Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1913-01-27
LIKE PATRICK CASE
Mrs. Hetty Green Was Actor in
Rowland win Affair.
Charge Of Forgery Was Msde-Fact
That Signatures Were identieaIiy
Alike Alleged to Have Proved
They Were Not Genuine.

| New York.-Did you ever hear. the
story Of Sylvia Ann Howland's viii?
Mrs. Hetty Green. today's queen Of
finance, was one OF the actors in this
6rst great viii case in America The
story IS fifty years old, but it has
| dramatic interest because in certain
features it is analogous TO the case Of
| Albert Patrick, recently pardoned
! from Sing Sing by Governor Dix. Il
was ia the contest of the Howland
case that handwriting experts were
hrst used to effect before an American
court The next similar case was that
Of Millionaire Rice's viii, in which Pat
rick appeared as claimant 1t is
worth noting that the methods of the
handwriting experts seem not to have
advanced measurably In half CEN
tury. They have been refined, per
haps. but otherwise they have been al
tered very little Even in their diff
ferences the experts OF today resemble
demonstrate that the thinking appa-
ratus Of all the other sides experts
have been clogged by blue mud
Patrick owed his four times repeat
ed death sentence to the handwriting
experts. The states case on his in
dictment for murder was technically
weak II rested on the confession Of
Valet Jones that he had chloroformed
Rice at Patricks orders But the in
dictment was dramatically strong, be-
cause the experts proved conclusively
that Rice's will had been forged. Each
Of the four pages of this document
bore a signature which was presum-
ably that of Rice
The experts showed that these four.
signatures we're ldentical-so adj
mirably Identical that when superim-
posed each fitted the other to the
thickness of an eyelash. The experts
contended that no two genuine sigma
lures are ever just alike They even
found the true signature from which
the four false ones had been traced,
and found that on the day Rice was
supposed to have signed the viii he
had signed five other documents. The
five genuine signatures differed widely
from each other and from the four
forged ones
Sylvia Ann Rowland, an aged spin
ster. died in New Bedford Mass, IN
1863, leaving an estate of more than
81, ,0O0, 600 Two wills were produced
In the will of 1868 her niece and com
panion, Hetty Robinson. afterwari
known as Hetty Green, was generous
" remembered. BY the will of 1860
IJrsf,, ID nobfv-o,, g,bn~ftod ,,~o,tsc,gf,,
all 1t consisted of a single page,
marked second page" inserted after
the first page of an admittedly genu-
inc earlier will Miss Robinson testi
fed that Miss Howland had dictated
this second page" tc her In dupi-
cate Both pages were in Miss Robin
sons writing, but each bore the sig
nature of Miss Rowland. The bene-
ficiaries under the will of 1863 charged
that the signatures on this duplicated
second page" had been forged by
Miss Robinson. Every handwriting
expert of note in the United States
was engaged.
Through experts Miss Robinson met
the contentious of the defense, point
for point. statement for statement.
She is supposed to have spent s150,000
for counsel and experts, that being
by far the greatest sum ever expended
for such employment in an American
law suit up to that time. In the end
compromise was reached. This com
promise, according to the Law Report
er. lis understood to be the with
drawal of the complainant's appeal on
payment of her expenses, costs and
counsel fees, etc. The will Of 1863 re-
wains the will of Sylvia Ann How
land