Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1917-10-26
BY THE HANDWRITING EXPERT
John nj. Tyrrell Declares Both Suicide
Notes Not Genuine-Dream
Note McCOrmick'S

With fame achieved in two hundred
legal eonflicts Injured to the field
of battle in courts, white of hair, clean
of face, bearing the air of the master
of his business, John nj. Tyrrell an
swered to the call of the state Tues
day morning and went to the witness
stand with his large easel his crayons
and other mechanical tools of the
handwriting expert
The deck had been cleared for this
| last call of its forces by the state,
on Monday. Whether the notes fond
after the death of Ida Jennie McCOr-
mick were written by her or whether
| they were crude or clever forgeries
uttered to give color to the statment
| that she had died by her own hand,
might now be revealed. There were
| few people present to hear. The sub
| ject does not appeal to the lover of
/ the sensational or to those who look
for Photographic material.
Mccormick brought with him his big
black leather bag which he has carried
each day and his cushion for his chair.
He told the News-Budget that he was
not used to sitting down so much.
| The day was clear; the court room
was full of sunshine.
Mr.. TyrreIl ON the Stand
Mr.. Tyrrell said he was connected
with the Northwestern Mutual Life
Insurance company and lived in Mil
waukee. He had made a study of
| handwriting for thirty years. He had
| been witness as expert in over POO
cases among them the famous Mo
| lineaux murder trial, the Rice-Patrick
will case, the Town Topics blackmail-
| ing cases and many others.
Gen. Sturdevant showed him the
| two suicide notes; one found under the
carpet by Roy GOWN, the other the
note claimed to have been found as a
| result of vision by the defendant, i'm
pressed on paper tablet which had
| fallen from the inside of the dining
room table when the defendant had
followed the instructions of the dream
and in searching for the note pulled
the table apart.
| Gen. Sturdeyant asked the witness
| if he had made comparisons of the
handwriting of the deceased and the
| defendant and the notes and what
conclusion followed The witness said
he had; that one of the notes-that
was the carpet note-had been in part
| written by Mrs. Mccormick but the
other was not.
Mr.. Tyrrell then proceeded to illus
trate, with his easel and board and
copies of letters and sections of notes
compared with examples of the hand
writing of Mrs Mccormick, the diff
| ferences and discrepancies i'll the two.
| He took the dream note first
With Each Word Analysed
| AS the easel faced toward the jury
| it cut off the view of the court and
Judge Quinlan came down from the
bench and sat near the rail back of
the attorneys table. He was appar-
emily deeply interested in the testi-
mOny.
The dream note read:
Aug 8
Dear ArtIe
win SON bee
gOn cant stand
this pain
don't IVORY you
will bee better of
good by Dear
Jennie
cant cit well
god will for give me
AS furnished by Mccormick the note
| was on paper of the Red Front gro
Gerry and accorded with the paper told
about by witnesses as being the kind
Mrs. Mccormick was writing on when
she sat on the front porch that fatal
morning.
Where Discrepancies Occurred
1t is impossible to fully show the evil
dence Of Mr. Tyrrell without his dia-
grams and exhibits. His conclusions
were that the note was traced in part
| at least from other letters Of the de-
| ceased and referred to the words one
| by one as they showed in the original
| handwriting of Mrs. Mccormick. She
halways spelled Sbe" and 'soon" cor
rectly. She spelled worry, very
and not IVORY" She had no up
strokes at the finish of letters.
Her SIS were round at the top, the
| defendants sharp as shown in son"
She invariably spelled Mccormick S
name "Arthle' or ''Arthel,' never Ar
| tle" She had peculiar way Of dot
ting the SIS with a down and to the
right stroke. Seven out of the eleven
| is here were were not dotted and
none of them in the manner OF her
habit. She never had used the cap
| ital letter y" in Jennie. The ''d' in
stand has a loop at the top; she
never used loop. There was a double
stroke of the lines in the I'd" i'll
good" That showed that it had been
done to get the heavy impression She
always signed her notes and letters,
bye bye the defendant always
good by spelling the by as in the