The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-18


and was now going to appear in the
Molineaux poisoning case in New York
His conclusion from microscopical ex-
animation of the signature to the will
offered as being the will of the late John
ID. Airport was that 1t was forgery,
though very excellent one, and more
dangerous by far than the one In a for
mer will offered for probate in this court
and which was withdrawn.
His first conclusion that 1t was for
gerry was from its general appearances;
it was too good; no other signature of
Allport's offered in evidence for the pur-
pose of comparison was as good, and 1T
may be doubted If he ever wrote so good
signature. *
Second, it was written with extreme
slowness as indicated by the Irregular
ity Of outline as examined under the
microscope, the pen was held lightly,
sometimes barely touching the paper
while in all genuine signatures of ALI
port there was an evident strength, the
down stroke was heavy, and Airport
nearly always wrote his signature
swiftly.
Third the signature TO the deed lack
ed life; In all genuine writing there Is
an individuality and character, while
this was dead.
Fourth, in this signature there was
an absence of pen strokes; In all gen
uine signatures of Airport there was
sufficient pressure to split the pen
Fifth, the paper under the signature
was roughened after the writing was
finished. indicating that previous pencil
marks had been erased: in rs places I'M
der a powerful microscope it was shown
that the fibers of the paper had been
torn up across the lines of writing, leav-
ing minute white spaces in the pen
marks.
Sixth, there was lead pencil mark
at the beginning of the first stroke of
the ~" Numerous slight fragments Of
graphite were discovered on the paper
surrounding the signature, indicating
that the signature had been first traced
in pencil or that pencil marks were
used for purposes of measurement, and
then erased after signature was writ
ten. ## a
Seventh, there were three straight
burrows In the signature twice as long
as the. capital letters; the first directly
up and down through the IA" another
by the side of the first 'l'and another
at different angle parallel to the long
stroke of the ''p." These were made
with a pencil and then erased and were
intended as guides to the slant Of the
letters. at
Eighth, as to the age of the writing.
His conclusion from chemical tests was
that the writing was not over six
months old, whereas the will was pur-
ported to have been written in 1896
The ink used was logwood ink. we'll
known brand Of a standard maker. AS
ink would change with age. and par
ticularly susceptible to such change
was logwood ink. SO would such change
be noticed by the application Of certain
chemicals, as indicating the length of
time that had elapsed since the writing
was done.
II: ~,
the signature of Airport when he was
sober and when intoxicated: also stated
that. every mans signature, and it was
noticeable in Allport's, changed with
advancing years. in earlier life 1t had
a tendency to be somewhat rounded,
but later became more angular
T. J. Walsh, for the prepayment Of the
will, made a masterful cross examina-
ton. but did not materially change the
testimony. One question he asked in
dicates that there may be direct con-
tradiction between Expert Tollman and
Expert Drake of the other side. Toll
man was asked that If not less than six
months ago he went to the office of Elk
pert Drake in Chicago with an article
written by an eminent expert, Ames,
wherein it was stated that no chemical
analysis could determine the age of ink.
He denied having done so, and 1t seems
highly probable from the nature Of the
question that when Drake goes on the
stand he will say that Tollman did come
to his office with such paper.
Other witnesses who have been called
and have qualified themselves as being
sufficiently familiar with Allport's sig
nature TO testify, and have expressed
the opinion that the signature on the
will offered is forgery, besides those
mentioned yesterday are M. Freeborn
of Basin, who had business dealings
"A rN,-1y n
Collins of Helena, Major John r. Mil
Ter of the American National bank of
Helena, w. H. Dickinson of the Mon
tana National bank of Helena. George
F. Ingram of Helena, who had known
Airport since '66 and had frequent COR
respondence with him. r. H. Estes of
Basin. Joseph B. Brien of Basin, Eu-
gene Ring of Basin.
The next offer of the contestants was
to show the bad character of B. c. w.
Evans of Butte. one Of the witnesses to
the alleged will. The first witness of
this Kind was L. p. Smith of Butte. but
when he was asked If he knew the
general reputation Of Evans for truth
and veracity and integrity, the matter
was objected to by counsel for prepayment
and the controversy over the matter
occupied most of the forenoon. The rrll-
ing of the court allowed such testimony
to be introduced, and Smith swore that
the reputation of Evans in Butte was
bad and the others who testified to
the same effect were d. N. Upton. J. j.
Murphy, M. F. Kennedy, Thomas A.
Burke and Mr.. Mcdonald.
Eugene Picot was called and as the
county clerk and recorder presented his
books showing that Mrs. Kelley decided
to her husband certain property in this
county, the contestants endeavoring to
show that she did SO after she had
failed to secure the property of All
port on her first administration of the
estate and when the other heirs made
themselves known in the matter.
The testimony of John Olesof Of Bur-
lington. a suburb Of Butte, was some
| what sensational and amusing, too. He
Is a Norwegian with rising injector,
and some of his answers were highly
amusing to both court and audience.
His testimony was in effect that he had
known B. c. W. Evans a long time:
that Evans frequently drew up papers