Evening star., 1923-11-21
SCHERMANN ST|RS
BLASE NEW YORK
City Finds GraphoIogis'
Wizard Entertaining Kind
of Novelty.
BY ROBERT II. SMALL.

Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK. November 21.-New
YORK must have its little excitement.
Today it is all wrought up over an
inconspicuous little man. short, bald
headed and drowsy about the eyes,
who styles himself a. psyche graph
ologist"
In plain English he reads charac-
ter by handwriting. 1t is an old art.
Men like Clifford Howard of Wash
ington, d. c., have been studying it
FOR the last quarter of a century and
have definitely established the fact
that handwriting is far better index
to character than palmistry. 1t is al
so a more difficult art than palms.
try because in delineating character
from handwriting the expert works
on a cold scent. The palmist has the
subject before him and has half the
battle won by merely observing the
subjects personality.
But 1t is all very new to New Yorl,
and there Is much excitement In the
ing claSSed as wonderful mystic.
ne Is DelllS asked TO solve all OF New
Iork's problems. He is expected to tell
the traffic experts how to make ten au-
tomobiles run where there Is room for
only one. He is expected to tell the
world the difference between Isra el
Zangwill's ideas of Zionism and the
ideas of the Jews of New York City.
Some one has said that Zangwill
wants to make Palestine a Jewish
homeland and the leaders of the
movement here want to make Jew
ish homeland in Palestine. Mr.. Zang
Will and Samuel untermeyer, the
leading opponents. may submit spec
linens of their handwriting SO that
one may distinguish the difference.
Asked to Solve Crimes.
The police of New York. sorely
pressed by highbinders. thugs and
murderers,. have turned to the psyche
one before. but were told the expert
had helped the police in Vienna
solve some of their most puzzling
crimes. and so they decided to call
in the services of New York S
visitor.
The results have been little short
of astounding. The handwriting ex-
pert, after studying letter written
by the late Joseph Bovine Elwell
rich turfman and bridge whist wiz
ard, told the open-mouthed police
that Elwell was killed "either by a
man or woman" The police nodded
gravely in assent The police also
submitted a letter written by some
one to Elwen. 1t was signed Mar
jorie." The. expert said he believed
this letter to have been written by
a man masquerading as q woman.
There is no doubt the expert analysed
manner. But the police knew all
about Elwelis character before. The
expert. under urging from the police.
tried to conjure up the scene of the
HA al in
his apartment. Then a person came
in. Again it was either a man or
woman" The psychic could not
tell which. The two were drinking
drugged and was shot to death
The handwriting expert is Rafael
Schermann:: who was born in Poland.
but who has been living lately in
Vienna. Mr.. Schermann speaks Eng
lish brokenly. When he becomes eX-
cited in Interpreting "A character he
quickly lapses into a very fluent
German and requires translator.
Many Tests Given.
Many tests of character reading
The name of the writer always is
kept a secret until after the delinea-
tion is completed. This. however.
always has been the custom with
and again the accuracy of their con-
tention that character is reflected
better in handwriting than through
the lines in the palm of the hands.
course of a moderately long life and
handwriting always reflects these
changes.
Schermann was shown the hand
writing of Police Commissioner En-
right. He said the man had strong
detective instincts and was about to
take a vacation away from all
troubles and worries. Next day the
commissioner sailed for three weeks
in Bermuda, after announcing there
was no crime wave in New York
just a group of criminal circum-
stances. that's all. However. New
York Is intrigued by it's latest dis
covery and is having grand time.