The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-05-22
MI UAL CESSATION
Of HOSTILITIES
Lawyers, Court and Jury
in the Fair-Craven Case
Victims of Ennui.
So There Was a Short Session
aud Then Adjournment
:. to Next Week.
Max Gumpel, the Handwriting Expert,
Gets Mix,d Up With Attorney
-; Foote Over Illustrations


The long and fatiguing work of week
showed its effects upon the attorneys, and
in fact every body else connected with the
Fair-Craven trial, yesterday, and by
mutual consent an early adjournment
was taken.
The morning session was permitted to
protrude jus. little into the afternoon
without taking the usual lunch recess
and then the whole case went over until
Monday. Judge Slack, upon whom the
strain is probably greatest, was only too
glad to, enter into the rest-giving compact.
1t was In consequence of this that ths
DANGEROUSLY awaited cross-examination OF
: Hand writing Expert Gumpel is till left a
matter for the future. Some stirring cpl
sodes are looked for when Attorney W.
". Foote for the defense gets Gumpel on
{ he eriddle. Mr.. Foote is extremely net
Ting. in his methods-in fact has the repu-
. tation OF being one of the severest cross
xaminers in the profession-and the
.-'eX pert is of a highly eXcitable tempera-
ment.
The direct examination of Gumpel by
: attorney Mitchell was resumed when
2: c9nrt opened for the morning session.
e. The expert said that one of his chief
reasons for saying that he believed the
signature OF Senator Fair to the disputed
MisSion-street deed was not genuine was
that he could not fad In 1t the character
jstic of evenness and fuency that he de-
tected in Fairs everyday writing. This,
he said, had forced him to conclude that
the deed signature had been simulated
and written very slowly and carefully.
An attempt, he thought, had been made
TO lmpart this missing characteristic 10
the alleged simulated signature by re-
touching it in places.
Gumpel called the attention of the jury
TO the initial -" in the deceased Million
aires name and TO one or two other let
tiers, and said they had been retouched.
II became quite apparent at once that
at least some Of the jurors sitting in the
case do not take everything for granted
that falls from the lips Of the handwriting
experts. The deed with the signature
GumpeI had Just been Analysing was
passed to the jury for inspection, and
with 1t the magnifying glass he had been
using.
Each one took a squint at it. Juror
Wlghtman handed the deed back to Gum
pei ana at the same time asked him this
significant question:
BY what means were you assisted IN
detecting those defects?'
Il don't quite understand you, sir,
said Gum pei, looking rather puZz ed.
have looked through or some other =
''Oh, this is the glass-the one you Just
USED" said Gumpel.
Mr.. Wightman nodded sort OF doubt
fully and sat down. Unless his express
sion belied his thoughts he hadn't seen
the garing discrepancies the experts talk
about with so much assurance.
Resumlng his narrative Gumpel said he
had discovered something peculiar outside
OF the signature IN connection with eSan-
\ - flar
September eight" and four" which
had been filled into the date-line blank,
were not written by the same hand that
wro;e the body of the document. To be
more explicit he said he thought these
particular words were written by the in
diYioual who executed the "pencil' will.
de also gave similar opinion REGARDING
The words Matte Craven" appearing in
The deed.
Gumpel said he noticed that in both OF
the signatures 10 the disputed deeds the
letter "a appearing in James and in Fair
was open at the top. This was feature
he could not find in any OF Fairs original
writings in use exemplars.
He wrote on the black board what was
intended to be fac-simile of the sigma
ture showing this defect, and in doing so
got himse into hot water. He had, not
reproduced the signature exactly, and At
torney Foote accused him OF making q
faulty drawing for the special purpose OF
leading the Jury astray.
mpel excItediy denied the impeach-
ment and the attorneys for the plaintiffs
sent uu chorus OF protests against Mr..
Foote'S remarks.
MI Foote got the original signature
from which Gumpel had made tn draw
ing and handing the paper to the jury,
asked that it be compared with the black
board ac-simile in support of his accusa-
ton.
Gumpel SAID if it were so desired he
would reproduce the signature to suit Mr..
Foote.
ION. that's it, is it?" said Mr.. Foote
ironically. Then you can do it to suit
anybody. l guess that's all wish to
know"
Mr.. Mitchell wanted Attorney Foote'S
remarks stricken from the record but the
latter gentleman insisted that they stay
there, and they did.
That erasure beneath the words Matte
Craven" in one OF the deeds, to which the
plaintiffs counsel attach so much signi6-
canoe, was now called to the attention of
Gumpel. After he had announced that he
could see it plainly, he was asked for a
theory re. arding it. HIS response was
that, in his opinion, some name had been
erased and the word Craven written over
it, The deed then went TO the jury, and
each member was given an opportunity to
search for the eTasure with the aid Of
Gumpel's glass.
After this the expert essayed to illus
trate the alleged defects in another OF the
disputed signatures OF Fair on the black
board and again got into trouble with
Mr. Fooie on account OF not reproducing
u correctly. 1t was while the discussion
of this matter was going OH that the adj
journment was taken.
James Kedon's Claim Disputed.
Martin Kedon Jr., administrator of the