The San Francisco call., 1910-09-11

mark OF the erasing chemical. Again he ran brush
across the place. Presto the black splotch reap
peared
Nothing wonderful about that" remarked the
worker OF the trick Everybody has heard of in
visible ink. But let tell you a story
dc looked up from his desk and the keen eyes be-
hind the spectacles darted quick glances about the
shabby ROOM room Uttered with piles OF dusty
books file cases and papers innumerable bottles of
inks and chemicals and curious bits of evidence of
half forgotten crimes that had once set the world
Nuessing In the dim light that glimmered in from a
gloomy court through grimy windows there
weird age old look about the place, though the old
time building in lower Broadway that housed IT mes
tied between strictly up to date skyscrapers, with
their spck and span Offices.
Look over there at that framed document hanging
the wall It bears the forged signature Of Thomas
NJ Quackenbush Upon that paper I used the same
reagent that Just now brought back the splotch of
ink and it upset the claim OF a in San Fran
cisco a million dollars
:" why? Well, here is the story in nutshell.
Cuackenbush, who was 90 years old, lay dying. Mrs.
Nancy Ann Abbott with whom he boarded, produced
that paper you hanging there which purported to
be common law marriage contract with him, and
thereupou sought to take charge of his affairs. His
lawyer protested and Quackenbush denied that he had
signed the document Haste required the
doctor said the old man couldn't live a week His
lawyer brought the document TO me, for I happened
to be in San Francisco the time the Fair will
case.
II Is his signature, [ said.
'Impossibler cried the lawyer
But said L II was another document he signed"
FEATHERED INK
The ink had feathered, showing that the paper
had been wetted But the feathering Quacken-
Nbash's signature had been put with fine pen to
make 1t compare with the body OF the document
What the natural conclusion? Why evidently
that an erasng auid had been used the paper and
that the marriage contract had then been substituted
for what had been wiped
Now. an erasing fluid merely changes the black
oxide Of iron in the ink to white, making it invisible
against white paper. On the other hand, sulphide
OF ammonium restores the white oxide 70 black The
case came 70 trial In the presence of the court
.:rubbed sulph:de of ammonium that document.
And from behind the marriage contract there
into view-what? receipt You don't see it
there now for a restored oxide remains black only
hail hour but half minute would have been long
enough to ruin the womans chances. Quackenbush
left 100000 II she had proved her claim she
would have received million her widows share
She didn't know that erased ink could come back"
She didn't know There is always something that
may become OF vital importance that the perperator
= of crime doesn't know-some little trivial thing
like not, yet far reaching indeed in the chain of
deduction it develops if the searching of the in
@vestigator of mysteries ever discovers it.
an investigator OF mysteries His profession is
new that one must coin name for it He calls him
sell a handwriting expert, examiner Of paper, OF
tstpewritten documents, OF ancient manuscripts,
expert In inks an antiquarian Before long there will
be one name describe his profession but there isn't
now, unless it be modern detective science Even
master Of mysteries he might be called, little
escapes him in his search He is Sherlock Holmes
come to real lie, the detective, beside whom the
men OF Mulberry street and Scotland Yard like
mere children the game. He is the forerunner OF
class OF experts OF the future who may be able
70 solve not only deep mysteries OF their own time
but Of the past as we'll Already he is deving back
into the dust OF dead centuries, assisting with the
antiquarian and genealogical branch Of his compi-
Gated profession in the popular hunt for ancestors
AN INVINCIBLE CORPS
There are not many of him now. In few years
there may be a hundred
"And then ultimately" declared the man in the
spectacles, there viii be corps OF us each spe
calst one line OF work-an almost invncible corps
in the solving of crimes AS it is now there too
many branches OF this detective work for to
handle"
Consider some Of the miracles this newly evolved
master of mysteries can perform already There
that curious patent in Washington, for example
IN 1908 was discovered in the United States patent
Office that interpretations had been made in appli-
cs-z8n for patent the tungsten electric lamp.
Certain words had been inserted between lines here
and there in the application with the intention of
running its chances of being granted. The examiner
Of typewriter manuscripts who called into the
case saw at glance that the interpretations had been
made with different make of typewriter to the one
which the original application had been written.
trough his magnifying glass he saw that the types
5n the machines almost identical but there
was slight difference in the curl of the small r
Il difference of scarcely than the width OF
period mark, but il damning evidence.
The expert then discovered that the insertions had
been made with the machine of Ned Barton, patent
examiner, and that they bore his personal char
scteristics OF writing. The result was that Barton
sent 10 prison.