The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1910-08-18
New NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Story of David Davis, LincoIn's
Circuit Judge.
Fraudulent Promissory Note Case In
Which Abe Was Concerned
Taught the Magistrate Better
81 Business Methods.
BY z. }. EpwARps.

I
First as Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States from 1852
to 1877, and then as senator from
Illinois until 1888, the late David Dav.
is, who presided over the senate fol.
lowing the accession of Chester A.
Arthur to the presidency, was for
many years prominently in the eye of
the country. But long after his name
has been forgotten as that OF Su-
preme court judge or a United States
senator, it will be remembered as that
of the Judge before whom Lincoln
tried his cases when he rode the cir
cult of Illinois. The histories of Lin
coins life are full of anecdotes telling
of Judge Davis's partially of Lin.
coin and of his eagerness to hear Lin
coins stories when the days work
was over.
got to know Judge Davis we'll In
Washington when he was senator
from Illinois. and at the time that
he went south to marry For the second
time, Travelled with him.
do you know he said to me as we
were nearing the end of the journey
ut was case with which Mr.. Lincoln
was connected that had very impor-
tant effect upon my methods of doing
business?
This particular case involved the
non-payment of a promissory note.
The note itself was in evidence and
the defendant admitted that the sig,
nature on 1t was his. But he denied
ever having written the body of the
note. He also swore that he could
not explain how 1t had got into the
hands Of the man who was suing up
on it.
ut was not an uncommon practice
for business men to sign notes In
blank, which their partners might
utilize, and that would explain the
difference between the handwriting In
the signature and in the body of the
note. 1t was written upon ordinary
letter paper-and that was not uncom-
mon in those days-but / noticed that
the strip of paper used was much mar
rover than that usually employed In
making out notes. Upon closer ex-
animation it looked to me as though
the bit of paper had been cut off the
bottom of a sheet of writing paper,
letter size. had an expert--a watch
maker, / think-make microscopical
examination of the upper edge of the
note and he testified that in his opin-
ion the paper had been cut off the
bottom of sheet OF paper with pair
of scissors.
"As a result I asked the defendant
to produce several letters which he
had written. Then l discovered that
in each case he had placed his sig
nature at the bottom of the page, sew.
eral inches below the bottom of the
latter itself, leaving plenty of space
on which note could have been writ
ten above his signature. Various rep
utable witnesses had testified as to
the defendants good character and
integrity, so 1 gave him the benefit
of the doubt and decided the case in
his favor. Afterwards l learned the
name of the man who had got hold
of one of the defendants letters, cut
off the signature and ON the two
inches of blank paper above it writ
ten in the note, which he has sold, the
defendants credit being excellent.
We'll, this case set me to thinking.
l realized that frequently signed my
name considerable space below the
bottom of letter or document. 1t
might not be easy to prove, If some
one cut off my signature and filled
in the blank paper above 1t with a
note or something, that the document
was fraudulent one. So decided to
make radical change in my methods
of writing, and from that day to this
l have always written from one edge
of the paper to the other, both across
and down, and whenever / sign my
name to a document, l place 1t so
close to the last line of the text that
1t all but runs into it, making any
interlineation between text and sigma
ture impossible. And any interlinea-
ton elsewhere is made impossible by
the fact that cover the page comp
pletely with my writing, and write
the lines as close to one another as
legibility will permit.
"This is the method I followed ali
the time I was on the Supreme bench,
and all the time have been in the
senate, and recommend it as a good
rule for any business man to adopt"
Copyright, 1903, by E. J. Edwards.)