Arizona republican., 1909-12-31

ant subjects of the day." and that interest in disputed handwriting and writing of all kinds is being rapidly developed and is a study and re- search with which the banker and the business man of the future must and will be perfectly familiar.
 Mr. Lavay and all other hand
 writing experts hold that ''handwrit- ing is a gesture of the mind," and it is by bearing this fact in mind that they are often able to detect forgeries. Mir Lavay tells us that persons handwriting is really part of himself. It is an expression of a personality and his character. and is as characteristic of his general his voice. No two persons write ex- actly alike. notwithstanding that hundreds of thousands of people learned to write from the same copy books and were taught to form their letters in precisely the same way. Of all the billions of people who have lived on the earth, no two have ever been seen with faces precisely alike, and it is contended that the handwriting expert never fails to detect differences in the writing of any two people.
 On the subject of disputed hand writing MT. Lavay points out that when comparing a disputed signature with a series of admittedly genuine signatures of the same person. the general appearance and pictorial eff feet of the writing will suggest, as the measure of resemblances or diff ferences predominates. an impression upon the mind of the examiner as to the genuine or forged character general resemblance must be sec ondary factor, and the fact that two signatures look alike is not always evidence that they were written by the same person. Reference is made to the fact that there are many con- ditions affecting the production Of signatures habitually and uniformly apart from the causes which prevent person from writing signatures twice precisely alike. The effects of fatigue. excitement, haste, or the use of an unfamiliar pen, are well known conditions operating to materially af- feet the general appearance of the writing. and many have been, in one form or another. an attendant cause when the questioned signature was produced.
 Indeed. the fact that man never writes two signatures precisely alike is a guiding fact which all experts keep in mind. The forger frequently traps himself by making an exact CODY of genuine signature. In perpetrating forgery the mind, MT. Lavay says, instead of being occu- pied in the usual function of sup plying matter to be recorded, devotes it's special attention to superintend- ence of the hand, directing its move ments so that the hand no longer glides naturally and automatically ever the paper. but moves slowly, with d Hawking. vacillating motion as the eye passes to and from the copy to the pen, moving under the specific control of the will While tho urtrained observer might pro- nounce the product a genuine siG
 nature because of its precise relation to the admitted signature, the ex- pert finds evidence of the forgery in the formal, broken, nervous hhes' the uneven flow of the ink and the often retouched lines and shades These evidences are unmlstakapie when studied with a microscope also further evidence is adduced by careful comparison of the dis- puted handwriting. noting the pen pressure. or absence of any Of the delicate. unconscious forms, relations, shades cts. characteristic of the stand ard writing. Free hand forgery is the most dangerous, but the expert finds evidence of free hand forgery and | tracing in the greater liability or the forger to inject into the writing his own unconscious habit and to fail to reproduce with sufficient ac- curacv that of the original writing; so that when subjected to rigid anal ysis and microscopic inspection the spuriousness is made manifest and demonstrable. Hence specific at tention should be given to any hesi- | tancy in form or movement in trac- ing which is apparent in angularity or change of direction of lines, changed relations and proportions of letters. slant of the writing, its mechanical arrangement, disconnect- ed lines, retouched shades, etc.
 Some of the principal tests applied, it is stated, to determine the gen uineness of handwriting are these: [ ( t..