at the Gibson House, that
It is impossible for any man to successful
ly disguise his handwriting. II would be
Just as easy to live without breathing.
While the writer might think that he
had so altered the appearance of his callg-
raphy that 1t would be out of the ques-
tion for any person to recognize it as his
work, yet the variest tyro in the art OF
Identification would have no trouble in
proving the contrary
The gentleman in question Is one of the
most famous experts in the United States
DIR. Marshall d. Ewell of Chicago, presi.
dent of the Microscopical society and dean
of the Kent Law school Of Chicago He
was one of the microscopical experts in the
celebrated Cronin murder case, was one OF
those who succeeded in demonstrating the
falsity of the alleged will of the late Sena.
tor Joseph Mcdonald of Indiana, and as.
sisted in overthrowing notable conspiracy
to seize rich mineral lands at Duluth, the
value Of the property at stake being almost
inestimable.
As he beamed benevolently from behind
rather large pair OF gold bowed specta.
cles Mr.. Ewell resembled anything rather
than an expert. The hawklike eyes and
the aquiline nose, together with the raven
black hair, were absent. Nor was the lean
and 1.-THE figure there. Mr.. Ewell is
stoutly built gentleman, below the average
size, wears silk skullcap and resembles
good natured schoolmaster more than any
other character.
"There are many ways of ferreting out
the authOra 0f hand uritinn hoo IN ha
studied for characteristics, for a man i'm.
presses certain marks upon his chirography
as much as he does his language-that is,
q person whose habits are formed does.
The muscles and nerves Of a natural writer
act almost unconsciously The moment
the thought arises in the brain they re-
| spond without further volition ON the part
OF the writer. The only way to puzzle an
expert in Identification is for a man to first
write the letter or document which he pro
| poses to use as a deception in his natural
style. Having 1t before him he can then
proceed to make copy of it, paying the
strictest attention TO each individual stroke
Of his pen, for it is the unconscious cere-
bration that he must guard against.
with this to do, it is almost impossible
for most men not to betray themselves
They write at certain angles, cross their t's
the same way and have peculiar habits as
to the running together Of certain letters
One Of the best cases that l ever had in that
line came from North Hampton, la. Che
daughter of a physician in that town had
been annoyed by receiving the most OBJ
scene and filthy letters from an anonymous
writer. Her father sent them with samples
Of the writing of suspected persons to me.
In order to test my skill he also sent some
| nfh 10 nd a
from the minutes Of medical society.
Within 10 minutes had discovered that
the person who wrote the minutes also
wrote the letters | so informed the father.
He responded that was mistaken, as the
gentleman who had written the minutes
was his business partner and above sus-
picion. At my request he came to Chi
| cago, and convinced him Of the justice of
my allegations. He went home and ac.
cused his partner of the villainy That
person broke down and confessed
"In the Mcdonald will case the type
| writer figured, the attorneys for the de.
| fense, with whom | was allied, believing
| that the last sheet of the will had been re-.
written and added to the whole. did not
believe this, but upset the forgery on an.
other common thing in Identification. The
signatures that appeared on the duplicate
copies were too exactly alike to be genuine.
No man ever writes his signature alike
twice. even though he wrote 1t thousand
times. In this case when the duplicate
sheets for The will was supposed to be
written doubly) were held up to the light
| the signatures seemed as one. This showed
that care had been taken to get them in
the same place and to write them as nearly
as possible alike. They were too careful
1a.ff ttNF, 60, ,l,a,,,
| struction.
THE Duluth land case was peculiar
thing, The property involved was known
as section 80, and the disputed paper land
scrip. In making the bogus entries the
conspirators forgot to fill In certain speci
fled blanks, and when the case came to tria
tried to show that the writing had beer
erased. Alleged experts were produced
who declared that under the microscope
they could make out the words in question
They had not been well drilled, for they
made fatal mistakes in the words thai
ought to have appeared, and thus lost theil
| case
"If chemicals are used to erase writing
the surface can never be returned to 1t,
pristine state. The only thing to do ther
Is to treat the face of the whole document
in the same way. Paper once written upoI
with ink will always show traces of it. Il
would seem as though every trace is gone
but II the proper agent Is used the writ
ing can be brought up"
In microscopy Mr.. Ewell hangs firmly t,
the theory that it is impossible to decid,
between the blood stains made with tluiC
from warm blooded animals. The micro
scopist can always tell whether or not sus
pected stains are blood, but there is no wa!