The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-01-20

to % exclusive, were genuine specimens
of the defendants handwriting. They
were submitted to Mr.. Curtiss and were
then passed around among the jury while
the expert pointed out the differences be-
tween the capital rs" and the small 'p''
in the word on the bottle and similar
letters in the authentic specimens Mr..
Curtiss used magnifying glass part of
the time in making his deductions. He
was not cross examined.
Battle of Experts.
Through the testimony of experts the
state has tried to prove that the fact
that certain letters in the address on
the box were out of alignment and that
sample work on the machine with which
the address was supposed to have been
written showed the same letters out of
alignment indicates the probability of
the defendant having written the ad-
dress. But the experts Saturday were
positive in their statement that the mat
ter of alignment depended more upon
the operator than the, machine and the
state was not able to shake their testi-
mony.
The general impression seems to be
that the state has made out weak
case in this one matter at least. The
defense has shown that there were other
machines more accessible to the defend
ant had he wished to use typewriter
and in the matter of the Identification of
the address itself experts for the de-
Tense today were as convincing in their
contention and explanations as were the
states witnesses.
Mr.. Singleton testified that the person
who wrote on the box had consid-
cradle experience with typewriting ma
chimes. DR.. Koch has had none. S. E.
Falkrut, of La Crosse, a Remington
typewriter man, gave the same testi-
mony as Mr.. Singleton in regard to de-
termining Ehe individuality of type
writers. The experts were shown a pol
icy made out on the machine about the
time the box is supposed to have been
mailed and they both declared that the
writing on the box and on the policy
showed slight difference in the color
of the ribbons and that there was also a
difference in the shading of the letters.
i Writing Is Not Alike.
Pages from DR.. Koch's account book
and from his dental register were shown
J Henry SOmsen, who identified the writ
ing on them as the handwriting of de-
PENDANT. 1t was these specimens that
the experts compared with the word
Sample" on the bottle. Mr.. Curtiss ex-
planned that the characteristic letters
in sample" were the capital SIS" and
the ''p;" that experience has proved that
other letters varied. Asked by Mr.. Som
erville whether Sample" looked as
though written in a disguised hand, the
witness answered that he saw no indi-
cation of it.
; w. w. Smith, of Sleepy Eye, banker
and foreman of the grand jury that in
dicted Koch, testified that he had had
twenty-five years experience in hand
ling commercial paper and had reason to
pay special attention to handwriting. He
testified that in his opinion sample
was not written by the person whose
handwriting was shown in the other eX-
hibit. In the cross-eXamination by
Gen. Childs, the witness admitted that
his experience in the Judging of hand
writing was confined chiefly to sigma
lures.
Emil Hage, Hanska banker, also tes-
titled that he did not believe sample
was written by the same person whose
handwriting appeared on the other ex-
hibits.
w. E. Koch testified also in his broth
er's behalf. He swore positively that
sample" was not in the defendants
handwriting, adding he never wrote so
well in his life.
1t is expected that the case will reach
the jury about Wednesday.
New Ulm, Jan. l3.-This was another
day for the defense. Most of the testi-
mony produced tended to aid the de-
PENDANT in the support of his alibi. A.
E. Koch, father of the accused, who was
on the stand yesterday afternoon, was
recalled. He testified that it was $3.50
actual time when George arrived home
He further stated that the clock was
seven minutes fast on the Sunday be-
fore the murder was committed. He had
heard the town clock strike four on
Sunday afternoon and had found that
the clock was seven minutes fast
"You looked up as soon as your son
came in and saw what time it was, did
your"
"No."
'When did you see what time it was %
"When he took off his overcoat."
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