The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-27
Handwriting Authorities in MoIi-
neux Case Receive $50 a Day
and Their Expenses
KN0TTY TECHNICAL
POINTS EXPLAINED
ToIman and Ames Swear That
the Prisoner Wrote the Cor
niSh and Barnet Letters

New York, Dec. 26.-The Molineux
trial was resumed today with Expert
Henry L. Tolman on the witness stand.
He said it is an infallible rule that
any writer, in either simulated or dis
simulated writings, will, somewhere in
the writings, forget himself, fail to
keep the disguise or stimulation sue
cessfulIy and allow his own pen habits
to creep in.
MIR. Tolman then went into a tech
meal explanation of the writing in one
OF the Barnet" letters. He said there
was ali almost invariable resemblance
in the formation of the initial stroke of
certain letters. 1t contained what he
termed blind leap" This, he said was
OF great Importance, in his opinion, be-
cause IT was found in all the defend
ants admitted writings and this be-
came one of the most pronounced of the
characteristics in the handwriting in
evidence. 1t was even found, he said,
where The writer had attempted to bury
the identity of his writing in the pen
habits of another.
During the examination Nh. Tolman
SAID: My conclusion is that the same
hand wrote the address of the poison
package, the bogus Cornish and Barnet
letters, and the admitted handwriting
of the defendant.
is your opinion decided?" asked
Dtstricr Attorney Osborne.
Clear and decided The defendant
wrote all of the papers in dispute"
The witness told Mr. Osborne that
when he came here first from Chicago
ne had no intimation of what was
wanted of him in the way of an opin-
ion.
Mr.. Osborne then announced that the
direct examination was completed,
ana the witness passed into the hands
OF Mr.. Weeks for oss-examinat ton
Mr.. Iolman, replying to Mr.. Weeks.
SAID he had been paid for his services
at the rate of $50 day and expenses.
he told of one case in which he had
testlnec to certain facts and later get
ting more full and sufficient documents.
he learned that he had been wrong in
MS opinion. He had acknowledged this
error and returned his fee.
When Mr.. Tolman left the stand an
other handwriting expert from San
francisco, Daniel r. Ames, was called
10 the stand and sworn. Expert Ames
SAID he had been student, teacher,
author, and publisher in the line of
handwriting for 40 years. He had tes-
titled in great many cases.
The things of which a man has no
knowledge, the witness said, he can
not avoid, and in as much as in dis
gulsed writings the mind is always in
tent OIL the formation of each letter
there is evidence of a stiff and formal
movement
The writings he examined in this
case showed such characteristics He
also said no person except a student
OF handwriting could know his own
hand and the general characteristics.
He said it has been his observation
concerning disguised handwriting. that
the writer always changed his system
OF $40 > that is, if he wrote generally
IN slanting manner he would change
When trying to disguise his writing and
FORM ms characters in a back hand or
vertical one. He then said MANY of the
letters in the disputed writing indi-
Gated by their formation that the writer
was not accustomed to forming charac-
ters at such slope. Many of them. he
SAID, were of such slant as to he al
most ridiculous.
lie said in the letters where a verti- |
cal style of writing was ATTEMPTED. the
variance In the business lines was more
~ oSIouSS VI the writer being {
less able to maintain an even line.
one of the Jurors asked at this Juno !
ture What Importance the witness at |
tached to this characteristic. Mr.. Ames
SAID in reply that he did not from this
establish identity of writing but merely
used this characteristic for comparative +
purposes. The witness said he found
that in not one of the many letters had
the writer approached in any degree
closely to the right hand margin of the
paper.
He had not found one single instance |
where the writer of both the admitted
and disputed letters had made use of
the hyphen, to divide words at the
right hand margin This he also said i
was not mark of identity but only one /
link cut out of many that pointed to a (
general conclusion from which identity
could be amply established. Following
the example of his predecessors Mr.
Ames went to the paper covered black !
board with the crayon.
Juror Martin asked the witness what
prominence he gave to the question of 1
pictorial effect which was dweit upon /
so fully by Expert Tyrrell. In reply the |
witness said that the matter of pictorial .
erect in his opinion was not the most /
important to be considered
The-court at this point adjourned IN
til tomorrow -