Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-06-29
D[NNS)N LOSING HOPE
His Chances For Establishing
an Alibi Are Very Poor at
the Present Time
DEPENDS ON HIS SIGNATURE
elAttenpt to Prove the Signature on the
Davenport Hotel Register Forgery
il Not Likely to succeed--Attcrneys
il contestine the Point With All Their
a Power-Arguments Besuna

has apparently narrowed down to
question of his signature on the regis
Ter of the Kimball hotel at Daven-
mort. Iowa, in November, 1892. To
hiscredit the authenticity of the sig
mature, Dennison's attorneys are
straining every nerve. If the signature
Is accepted as genuine, it means that
! Dennison was in Iowa very shortly
after the robbery. and at the time that
the diamonds were dug up from the
ground, where they were buried oys
Shereliffe. The establishment of this
fact is the only point that the state OF
Iowa must prove to secure his extradi-
ton. Consequently, every crook and
curve in the signatures on the hotel
register have been subjected to most
rigid scrutiny with the intent to prove
that they were not written by Denni-
SON. Against the testimony OF three
bank experts in signatures, who stated
Monday afternoon that the signatures,
on the register and the signatures Oh
letters which Tom Dennison has ad-.
mitted on the stand that he signed.
were written by the same hand. Dem
nison's counsel yesterday introduced
three witnesses who swore to the OPP
posite effect.
S. e. Schweitzer secretary of the
Omaha Electric Light and Power Com
pany, was placed on the stand ana
stated that he did not believe that the
same man who wrote the letters wrote
the signatures on the hotel register.
Mr. Schweitzer stated that he had
been cashier as well as secretary or
the electric light company for fifteen
years and that in that capacity he had
handled a large number of checks. On
REORGANIZATION, however he said
that he had never in his life had oc-.
casion to compare handwriting. and
that the comparison of Signatures was
not a part of his business.
George Schroeder. until recently m.
the financial and credit department of
the Brandeis & Sons department store,
stated that he had had great deal Of.
experience in handling checks for the.
purpose of passing on the genGineness
OF the signatures. After examining
the hotel register and Dennison's let
Iels. Mr.. Schroeder said: 4 believe.
the signatures were made by two diff
ferent parties AS basis for his be-
lief the witness pointed out the dif-
ference in the formation of the letters
on the hotel book and those in the
other signatures. On cross examina-
ton witness said he had only had oe-
4 casion to compare handwriting about
half a dozen times.
Robert Pritchard, claim broker,
was also of the opinion that the sig
nature on the hotel register was not
written by the same man that wrote
the letters. He stated that he had
been in the claim and warrant bust
ness for about twenty years. Being
questioned by Attorney Bronze. Pritch-
ard admitted that in the course of his
\ business as claim broker he had
never had occasion TO compare hand
writing He had had some experience
in a country bank, however, in 1885.
conneil Has an Idea.
At this juncture Mr.. Cornell an
s,ounced that he had conceived a new
idea, and asked the witness il he did
not believe that the last two letters
OF the name ''Dennison" on the hotel
register had been added later and
that the original signature was Tom
Dennis" Mr.. Pritchard could not
bring himself to say that this was the
case, although repeatedly asked by
Mr.. Council If such a thing were not
possible The witness insisted that the
signature was written at one time and
by the same man. One of the lawyers
suggested afterwards, however, that II
might be proved that Dennison's'
name was Dennis" before they got
thru with him.
This was substantially all the testi-
mony that was taken at the morning
session yesterday. The court met at
$50, when it was expected that the at
torneys for the Iowa authorities would
introduce Billy" Donnelly, who was
expected to testify that Dennison went
to Davenport, Iowa, in November, 1897,
for the purpose of buying gambling
house. Attorney Thomas told the court
Monday that Donnelly had gone to
Bonesteel, 8. D.. and that he expected
him TO return yesterday morning. Mr..
Thomas went to the station to meet the
train yesterday morning and reported
[ on his return about 80 that Donnelly
had not arrived. The state of Iowa
thereupon rested it's case, with the I'M
derstanding that the testimony of Don
nelly might be introduced later If he
arrived in time.
Witnesses in Rebutta.
The Dennison witnesses, in rebuttai
were then called. Each of the three
witnesses who were placed on the
stand to discredit the hotel register
signatures were challenged by Attorney
Bronze as not being able to show that
they were, entitled to he ciassed as
handwriting experts. Tile court held
that an expert must show either that
he was familiar with the writing of the
persons investigated or that his busi-
ness had given him experience In the
comparison of handwritlngs. In each
case. however the court held that the
evidence would be accepted for what
1t was worth Parsons in the court room
Monday Afternoon and yesterday morn
ing express the opinion that the court
tfok small stock in the evidence of the
t.experts' put up by Dernison's attor-
neys, as compared with the three men
who testified Monday. The experts
called by Attorney Bronze were Richard
+. Fagan assistant cashier OF the
Commercial National bank; w. l.
Shane, paying teller OF the Omaha Ma
tional bank, and Paul w. Kuhns, assis-
tant cashier of the First National
bank Each of the three were positive
that the writing In the two cases was
+h,t re tho game hand. and none of