The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1908-01-13
Witnesses for Defense in
Alleged Forgery Case
Say None Was Done.
TRIAL OF
Handwriting Sharp Says sigma
ture to Russell Will Is Gen.
uine and That Aged Man
Used Extra Care in Sign
ing His Name.

without a formal opening or the part
of the defense, which is a general
denial. the trial of Mathew J. Ready.
a lawyer, charged with forging the
will of John Wells Russell, the wealthy
East Orange o-ctogenarian. was re-
sumed today before Judge Ten Eyck
and a jury drawn from a special panel
in the Court of Quarter Sessions.
The trial was suddenly halted early
Friday afternoon, when it was an
nounced that the mother of Mathew
II. Chase, a juror, was very i'll. AS
she has recovered from immediate dam
ger of death, Mr.. Chase appeared ready
for jury duty today, and the tangled
threads of the nuch-discussed will
were taken up again.
That the battle is merely one of ex-
perts on handwriting was proven by
the first step taken by the defense,
when, through Samuel Kalisch and
former Judge Thomas S. Henry. it put
Benjamin F. Kelley on the witness
stand. The prosecution, through Prose-
cutor Henry Young and Assistant
L IoCtCuNOi ffiiDdI 81 NiOAtS hoo PAD
duced David n. Carvalho and William
j. Kinsley, handwriting experts of ma
tional reputation. who were emphatic
in their declaration that the will was
a forgery.
The defense, besides Kelley, has H.
A. Spencer on hand as a like expert
to swear that the will is not a forgery.
That puts the decision up to the jury
which is to settle on which set of ex-
perts it will believe.
Mr.. Kelley, who is a benevolent-look-
ing elderly gentleman and wears strong
eyeglasses, qualified himself as an OK
pert by saying that he had examined
disputed handwriting for fully thirty
years. He said that he had been on
famous cases in Chicago, Saratoga, va
rious cities in New Jersey and in New
York, including the Molineux and the
Rice-Patrick cases.
Then he went on to tell how he had
examined the Russell will in order to
determine whether the signature was
a forgery.
II came to the conclusion" he said
emphatically, tthat the disputed sigma
ture, which I compared with other sig
natures made by Russell, vas genuine.
Il lOAtQ tl0 NAC 6OAiSA0 ohoAAD
size and space were alike"
The witness added that in his opinion
the signature to the will was made
with more care than an ordinary sig
nature to a check, and explained that
this would account for some of the
nervous tremor in the signature"
Mr.. Kelley delved deeply into details,
as he gave the further opinion that If
- - - 49, - 4raafao nc the
States experts swore, certain features
would have been more prominent, as a
person tracing a signature is apt 10
press a little more generally at the
start, as he wants to be sure that the
pen is going"
Mr.. Kelley was put through an elab-
crate cross-examination by Mr.. Young
and. admitted that at the time he nrst
made his examination of the sigma
lures submitted he did not see the So
called Dear Mary" 'etters which were
written by Russell to his h~ousekeeper,
Mary Clavin, to whom Russell is sup
posed to have left his estate. The let
tiers were put in evidence early in the
trial, which began last wednesday
morning.
In respons to questions by Mr.. Young
the expert told what he considered a
tracing of a handwriting and admit
ted with qualifications that the alleged
forgery in issue was written in a halt
ing and hesitating manner, as the ex-
perts for the State had testified.
His examinations were made chiefly
through a variety Of microscopes, he
said. He had failed to notice any
STOP or suspension of movement IN
the handwriting, also as the witnesses
for the State had testified existed.
Frequent verbal clashes between Mr..
Kalisch and Mr.. Young tended to lift
the case from the tedious plane to
which it sank ever since the experts on
handwriting had begun to air their
knowledge.