Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-08

ton in the ink in the alleged will II there
were iron In the ink 1t would show Signs Of
+ disintegratton within four or five years.
Now. said Mr.. Worthirgton. II chemical
1t would prove that the will was not more
than seven years old.
Judge Bradley decided that the test
might be made if counsel could agree as to
the word on which the test should be
made.
Mr.. Carvalho said that he would use
muriate of tin in his test. If the will were
written in India ink there would he no
change, for India ink is carbon and resists
the actions of acids
The lawyers decided that the expert
should apply his test to the word of. in
the phrase, Il appoint Mr.. Luke Devlir CT
the CITY," in the thirteenth line of the
alleged will.
The spectators in the court room watch
ed the experiment with breathless atten-
ton. MIR. CarvalhO poured drop of the
solution from little vial on to the paper
while Mr.. Blair Lee held a watch to time
the experiment When asked the result
Mr.. Carvaiho said:
My impression Is that this IS a loaded
ink. 1t is loaded with archil. compound
made from seaWeed. Archil has been us ID
as an adulterant for inks for a period CT
ten years"
only ten years."
AS far as my information goes, and
believe there is no man in the United
States better informed on the subject,
archil has not been Used for this purpose
for more than ten years"
Then would you believe that ink con-
tanning archil could have been used twenty
years ago.
No, sir
Then what do you think of this alleged
will?"
Judging by the ink alone am certain
tEat this paper could not have been writ
ten in 1873 nor for period Of more than
ten years thereafter"
"Cross-examine the Witness" said Mr.
Warrington, with the air of man who
had &C hieved decided victory.
Cross-ENamined.
In answer to questions from Mr.. Butter
worth the witness said that for sixteen
years he has been the expert upon whom
the district attorney of New York calls in
all cases where handwriting is in dispute
He has studied the subject for more than
twenty years Prior to that he was pho
tographer and still uses the art as an aid
in the investigation of handwriting He
then went on to tell of his experience and
of the methods lie Dursues.
Mr.. CarValh0 characterized Judge Holt $
| handwriting as very cratic a quality that
was Indicative CT the writer's strong indi-
viduality. Again he went over the subject
OF the peculiarities of his handwriting
without developing anything of particlIlar
interest. He told how it was that he reach
ed his conclusions when he made an inves-
uSaion of any sample of handwriting that
was submitted to him. He eaid that he al
ways tried as hard as he could to prove a
paper genuine.
The witness said that in his opinion a
legal paper is always written with much
| more care than a less important docu-
ment.
In other words" he said 1.-The more
solemn the paper the more solemn the
style
In the general writings of Judge Holt ne
SAID, there were certain differences no
tiCeabla. hut these all harmonic. while
in the alleged viii there is an inexplcable
jumbo. The name Josephine Holt Throck-
morton, for instance, is spaced differently
from any of the rest Of the document. He
thought that the putting in OF the name
was all after thought. Space was left
for this, and the same vas true of the
rame Of Major Throckmorton. In the
case of the first name the writer knew
whore to begin the word Josephine but
did not know just how much space 1t
would occupy. The result was that he
! left d larger space after the word Holt
/ he writing in the two names was differ
cTt, tGo. from that in the body of the
paper and these facts taken together cor
WINGED ii:m that the names Of Miss Throck-
morton and her father Were inIarpolatad
after tie hJdy Of the viii had been writ
ten, and probably at another sitting
Ire CroSs-eXaminatiCn of the witness was
still in progress when The Stars report
closed. i few minutes before the adjourn
ment