Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1899-08-31
Wrote with His Tees
One Signature That There
Could BE No Mistakins.
~ as ~. ~ 7ss .Is az M az 5lz' 7asS
VHTITu reference to the testimony OF
wv handwriting experts in the Moli-

VA IL ii reference W INC teS'iAliOiis VI
wv handwriting experts in the Moli-
neux case the group of lawyer whowere
waiting for a jury to come in fell to
talking of autographed peculiarities,
and one of them maintained in an elab-
crate arugmcnt that not even man 6
signature could be beyond doubt, since
no man could, with certainty, swear to
his own signature at period OF several
wears after it was written. To this
some of the others took exception,
averring that a man could always tell
his own signature by sort obinstinct,
though he might be unable to offer q
reasonable explanation of how he knew
it to be his own and not forgery.
From this the discussion veered to the
manner of holding and using pen and
It's effect upon the character of the writ
ing as shown by experts. One OF the
group, middle-aged lawyer who had
taken no active part in the discussion
until it took this form, now produced
pocketbook, and, taking from ita soiled
and time-worn bit OF paper, unfolded
it and tossed it out on the table.
"There is a specimen OF writing,
said he, that have shown to number
of experts without ever having found
one who could tell me correctly the pc
culiarity of its formation. Perhaps
some of you gentlemen who are inter
ested in that sort Of thing would like
| 10 bovo n t,.;o1 ot II ~
Gathering around, the lawyers looked
at the bit of paper. 1t was inscrbed;
''Yours very truly, A. L. Mancher."
The writing was of an indescribably
nashy, dashing style, the letters being
long and narrow, with many flourishes,
and the name ending in a pyrotechnic
display of penmanship, One after an
ether the men examined it, and all
agreed that the writing was of singu-
lar type and one that would be we'll
nigh impossible to initiate with even
approximate accuracy.
My opinion of that handwriting,
said lawyer who has had much to 90
with photographic experts, would be
that it was written by a man who
hadn't the full use Of his fingers; per-
maps one whose hand was deformed by
rheumatism. There isn't any finger
motion in those words"
you're quite right" returned the
owner of the paper. 1.-THE fact is, that
isn't handwriting at ALL"
what! Engraving?" cried the law
yer, catching it up and examining it
closely. impossible! There's 4
spreading of the ink there and one
catch of pointed pen that shows it's
pen work"
'rPen work it Is" returned the other,
"but not handwriting. There's little
story connected with that bit of paper
that dates back several years, and con-
tributes one Of the most successful
identiications I've ever known"
Remembering that you are on oath, "
said an ex-judge in a professional ac-
cent, please to relate all that you
know about the writing, on the slip OF
paper / now hand YOU"
"Well, your honor" said the lawyer,
cit goes back several years to the time
when l was an express agent out in
Montana. In those days we handled a
good deal Of money out there and all
sorts Of games were put up on us to get
it, for the country was full of slick
crooks. After the company had given
up few consignments Of cash to the
wrong persons, who seemed to have eX-
cellent identifcatiops, we shut down
pretty close, and unless man had
strawberry marks all over him as per
diagram received we weren't giving up
any packages OF money that came on
from the east to bring the prodigal son
home again. AS we found out after
ward, there was leak in the office that
enabled the crooks to put up fake iden-
tiiications on us. 1t was while we were
going our slowest that there came into
the place one day man who looked
like a sickly gorilla just back from
two-weelis' jamboree. He was stunted
and nut-headed and he had big, long
arms that swung loose from his shout
ders and shock of matted beard all
over his face. With him was a
tall thin party with a bandage
over one eye and miscellaneous cuts all
over his face. Take 'em together, they
were as tough looking pair as ia
seen, even out there, and wondered II
they had some little game, or were only
on the touch.
"The gorilla came strolling up to the
counter and asked if was the express
agent. said was and asked him what
| could do for him. He seemed cool
enough, but there was little quaver in
his throat as he said: