The Portland daily press., 1894-01-18
CANNOT DISGUISE IT.
80 Says a Famous CalIigraphist About
Handwriting.

Methods Employed For Ferreting Out
Forgeries-Some Notable Cases-The
Difficulty of Proving Human Blood.
1t is the opinion of pleasant little gen.
tleman, a guest at the Gibson House, that
it is impossible for any man to successful
ly disguise his handwriting. 1t would be
just as easy to live without breathing.
While the writer might think that he
had SO altered the appearance of his callig-
raphy that it would be out of the cues
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 tie 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 a 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
arather 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 a
stoutly built gentleman, below the average
size, wears silk skullcap and resembles
a good natured schoolmaster more than any
other character.
There are many ways of ferreting out
the authors of handwriting. 1t has to be
studied for characteristics, for a man i'm
presses certain marks upon his chirography
as much as he does his language-that is,
a 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 man to first
write the letter or document which he pro-
poses to use as a deception in his natural
style Having it 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 cerc-
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 It's
the same way and have peculiar habits as
to the running together of certain letters
One of the best cases that ever had in that
line came from North Hampton, La. The
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
of his own correspondence and a page torn
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-
Tense, 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 it thousand
times. In this case when the duplicate
sheets flor 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,
and thus left an opening for their own de-
struction.
1.-THE Duluth land case was peculiar
thing. The property involved was known
as section 30, and the disputed paper land
scrip. In making the bogus entries the
conspirators forgot to fill in certain speci-
fed blanks, and when the case came to trial
tried to show that the writing had been
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 that
ought to have appeared, and thus lost their
case.
IF chemicals are used to erase writing.
the surface can never be returned to it's
pristine state. The only thing to do then
is to treat the face of the whole document
in the same way. Paper once written upon
with ink will always show traces of it. 1t
would seem as though every trace is gone,
but If the proper agent is used the writ
fv,cr ba orht