The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-03-19
IDENTIFYING SIGNATURES.
a Man May Easily Make a Mistake
About His Own.

The general opinion is that it is an easy
matter to identity signature, and there
are few people who would not say with
positiveness that they could identity their
own signatures under almost any condi
tons. A discussion by some lawyers the
other day makes it appear that person
cannot at all times be sure Of his sigma.
ture, because of the nicely to which the
forger has brought his art.
One Of the lawyers said that no man
could safely go upon the witness stand
and swear that signature shown him
was his signature. He claimed that in
the Identification of signature a person
was largely influenced in his decision by
the quality Of the paper upon which the
signature was written and by what pre-.
coded or followed the signature. If the
name was written OH blank piece of pa.
per, like that in common use, the lawyer
claimed that witness could not swear
with any degree of positiveness that the
signature was or was not his own.
In support of his argument the lawyer
said that handwriting experts claim that
no person can write his name twice ex.
actly alike, and that in any litigation
where signatures are In dispute and two
signatures appear that are exactly alike,
the experts will pronounce one Of them
forgery. 1t may be true that in general
conformation two signatures may be
alike, but in saying that no two sigma
lures were ever made alike, the experts
mean that the loops Of the letters and the
distances between them will not be the
same, distinctions which can be deter.
mined only by system Of close measure
ments. In support Of this theory the ex-
perts take the case of farmer who Is
in the habit Of going from his house to
his barn at about the usual time every
morning. They say that not once in
hundred times will lie walk in exactly the
same tracks.
Another lawyer told of an experience
he had in the trial of case in Tolland
county % or 80 years ago. A note was
in contest, and a question was raised as
to the genuineness of the signature.
George Z. Bissel was called as hand
writing expert. He testified that the
signature on the note was genuine sig
nature. For the purpose Of testing his
ability as handwriting expert while on
the witness stand he was given piece Of
paper and asked to write his name three
times. A blank space was left between
the signatures. Mr.. Bissel did not know
for what purpose he was asked to write
his name, and after the paper had been
handed to the lawyer who examined him
it was given by the lawyer to an expert
with the pen. The expert wrote the
name of Mr.. Bissell on the paper three
times, and after this was done Mr.. Bis
sell was recalled to the witness stand,
and the paper containing the six sigma
lures was handed to him. He was asked
to point out the signatures that he had
written. He endeavored to do so, but
not one Of the signa lures he picked out
as having been written by himself was
his writing. The three selected were
written by the pen expert.
Reference was made during the con-
versation to trial which occurred in
Washington, where a will was in con-
test. Several experts on handwriting
who testified at the trial claimed that the
will was in the handwriting of the testa-
tor. 1t was proved, however, that the
entire will had been traced. One of the
relatives of the deceased had found many
Of the letters of the deceased. Words to
put into the will We're taken from the
different letters and by chemical proc
ess reproduced in the document which
made the will. John Sherman's name
was signed as one of the witnesses of the
will, and it was also proved that the sig
nature had been taken from n signature
which Mr.. Sherman had placed to an ar
ticlc in General Grants memoirs of the
War"
The conclusion which the lawyers came
to when the discussion ended was that it
IL not such an easy matter to identify
signatures as many people imagine
Hartford Courant,