El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-06

/. "She has always been kind to us
children and is a virtuous, truthful
woman"
Handwriting Expert.
Robert Silverberg was next called by
the prosecution as handwriting ex-
pert. He testifies that he had been in
the ticket and pawn broking business
for seventeen years. He considered
himself a good expert on signatures.
He had already examined several of the
letters produced some three weeks ago
and marked them.
The various letters were offered to
him for examination. also the receipts.
After an examination he said:
They are very similar. 1 would
say they were written by the same
party. that is. the letters that l have
marked"
Judge Buckler: Il admit those spur
ious letters may have been written by
the same party. but compare them with
Mrs. Longs letters and then give us
your opinion"
After examination of the letters, the
witness testified that in his opinion
the letters admitted to be those written
by Mrs. Long were the same handwrit-
ing as the anonymous ones, and pro-
ceeded to point out the points of SINH
larity in the letters to the jury
Witness also testified that the let
tiers received by Miss Nina Long from
Mrs. Long and the anonymous letters
were of the same handwriting and were
written by the same person.
On cross examination witness said
1T was impossible for man to change
the space between the letters though he
may change the formation of the let
tiers. Judge Buckler proceeded to
show that it could be done by writing
Silververg's name with different space.
The witness replied that one word did
not count. but that a person writing
letter at length would give the same
space. The examination covered every
phase of expert knowledge of hand
writing. but the witness insisted that
there was a great similarity between
the letters of Mrs. Long and the anony-
nous letters.
In answer to the question of the ma
tire of his business as broker, Mr..
Silverberg said he loaned money at
the lowest rate of interest and sold
railroad tickets at the highest rate he
could get 1t was his business as a
pawnbroker to compare handwriting
almost every minute of the day. He
was positive that the four letters pro-
duced were written by one and the
same person.
He had been called upon a number
of times as an expert.
Another Expert.
Abraham kaplan was another expert
called by the prosecution. He testi-
fled that he had had some experience
comparing handwriting. but never
made any specially Of it. Mrs. Perry
had asked him to look at the letters
and while he had found some similar
ity in the letters he did not think there
was sufficient for him to base a state
ment upon. He did not think that he
could enlighten the jury further if he
gave the letters further examination.
The state excused him but the de-
Tense saught to retain him. The state
objected on the ground that he had
not qualified as an expert but Judge
Buckler said he had the best reputa-
ton in town as an expert
Upon the question being asked him
as to whether he considered himself an
expert he said he did not.
The defense then claimed that as
the state had called the witness they
had right to cross-examine him.
The witness, however, was excused
by the court.
John Julian.
John Julian next took the stand He
testified that he had lived in Ell Paso
for thirty years. Had had experience
as handwriting expert through four
years in the pOstoffice. He had only
had experience in a special way in
comparing handwriting by letters for
warded to him from Washington for
comparison. Consul for the defense
objected to the witness on the ground
that he had not qualified. Mr.. Julian
was excused.
Witnesses Refuse to Appear
Considerable delay was occasioned
by the refusal of two witnesses who
had been subpoened to appear in
court. The witnesses were Sam Cat
lin. and J. G. Lakeland and the court
ordered attachments issued. A. Gatlin
testified that he had had occasion to
examine handwriting a good deal. The
letters were offered him for examiHa-
ton and in answer to the question
whether they were the same handwrit-
ing replied that they might be or might
not be, but there was a Similarity all
the way through. The anonymous Jet
tiers appeared to be studied handwfit-
ing and the others were not He hoNy-
ever was not prepared to say that thu,
same person had written them.
On cross examination he said he
could not say that the handwriting Of
Mrs. Longs letters and the Anonymous
ones were the same.
The state rested and the courY ad-