Evening star., 1894-03-27

that the letter ne had testified to was writ
ten by Madeline Pollard than he was as TO
the possible exact accuracy of the date of
the writing on the Christmas card. When
asked what his opinion was as to the
writing on the card if he had been told
that it had been concealed eight or nine
years in a book, he said that he could then
believe that some one had taken the card
out, written on il and put it back.
When asked If some one testified that the
card had been in book nine years, and
not taken out, whether he would believe
such testimony or have more faith in mis-
own conclusions than in the testimony, Il
prefer to leave that question to the jury
said the witness.
well. we will leave it to the jury" said
Mr.. Wilson.
Admitted Points of Dissimilarfty.
Mr.. Schaelfer was then examined as to
his method of comparing handwriting, to
establish the fact that they were written
by the same person. Witness said If he
were employed to find similarities ne would
look fer them more closely than if he were
not. He supposed that he would be infiu-
enced By desire TO prove what those who
employed him wanted; he also regretted
having to give an adverse opinion. Mr..
Wilson called the witness attention to a
letter ''C'' in the word college in the let
ter asserted to be forgery. and another
''C' in another letter by Miss Pollard and
said they were dissimilar. His attention
was called also to two letter Tvs" in the
different papers which were disSmilar. He
said he would not base a judgment that
they were written by the same a differ
ent person, on these dissimilarities. He
had examined twenty or more letters and
baSea his Judgment on the general char
acter of the writing. The witness atten-
tion was called likewise to two rs" and
said there was general similarity in them
and a particular dissimilarity. He was
I hnu leo fal a .
he had seen them in different papers. he
would not have supposed them to pe writ
ten by the same person, but ii was not i'm
possible or improbable. Mr.. Wilson went
on calling attention to other letters, to the
year in each, "1SS4." and the witness ad-
mi.ted their dissimilarity. The witness,
speaking of one of these comparisons, made
by FAR. Wilson, said If he had to base his
opinion upon the comparison of those let
ters alone, he would gravely doubt whether
the papers were written by the same per-
son.
The cross-examination of DR.. Schaeffer
was In progress when the midday recess
was taken.
The Afternoon Session.
AS Judge Bradley ascended the bench
this afternoon a bailiff placed before him
small bunch Of magnificent roses The
howers were accompanied by note. and
as the judge read 1t his usually severe
features broke into a smile, which indi-
Gated better than all else the pleasure the
flowers gave him. or course the court did
not publish the name of the donor of the
roses, but II is safe to say that the great
majority of those present believed that
they came from some one who sent them in
recognition of the courts reflections yes
terday respecting the nature of the testi-
mony in the case
Another small crowd was in attendance
when the trial was resumed after recess
today, the trial having a strong rival in
the interest of the frequenters of the court
house in trial in Judge Coles court
where a large crowd was present at the
trial OF boy charged with having COM
mitted an assault with intent to rape.
Al the afternoon session Or. Schaeffer
resumed his place upon the witness staId
and his cross-examination by Mr.. Wilson
was cci tinued as TO particular details in
the dubious letter, compared W ith .he let
ters admitted to have been written by Miss
Pollard.
He was asked by Mr.. Wilson whether in
the case Of feigned writings il was not
true that the writer would forget himself
and let some of his own pecularities creep
In. He said that such was the case. In the
case of free hanl writer such a sta;e Of
things would be particularly likely. Other
qualities OF 4 feiSnel hand were also gone
into.
Questions as to the Date.
He was shown the word July" and said
it was written by 4 person who had the
free use of the pen, and was above the
average penman. m his opinion the party
who wrote the word did not try to
change his hand wher he came to write the
figures after it. He was asked if the fig.
2' did not show the characteristics of
style Of a person not used to writing, but
said that he did not think this to be the
case. Asked about the figures 1884, ne said
he did not think they looked like an at
tempt at feigned handwriting. Mr. Wilson
pursued him with questions rapidly and in
varied form as to whether be did not think
the figures were in a cramped hand and
written differently from the July" but the
witness would not admit it. He said that
in every handwriting there were all sorts
of differences that might crop out at all
times; and the general characteristics would
usually crop out, though this depended lpon
the character of the writer and the circum-
stances under which the writing was done
When no such charact teristics appeared at
ali he would be inclined 10 believe it a
forgery.
Pecularfties Pointed Out.
Dr. Schaeffer was made to point out a
number of peculiarities in the doubtful let
ter the inclination of letters, etc, and WAS
then asked to find any instances where the
same pecuiarities occurred in the "Wessie
Brown letter" The witness said he could
uo 81 pEoCcSutu u punt OUT u
of instances of what he considered similar
ity. For example he said, he had noted a
score of cases in each where the writer had
written ''ov'' for "ou."
Mr.. Butterworth wanted to know why, IL
this evidence was for the jury, they were
not given an opportunity to note these in
stances for themselves. Mr.. Wilson re-
minded him that the letter in question was
not before the jury. but that the defense
was simply trying TO fix its identity in order
that II might go before them.
The witness then went on to point out a
number of places in the two letters where
words or portions of words were precisely
alike.
DissimiIaritiesN Noticed.
Dr. Schaeffer was tehn asked to turn to his
memoranda and tell the court what dissimi-
larities he had noted in the two letters. He
said he had noticed that the letter 20" was
a very variable one Had also made a par
capital a." and in the case of the latter
there wer many dissimilarities, as well as
similarities but the latter exceeded the
former in point of numbers. He was asked
whether, if the Wessie Brown letter had
been in the possession Of a person four
weeks. and that person had attempted to
forge the handwriting, he would be eur
prised to note similarities. He said that in
the case of a clever forgery he would expect
to find many similarities. He would look
for diSSimilarites to prove forgery.
Mr.. Wilson continued TO apply series of
questions in this line-that is, TO prove that
I in lAff ha int Of