The times., 1899-10-01
Prof. II. Wilson's Remember Number No sign
''''i' '6s .' ''''''' III Street N. W.
Qye)

for the dead man in all matters and to dis
pose Of his property as he saw fit was
forged The only power of attorney ever
given by Paine was in the matter of his
brothers estate. Mr.. Ames proved the for
gerry by making comparisons before jury.
Another famous case that hinged on the
testimony of handwriting experts was the
Davis viii conspiracy, where the swind-
lers came near getting away with S13 00o,-
COO Andrew j. Davis was a Massachu-
setts man. He went to California in the
late forties with a bad case Of gold fever
He made some money there and afterward
lived successfully in Iowa, Indiana, and
Michigan. Later he moved to Montana
where he accumulated a fortune of s13,-
000, 900. He died there in 1890. a single
man. His next OF kin were three broth
ers, Irwin, Calvin, and John A Davis;
four sisters and several grandchildren
For some time after his death it was un-
derstood that he died intestate and 1t was
practically agreed among the heirs to di-
vide the estate. The fact that he had left
no will was apparently settled by sew
eral friends who said that Davis had told
them shortly before his death that he had
not made a will, and by an old friend and
business associate named knight, who
said that he had made a will for Mr.. Da-
Wis q 1850, but had afterWard destroyed
il ~ Mr.. Davis command. Davis told
Knight at the time that ne would never
make another viii, as he preferred to let
the law divide his estate. Shortly after
MIR. Davis death letters of administration
on his estate were issued to John a. Da-
Tis, his brother, despite the protests OF the
other heirs. John had been administrator
for about a month when news came from
the backwoods of Davis county Iowa, that
win drawn up twenty-five years before
by Mr.. Davis, in which he becueathed all
of his property TO his dear brother
John" had been discovered. There was a
howl from the other heirs at once and
they showed that if there was one relative
who was not dear TO the dead millionaire,
it was this same brother John, with whom
he had had frequent quarrels.
The newly discovered viii left all TO John,
with the exception OF some money for the
maintenance of IT J. and Pet Davis" al
legged TO be natural children of A. ]. Davis
and a Miss Burgett. The executors named
to carry out the provisions of the will were
James Davis and his son Job, who were in
no way related TO A. ]. Davis. Both had
been dead long when the will was produced
and the only living witness was one ]. c..
Seonce. OF course the validity of the Will
was attacked. On the trial Sconce told the
ElOFy Ol now II Was uIdH1 III great uSldii
There wasn't a thing about ii that he didn'
seem to remember. The heirs alleged that
the viii was a forgery and that it was
drawn by James r. Eddy, nephew OF Job
Davis Eddy figured as the discoverer of
| the will, but il developed that neither he
nor anybody else in Davis colunty, Iowa,
had ever mentioned the subject of a will
until the news of A. ]. Davis death and
/ the fact that he had left an estate valued
] or mn G00 found &c W. GIsf +o Tauxr1
Mr. Ames was called in He first dug up
the fact that Job Davis, who Sconce said
| wrote the WILL was a man of some educa-
tion and, at any rate, a good speller. The
| spelling in the will was execrabIe. Here
are some samples: "Guive" for give.
"wherther" for whether, 'sheat for sheet.
| "shaI'' for shall, and ''warldly'' for world
ly.
Then the expert declared that the paper
on which il was written was comparatively
new but that IL had been stepped in coffee
and tobacco TO give it an antique appear
ance, also that the edges had been seal
loped with a knife or scissors and then
grated down, 10 give the appearance Of hav-
ing crumbled from age. Then the paper
had been partially carbonized by heat and
punctured with pin holes in stimulation OF
holes which often appear in the creases oi
old papers.
! AlF. ALlGS U6Al tHOhtu ALdi lNt StBud-
ture 10 the will was written before the
body of the document was put In. This
was clear from the crowding of the last
few lines and the reason for ii was OBJ
yious. II was necessary TO get a satisfac-
tory signature before writing the body o
the will By comparing the viii with two
other wills which Eddy admitted Eavina
drawn. Mr.. Ames showed the same mis-
spelling in all three OF the documents
Then he began making handwriting com
parsons and after two days he and tht
other handwriting experts employed ON tn
case convinced everybody OF the sraudu.
lent character of the viii. But one jury
man hung out for the win and couldn't b;
induced to change. So there was a dis
agreement The case was set down for
new trial, but il never came off and IL Il
understood that the legal heirs finally di
vided the millions left by A. ]. Davis
Among lawyers and legal experts hand
writing evidence is not regarded very high
~ The lawyers do not place very mucl
confidence in il, and the handwriting ex
peFts have had long struggle for recogni
ton. In a number of cases they have no
been allowed TO testify at all, but in thi
State and California, as recent events hav
shown, they have won a place, and grea
deal of attention has been. given to thei
deductions The handwriting experts them
selves claim to have their profession dew
SO fine that they can pass accurately o
all samples given 10 them II they are allow
ed reasonable time, and do moi believe
lpossfble to make a mistake. William
Rinsley, who has attained some prominenc
in the Molineux case, summed up the po
! sition Of the experts as follows:
II believe with Disraali, that nature ha
given every individual a distinct sort O
handwriting. as she has given him a pc
culiar voice and manners. Few person
who have not carefully investigated tn
. matter Of individuality In handwriting ca
r | understand how the telltale peculiarities
| which we call characteristics, are so thor
I oughly Identified with the handwriting {