Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-15
EXPERT VS.. EXPERT
Another Lecture on the Chemistry
of the Holt Will.
PROF. HODGES COULD FIND NO ARCHIL
Major Throckmorton Contradicts
Mrs. Briggs Story.
DRAWING TO A CLOSE

The first witness called by the caveatees
in rebuttal this morning was Mr.. s. A.
Manuel, the proprietor of the Hotel Var
num- which is adjacent to the Holt mansion
on New Jersey avenue southeast. He tes-
tilted that in the spring of 1894 Mr.. Luke
Devlin came into his Office and asked for
blank card. He left ostensbly to call
upon Judge Holt, and the last he saw of
Mr.. Devlin was when he was going up the
steps of the judges house He did not see
him enter or come away
Mr.. Chas. Baum, a dealer in new and
secondhand books, was then called to
identify an old family Bible which he pur-
chased at the sale of Judge Hollis library.
The Bible was then placed in evidence. but
for what purpose was not made apparent.
Mr.. Darlington then recalled Major
Throckmorton and asked him as to an in
cfdent which occurred at the White House,
according to the testimony Of Mrs Briggs.
That lady testified, while on the stand,
that in President Arthur's administration
she accompanied Judge Holt to reception
at the White House. She said that Major
Ihrockmorton came up to speak to them,
but Judge Holt turned his back upon him
and refused to recognize him in any way.
In answer to question from Mr.. OAR
hngton, Maj Throckmorton said that no
such incident ever occurred. He further
stated that he did not attend reception
during the Arthur administration. When
Mr.. Hayes was President Judge Holt az
companied his mother, his wife and him.
self to reception. The next one he at
tended was during Mr.. Clevelabd's first adj
minfstration, and on that occasion he did
not see the Judge at all.
The Major Denies.
The major then testified in some detail
as to the acquaintance he bad had with
Mr.. Devln. He said that he had known
Mr.. Devlin for thirty-cno years, and had
seen him frequently about Judge Hollis
Office. Since 1885, he said, he had seen Mr.
Ievlin but three four times up to the
time of the finding of the alleged will
On cross-eXamination Maj. Throckmorton
sad that he rememt cred that en- the even
ing OF the day the will was found a New
York correspondent of the Washington
Post called upon him at his house in New
YORK. To that reporter he said that he had
always believed that viii was in ex-
istence and tina: the finding of the will sim
ply bore out the correctness of his theory
He said that the judge always very
friendly toward his daughter Josephine
hut that he would not have been very
much surprised if the judge lad not left
her a cent. He admitted the truth of part
or the interview, but denied the bulk of it
absolutely.
He denied, for example, that he ever tod
the reporter that Judge and Mrs. Holt had
introduced Miss Josephine to Washington
society. Mrs. Holt died " lille Miss Throck-
morton vas little girl, and could not have
done anything of the sort.
On redirect the witr ess was asked as to
what he really did say on the occasion of
that interview
Well" said the majcr. by way of intro
duction. for the last four or five years re-
porters have been the bane of my exist
ence"
Il object" cut in Mr. Worthington. THE
reporters are not represented by counsel in
this case
Judge Bradley decided that the newspa-
per men were not on trial, and ordered
that the answer be stricken from the rec
ord.
The major then said that when the re-
porter called upon him he said that he
knew nothing about the finding of the will.
porter told him more about the case-a
good deal more-than he knew then
The o., ly thing l told him. said the
witness, was that I always thought that
reason, l thought the judge would have
done 1t SO as to provide for Miss Lizzie
Hynes, who had always been his ward
Julius A. Truesdell, a reporter for The
Evening Star, was called to state his req
election of statements made to him by
George Johnson. Secretary Carisles coach
man, who was formerly coachman for
Judge Holt. Mr.. Truesdell said johnson
that he had heard Judge Holt say that
not a dollar of his property should so to
any relative of his who abused him for
his loyalty. He also said that johnson
should provide for Miss Lizzie Hynes
There was no cross-examiuatio ton OF Mr.
Truesdelrs testimony.
Presence of ArchiI.
Mr.. Harrison B. Hodges, who is in
charge Of the department of chemical and
physical tests in the Southern railway,
was the next witness called for the cavea-
tees He testified that he studied chem
istry at the universities Of Bonn Heidel-
berg and Leipsic, and was for four years
professor of chemistry at Harvard He re-
signed In 1880 to take the position of
chemist in the Carter's Ink Company. In
the employ of that company he made
chemical analyses not only of all the raw
materials used in his factory but of all
the inks that he could get hold of from
this country and from Europe
Mr.. Hodges said that in his opinion all
the literature on the subject of inks is
thoroughly unreliable as each manufac
turer endeavors to keep his own recipe an
absolute secret.
The witness was then questioned as to
the chemical qus lities of archil This was
Tor the purpose of rebutting the testimony
OF Expert Carvalho, who stated that n
chemical test of the ink used in writing the
a aIe VIII showed the presence Of archl.
This substance. he said, was derived from
burnt seaweed. aid had been used as an
adulterant for ink only for about ten wears
Mr.. Hodges, on the contrary said that
archil Is derived from lichens and not from
seaweed. He had never heard of its he
ing used as an adulterant for inks, and did
not believe that 1t was ever SO used. 1t is
not easily obtainable, the witness saving
that he had been unable to get any ono
tations on it in the New York market. nor
could he find any Of it in the drug stores
IN this city So far from being a recent
discovery. he said, archil is supposed to
have been known to the ancient Greeks
and Romans OF recent years, however.
the aniline dyes have almost completely
supplsnted it.
In answer to a question from Mr., But
terworth, the witness said that in his opin-
ion 1t was impossible to detect the presence
of archil in the ink by applying muriate of
tin to any writing. He said that the re-
suits given by other ingredients Of ink.
when treated with muriate Of tin, are so
similar to the results obtained when ar
chill is present that 1t Is physical i'm
possibility to distinguish between them
Archil is red dye, and if it were used in
ink at all /, would be used with red inks.
Mr.. Hodges was then examined at some
length as to the chemical makeup of
the various classes of ink known to COM
merce now and in 1873. He was asked
as to what conclusion he would draw If
in his experiments with ink he should dis
cover the presence of archil in an ink. He
said that he would be Of the opinion that
the ink must have been made prior to the