Connecticut western news., 1909-09-09
SOME GOOD ADVICE.
By T. BLAIR EATON.
[copyrlght. 1909 by American Press Asso-
 ciation1

1 NlISS Nllt LII llAA lll1A1llANiNs WI llah 1 taken an interest In me, said;
 rom. you have learned a lot of law ] here, but iu thc world you don't want ! to practice law. You want to practice common sense At least common ] sense Is three quarters of the fight. 1 There are all sorts of things in the 1 profession that certain lawyers set i great store by, such as decisions, deli 1 cate differences in law principles, ex- pert testimony. etc. Such men, if they have any success. usually land on the 1 bench, while the practical attorney i gets rich"
 1 Soon after entering upon my pro- ] fesssion Mir. Arbuckle, a very rich 1 man. gave me one of his small cases. l Involving $500. Peter Winfield had ! sued him for the amount us part of un account due. and ArbucSle claimed l that he had never ordered the goods 1 it represented. Winfield was Il small l dealer, Arbuckle n prominent capital 1 ist. When the case came to trial all | I could do was to ask for voucher. 1 To my surprise, plaintiffs counsel pro- 1 1 dering the goods. When informed my client of the fact he was as much l surprised as I. He did not remember writing such a letter and was sure i he had not written 1t. After consulta- l ton we became convinced that 1t was i a forgery. and claimed in court that it was a forgery. Winfield thereupon hired the best handwriting expert to | be had. who pronounced the document l genuine.
 How do you know that it is genu- lne?" I asked the expert
 "The question:" replied the expert, 1 looking nt mo patronizingly. involves a statement of how I reach my pro- fessional conclusions. When the doc umeHt was submitted to me I sought to determine It's dlssimilaritles from l conventional standard. Every person writes with one of class of move ments We call forearm, wrist and fin- 1 ger movements. I can tell at a glance i under what general system the writ ] ing hrs been g'cnned. "I analysed the letter before the. court. diSsected every letter and not l cd each departure from the standard. 1 Such dissimllarities are invariably found to be characteristic of the writ CT. He cannot depart from them. After analysing the letter I took up other bits of wrhlng of his as fur nished by my client and dlssected 1 them just as in the case of the letter 1 submitted to me for my opinion. l found in every one of these other speci- mems the characteristics of the letter before the court"
 How about disguised writlng?" I 1 asked.
 "In such cases the difficulty is not greatly increased. A person may sue Cessfully disguise a few letters, but fin the main his natural variations from the accepted standikd will be. unmistakable. Tn cases of disguised handwriting I must first determine the method of the disguise, separating the real from the unreal features of the dlsguiser's natural handwriting. Hav- ing determined this, the rest is easy"
 took from my pocket q package of letters.
 Here are specimens of chirogra-. phy." I said. presumed to have been written by my client. VIII you please examine them and tell me if they are genuineT
 The expert asked for time and was given till the next morning. Then he came into court and testified that of three letters had given him one was genuine and two were not. asked him to mark the letters, and he did so. I took them and, selecting the one that he had pronounced fin Arbuckle's handwriting, examined it carefully. Then l called Henry Harley.
 What is your profession, Mir liar ley?" asked.
 "Engraver."
 handed him the letter l held, told him to examine 1t and asked him if he wrote it.
 He replied that he did.
 The court, the jury and the specta-. tors pricked up their ears.
 Dismlsslng the witness. I called Ja- cob Untermeycr
 "What is your business. MT. Unter- mcyer?" I asked.
 Paper manufacturer"
 Examine the paper on which that letter is written and tell mo if you rec ognlze it."
 Ut is from small lot we have had in a loft for many years, an old water mark of our firm not now used. furnished if to you n week ago."
 That will do. Call Stephen Munger MT. Munger. did you see Henry Harley write that letter."
 "I did"
 "NThen and whcreT'
 Three days ago in your office"
 That will do. Gentlemen of the. tury, hearing of an engraver who could initiate any ones handwriting l found Mir. Harley and employed him to write this letter, which has been pro- nounccd by the expert for the plaintiff as having been written by my client. To clinch tue matter I secured some paper not in the market for years and Iin pf ysbIrI haS hant, \