Evening star., 1933-09-24
"Questi0ned Documeufs
Continued from Thirteenth Page

pictorial aspect that is individual It is this
pictorial impression that the forger tries to
copy. and to the observer who judges sig
nature from the pictorial side only it can often
pass as genuine
The student of handwriting must see much
further than that. First he must have a
working knowledge of the mechanics of hand
writing. He realizes that the muscles that
guide the pen Of the forger are not acting
freely and naturally, but are actuated by the
Drain TO make copy. The mental action of
q person committing forgery is not the same
as that Of one signing his own name. This,
TOO may AFFECT the perfection of a forgery.
When the examiner looks at questioned sig
nature and compares it to a standard, he sees
not only the pictorial impression but also the
line quality, pen pressure strokes pen lifts,
line starts. endings and other fine details that
usually escape the notice of the casual OBJ
server and the forger. Retouching and patch
ing signature is sometimes indicative of
forger trying to perfect his work"
These examples only scratch the surface Of
the studies that must be followed to become
an authority on questioned documents" and
that is what Gulckson is fast becoming He
Is accepted into the councils where sit Albert
s. Osborn, the worlds outstanding authority
and author of number of books on the SUBJ
ject. and about dozen others (the Nation
boasts few more). He is called upon daily to
days work as a police photographer in the
dark room at headquarters is finished.
THE most recent problem OSBORN, Gulickson
and their colleagues have been working on
Is that of attempting to get typewriter manu-
facturers to make some minute change in the
shaping of two or three characters each year
so that the criminologists may have this ad-
vantage in dating" the machine typed docu-
ment comes from. Up until now various
changes in letter formation have been made
from time to time. but only in the interest OF
efficiency for the typewriter and its user. Even
these changes are noted in the specimens Of
the experts.
Not content with his studies. all of which
have been made on his own time. of course.
Guliokson thinks he'll go to school somewhere
this Winter" to learn more in chemical way
about various kinds Of inks, paper and the like.
Right now. in his home he is studying abou.
the use of ultraviolet light in bringing out
chemical erasures on documents. There's no
end to the study once you get into it." he
says.
The photographer criminologist already
knows quite little chemistry-a photographer
has to-and he has carried a camera over
most Of the country. posed. developed and
printed pictures Of many Of the Nations celeb
rites (as well as many whose pictures may be
found in any up-to-date rogue's gallery and
been manager Of Photographic supply house.
He started as news photographer in the
Northwest; went to Florida with the boom and
became head Of a publicity department: op-
Grated studio Of his own; sent out shots
OF the hurricane damage and handled railroad
photo publicity.
Incidentally, Gulickson found out who sent
him that anonymous "razzberry'' letter back
in 1927 but by the time he had it traced down
to positive identification, his ire had cooled.