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DISPUTED HANDWRITING
An Exhaustive, Valuable, and Comprehensive Work upon One of the Most
Important Subjects of To-day. With Illustrations and Expositions for
the Detection and Study of Forgery by Handwriting of All Kinds
by
JEROME B. LAVAY
The first work of the kind ever published in the United States.
For the Protection of America's Banks and Business Houses.
1909
"Handwriting is a gesture of the mind"
TO THE AMERICAN BANKERS' ASSOCIATION
THAT POWERFUL AGENCY WHICH HAS
ELEVATED THE STANDARD OF BANKING IN THE UNITED STATES
AND AN INSTITUTION THAT FOLLOWS ALL WRONGDOERS
AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE FRATERNITY
RELENTLESSLY AND SUCCESSFULLY
THIS WORK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
HOW TO STUDY FORGED AND DISPUTED SIGNATURES
All Titles Depend Upon the Genuineness of Signatures--Comparing
Genuine with Disputed Signatures--A Word about Fac-simile
Signatures--Process of Evolving a Signature--Evidence of
Experience in Handling or Mishandling a Pen--Signature Most
Difficult to Read--Simulation of Signature by Expert Penman--Hard
to Imitate an Untrained Hand--A Well-Known Banker Presents Some
Valuable Points--Perfectly Imitated Writings and Signatures--Bunglingly
Executed Forgeries--The Application of Chemical Tests--Rules of
Courts on Disputed Signatures--Forgers Giving Appearance of Age
to Paper and Ink--Proving the Falsity of Testimony--Determining
the Genuineness or Falsity by Anatomy or Skeleton--Making a
Magnified Copy of a Signature--Effectiveness of the Photograph
Process--Deception the Eye Will Not Detect--When Pen Strokes
Cross Each Other--Experimenting With Crossed Lines--Signatures
Written With Different Inks--Deciding Order of Sequence in
Writing--An Important and Interesting Subject for Bankers--Determining
the Genuineness of a Written Document--Ingenuity of Rogues Constantly
Takes New Forms--A Systematic Analysis Will Detect Disputed Signatures
CHAPTER II
FORGERY BY TRACING
Forgeries Perpetrated by the Aid of Tracing a Common and Dangerous
Method--Using Transparent Tracing Paper--How the Movements are
Directed--Formal, Broken and Nervous Lines--Retouched Lines
and Shades--Tracing Usually Presents a Close Resemblance to the
Genuine--Traced Forgeries Not Exact Duplicates of Their Originals--The
Danger of an Exact Duplication--Forgers Usually Unable to Exactly
Reproduce Tracing--Using Pencil or Carbon-Guided Lines--Retouching
Revealed under the Microscope--Tracing with Pen and Ink Over a
Transparency--Making a Practice and Study of Signatures--Forgeries
and Tracings Made by Skillful Imitators Most Difficult of
Detection--Free-Hand Forgery and Tracing--A Few Important Matters to
Observe in Detecting Forgery by Tracing--Photographs a Great Aid in
Detecting Tracing--How to Compare Imitated and Traced
Writing--Furrows Traced by Pen Nibs--Tracing Made by an Untrained
Hand--Tracing with Pen and Ink Over a Transparency--Internal
Evidence of Forgery by Tracing--Forgeries Made by Skillful
Imitators--How to Determine Evidences of Forgery by Tracing--Remains
of Tracings--Examining Paper in Transmitted Light--Freely Written
Tracings--A Dangerous Method of Forgery
CHAPTER III
HOW FORGERS REPRODUCE SIGNATURES
Characteristics Appearing in Forged Signatures--Conclusions Reached
by Careful Examinations--Signatures Written with Little Effort to
Imitate--What a Clever Forger Can Do--Most Common Forgeries of
Signatures--Reproducing a Signature over a Plate of Glass--A Window
Frame Scheme for Reproducing Signatures--How the Paper is Held
and the Ink Applied--How a Genuine Signature is Placed and Used--A
Forger's Process of Tracing a Signature--How to Detect Earmarks
of Fraud in a Reproduced Signature--Prominent Features of Signatures
Reproduced--Method Resorted to by Novices in Forging
Signatures--Conditions Appearing in All Traced Signatures--Reproduction
of Signatures Adopted by Expert Forgers--Making a Lead-Pencil Copy of
a Signature--Erasing Pencil Signatures Always Discoverable by the Aid
of a Microscope--Appearances and Conditions in Traced Signatures--How
to Tell a Traced Signature--All the Details Employed to Reproduce a
Signature Given--Features in Which Forgers are Careless--Handling
of the Pen Often Leads to Detection--A Noted Characteristic of
Reproduced Signatures--Want of Proportion in Writing Names Should Be
Studied--Rules to Be Followed in Examining Signatures--System Employed
by Experts in Studying Proof of Reproduced Signatures--Bankers and
Business Men Should Avoid Careless Signatures
CHAPTER IV
ERASURES, ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS
What Erasure Means--The English Law--What a Fraudulent Alteration
Means--Altered or Erased Parts Considered--Memoranda of Alterations
Should Always Accompany Paper Changed--How Added Words Should
be Treated--How to Erase Words and Lines Without Creating
Suspicion--Writing Over an Erasure--How to Determine Whether or
Not Erasures or Alterations Have Been Made--Additions and
Interlineations--What to Apply to the Suspected Document--The
Alcohol Test Absolute--How to Tell which of Crossing Ink Lines
Were Made First--Ink and Pencil Alterations and Erasures--Treating
Paper to Determine Erasures, Alterations and Additions--Appearance of
Paper Treated as Directed--Paper That Does Not Reveal Tampering--How
Removal of Characters From a Paper is Affected--Easy Means of
Detecting Erasures--Washing with Chemical Reagents--Restoration
of Original Marks--What Erasure on Paper Exhibits--Erasure in
Parchments--Identifying Typewritten Matter--Immaterial
Alterations--Altering Words in an Instrument--Alterations and
Additions Are Immaterial When Interests of Parties Are Not Changed
or Affected--Erasure of Words in an Instrument
CHAPTER V
HOW TO WRITE A CHECK TO PREVENT FORGING
How a Paying Teller Determines the Amount of a Check--Written Amount
and Amount in Figures Conflict--Depositor Protected by Paying
Teller--Chief Concern of Drawer of a Check--Transposing
Figures--Writing a Check That Cannot Be Raised--Writers who Are
Easy Marks for Forgers--Safeguards for Those who Write Checks--An
Example of Raised Checks--Payable "To Bearer" Is Always a
Menace--Paying Teller and An Endorsement System Must Be Observed in
Writing Checks--How a Check Must Be Written to Be Absolutely Safe--A
Signature that Cannot Be Tampered with Without Detection--Paying
Tellers Always Vigilant
CHAPTER VI
METHODS OF FORGERS, CHECK AND DRAFT RAISERS
Professional Forgers and Their Methods--Using Engravers and
Lithographers--Their Knowledge of Chemicals--Patching Perforated
Paper--Difficult Matter to Detect Alterations and Forgeries--Selecting
Men for the Work--The Middle Man, Presenter, and Shadow--Methods for
Detecting Forgery--Detailed Explanation of How Forgers
Work--Altering and Raising Checks and Drafts--A Favorite Trick of
Forgers--Opening a Bank Account for a Blind--Private Marks on
Checks no Safeguard--How a Genuine Signature Is Secured--Bankers Can
Protect Themselves--A Forger the Most Dangerous Criminal--Bankers
Should Scrutinize Signatures--Sending Photograph with Letter of
Advice--How to Secure Protection Against Forgers--Manner in Which
Many Banks Have Been Swindled--Points About Raising Checks and
Drafts That Should Be Carefully Noted
CHAPTER VII
THE HANDWRITING EXPERT
No Law Regulating Experience and Skill Necessary to Constitute an
Expert--Expert Held Competent to Testify in Court--Bank Officials
and Employees Favored--An Expert On Signatures--Methods Experts
Employ to Identify the Work of the Pen--Where and When an Expert's
Services Are Needed--Large Field and Growing Demand for
Experts--Qualifications of a Handwriting Expert--How the Work is
Done--A Good Expert Continously Employed--The Expert and the
Charlatan--Qualifying as An Expert--A System Which Produces
Results--Principal Tests Applied by Handwriting Experts to
Determine Genuineness--Identification of Individual by His
Handwriting--How to Tell Kind of Ink and Process Used to Forge a
Writing--Rules Followed by Experts in Determining Cases--The Testimony
of a Handwriting Expert--Explaining Methods Employed to Detect
Forged Handwriting--The Courts and Experts--What an Expert May
Testify to--Trapping a Witness--Proving Handwriting by Experts--General
Laws Regulating Experts--The Basework of a HandwritingExpert--Important
Facts an Expert Begins Examination With--A Few Words of Advice and
Suggestion About "Pen Scope"--Detection of Forgery Easy--Rules
Herewith Suggested Should Be Observed--Expert Witnesses, Courts, and
Jurors
CHAPTER VIII
HOW TO DETECT FORGED HANDWRITING
Frequency of Litigation Arising over Disputed Handwriting--Forged and
Fictitious Claims Against the Estates of Deceased People--Forgery
Certain to Be Detected When Subjected to Skilled Expert Examination--A
Forger's Tracks Cannot Be Successfully Covered--With Modern Devices
Fraudulent, Forged and Simulated Writing Can Be Determined Beyond
the Possibility of a Mistake--Bank Officials and Disputed
Handwriting--How to Test and Determine Genuine and Forged
Signatures--Useful Information About Signature Writing--Guard
Against an Illegible Signature--Avoid Gyrations, Whirls and
Flourishes--Write Plain, Distinct and Legible--The Signature to
Adopt--The People Forgers Pass By--How Many Imitate Successfully--How
an Expert Detects Forged Handwriting--Examples of Signatures Forgers
Desire to Imitate--Examining and Determining a Forgery--Comparisons
of Disputed Handwriting--Microscopic Examinations a Great Help in
Detecting Forged Handwriting--Comparison of Forged Handwriting
CHAPTER IX
GREATEST DANGER TO BANKS
Check-Raising Always a Danger--A Scheme Almost Impossible to
Prevent--The American Banker's Association the Greatest Foe to
Forgers--It Follows Them Relentlessly and Successfully--Chemically
Prepared Paper and Watermarks Not Always a Safeguard--Perforating
Machines and Check Raisers--How Check Perforations Are
Overcome--How an Ordinary Check Is Raised--How an Expert Alters
Checks--How Perforations Are Filled--Hasty Examination by Paying
Tellers Encourages Forgers--The Way Bogus Checks Creep Through a
Bank Unnoticed--A Celebrated Forgery Case--Forgers Successful for
a Time Always Caught--Where Forgers Usually Go That Have Made a
Big Haul--A Professional Crook Is a Person of Large Acquaintance
CHAPTER X
THUMB PRINTS NEVER FORGED
Thumb-Print Method of Identification Absolute--Now Brought to a High
State of Perfection--Will Eventually Be Used in all Banks--Certified
Checks and Also Drafts with Thumb-Print Signatures--Absolute Accuracy
of a Thumb-Print Identification Assured--A Thumb-Print in Wax on Sealed
Packages--Its Use an Advantage on Bankable Paper of All Kinds--How
Strangers Are Easily Identified--Bankers, Merchants and Business Men
Protected by This System--Full Particulars as to How Thumb-Prints Are
Made--Can be Printed by Anyone in a Few Minutes--How and When to Place
Your Thumb-Print on Bankable Paper--Finger-Prints as Reliable as
Thumb-Prints--Use to Which This System Could Be Put--Thumb and Finger
Tips Do Not Change From Birth to Death--Department of Justice at
Washington Has Established a Bureau of Criminal Registry Using the
Thumb-Print System--Thumb-Print System Said to Be a Chinese
Invention--Its Use Spreading Rapidly--How to Secure Thumb-Print
Impression Without Knowledge of Party--An Interesting and Valuable
Study
CHAPTER XI
DETECTING FORGERY WITH THE MICROSCOPE
Determining Questionable Signatures By the Aid of a Microscope--A
Magnifying Glass Not Powerful Enough--Character of Ink Easily
Told--The Microscope and a Knowledge of Its Use--Experience and
Education of an Examiner of Great Assistance--An Expert's Opinion--The
Use of the Microscope Recommended--Illustrating a Method of
Forgery--What a Microscopic Examination Reveals--How to Examine
Forged Handwriting with a Microscope--Experts and a Jury--What
the Best Authorities Recommend
CHAPTER XII
SIGNATURE EXPERTS THE SAFETY OF THE MODERN BANK
A New Departure in Banks--Examining All Signatures a Sure
Preventive Against Forgery--The "Filling in" Process--How One
Forger Operated--Marvelous Accuracy of a Paying Teller--How He
Attained Perfection--How Signature Clerks Work--A Common Dodge
of Forgers--Post Dated Checks--A System That Prevents Forged and
Raised Checks--Not a Forged or Raised Check Paid in Years
CHAPTER XIII
HOW TO DETERMINE AGE OF ANY WRITING
The Different Kinds of Ink Met With--Inks That Darken by Exposure
to Sunlight and Air--Introduction of Aniline Colors to Determine
the Age of Writings--An Almost Infallible Rule to Follow--Determining
Age of Writing By Ink Used--The Ammonia System a Sure One--A
Question of Great Interest to Bankers and Bank Employes--Thick and
Thin Inks--So-Called Safety Inks That Are Not Safe--How to Restore
Faded Inks--An Infallible Rule--Restoring Faded Writing--Restored
By the Silk and Cotton System That Anyone Can Arrange--Danger of
Exposing Restored Writing to the Sun
CHAPTER XIV
DETECTING FRAUD AND FORGERY IN PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS
Infallible Rules for the Detection of Same--New Methods of
Research--Changing Wills and Books of Accounts--Judgment of the
Naked Eye--Using a Microscope or Magnifying Glass--Changeable
Effects of Ink--How to Detect the Use of Different Inks--Sized
Papers Not Easily Altered--Inks That Produce Chemical Effects--Inks
That Destroy Fiber of Paper--How to Test Tampered or Altered
Documents--Treating Papers Suspected of Forgery--Using Water to
Detect Fraud--Discovering Scratched Paper--Means Forgers Use to
Mask Fraudulent Operations--How to Prepare and Handle Test
Papers--Detecting Paper That Has Been Washed--Various Other
Valuable Tests to Determine Forgery--A Simple Operation That
Anyone Can Apply--Iodine Used on Papers and Documents--An Alcohol
Test That Is Certain--Bringing Out Telltale Spots--Double
Advantage of Certain Tests--Reappearance of Former Letters or
Figures--What Genuine Writing Reveals--When an Entire Paper or
Document is Forged
CHAPTER XV
GUIDED HANDWRITING AND METHOD USED
The Most Frequent and Dangerous Method of Forgery--How to Detect
a Guided Signature--What Guided Handwriting Is and How It Is
Done--Character of Such Writing--Writing by a Guided Hand--Difficulty
in Writing--Force Exercised by Joint Hands--A Hand More or Less
Passive--Work of the Controlling Hand--How Guided Writing
Appears--Two Writers Acting in Opposition--Distorted Writing--How
a Legitimate Guided Hand is Directed and Supported--Pen Motion
Necessary to Produce Same--Influence in Guiding a Stronger
Hand--Avoiding an Unnatural and Cramped Position--Effect of the
Brain on Guided Hand--Separating Characteristics from Guided Joint
Signature--Detecting Writing by a System of Measurement
CHAPTER XVI
TALES TOLD BY HANDWRITING
Telling the Nationality, Sex and Age of Anyone Who Executes
Handwriting--Americans and Their Style of Writing--How English, German,
and French Write--Gobert, the French Expert, and How He Saved
Dreyfus--Miser Paine and His Millions Saved by an Expert--Writing
with Invisible Ink--Professor Braylant's Secret Writing Without
Ink--Professor Gross Discovers a Simple Secret Writing Method With a
Piece of Pointed Hardwood--A System Extensively Used--Studying the
Handwriting of Authors--How to Determine a Person's Character and
Disposition by Handwriting
CHAPTER XVII
WORKINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT SECRET SERVICE
Officials of This Department Talk About Their Work--How Criminals
Are Traced, Caught and Punished--Its Work Extending to All
Departments--Secret Service Districts--Reports Made to the Treasury
Department--Good Money and Bad--How to Detect the False--System of
Numbering United States Notes Explained--Counterfeiting on the
Decrease--Counterfeiting Gold Certificates--Bank Tellers and
Counterfeits--The Best Secret Service in the World
CHAPTER XVIII
CHARACTER AND TEMPERAMENT INDICATED BY HANDWRITING
A Man's Handwriting a Part of Himself--Handwriting and
Personality--Cheap Postage and Typewriters Playing Havoc with
Writing by Hand--Old Time Correspondence Vanishing--Two Divisions
of Handwriting--Fashion Has Changed Even Writing--Characteristic
Writing of Different Professions--One's Handwriting a Sure Index to
Character and Temperament--Personality of Handwriting--Handwriting
a Voiceless Speaking--A Neglected Science--Interest in Disputed
Handwriting Rapidly Coming to the Front--Set Writing Copies no
Longer the Rule--Formal Handwriting--Education's Effect on
Writing--Handwriting and Personality--The Character and
Temperament of Writers Easily Told--Honest, Eccentric, and Weak
People--How to Determine Character by Writing--The Marks of Truth
and Straightforwardness--How Perseverance and Patience Are
Indicated in Writing--Economy, Generosity and Liberality Easily
Shown in Writing--The Character and Temperament of Any Writer
Easily Shown--Studying Character from Handwriting a Fascinating
Work--Rules for Its Study--Links in a Chain That Cannot be
Hidden--A Person's Writing a Surer Index to Character Than His Face
CHAPTER XIX
HANDWRITING EXPERTS AS WITNESSES
Who May Testify As An Expert--Bank Officials and Bank Employes Always
Desired--Definition of Expert and Opinion Evidence--Both Witness
and Advocate--Witness in Cross Examination--Men Who Have Made the
Science of Disputed Handwriting a Study--Objections to Appear in
Court--Experts Contradicting Each Other--The Truth or Falsity of
Handwriting--Sometimes a Mass of Doubtful Speculations--Paid Experts
and Veracity--Present Method of Dealing with Disputed Handwriting
Experts--How the Bench and Bar Regard the System--Remedies
Proposed--Should an Expert Be an Adviser of the Court?--Free
from Cross-Examination--Opinions of Eminent Judges on Expert
Testimony--Experts Who Testify Without Experience--What a Bank
Cashier or Teller Bases His Opinions on--Actions and Deductions of
the Trained Handwriting Expert--Admitting Evidence of Handwriting
Experts--Occupation and Theories That Make an Expert--Difference
Between an Expert and a Witness--Experts and Test Writing--What
Constitutes An Expert in Handwriting--Present Practice Regarding
Experts--Assuming to Be a Competent Expert--Testing a Witness with
Prepared Forged Signatures--Care in Giving Answers--A Writing
Teacher As an Expert--Familiarity with Signatures--What a Dash,
Blot, or Distortion of a Letter Shows--What a Handwriting Expert
Should Confine Himself to--Parts of Writing Which Demand the
Closest Attention--American and English Laws on Experts in
Handwriting--Examination of Disputed Handwriting
CHAPTER XX
TAMPERED, ERASED AND MANIPULATED PAPER
Sure Rules for the Detection of Forged and Fraudulent Writing of Any
Kind--European Professor Gives Rules for Detecting Fraud--How to Tell
Alterations Made on Checks, Drafts, and Business Paper--An Infallible
System Discovered--Results Always Satisfactory--Can Be Used by
Anyone--Vapor of Iodine a Valuable Agent--Paper That Has Been Wet or
Moistened--Colors That Tampered Paper Assumes--Tracing Written
Characters with Water--Making Writing Legible--How to Tell Paper
That Has Been Erased or Rubbed--What a Light Will Disclose--Erasing
with Bread Crumbs--Hard to Detect--How to Discover Traces of
Manipulation--Erased Surface Made Legible--Treating Partially
Erased Paper--Detecting Nature of Substance Used for Erasing--Use
of Bread Crumbs Colors Papers--Tracing Writing with a Glass
Rod--Tracing Writing Under Paper--Writing With Glass Tubes Instead
of Pens--What Physical Examination Reveals--Erasing Substance of
Paper--Reproducing Pencil Writing in a Letter Press--Kind of Paper
to Use in Making Experiments--Detecting Fraud in Old Papers--The
Rubbing and Writing Method
CHAPTER XXI
FORGERY AS A PROFESSION
How Professional Forgers Work--Valuable Points for Bankers and Business
Men--Personnel of a Professional Forgery Gang--The Scratcher,
Layer-down, Presenter and Middleman--How Banks Are Defrauded by
Raised and Forged Paper--Detailed Method of the Work--Dividing the
Spoils--Action in Case of Arrest--Employing Attorneys--What "Fall"
Money Is--Fixing a Jury--Politicians with a Pull--Protecting
Criminals--Full Description of How Checks and Drafts Are
Altered--Alterations, Erasures and Chemicals--Raising Any Paper--Alert
Cashiers and Tellers--Different Methods of Protection
CHAPTER XXII
A FAMOUS FORGERY
The Morey-Garfield Letter--Attempt to Defeat Mr. Garfield for the
Presidency--A Clumsy Forgery--Both Letters Reproduced--Evidences of
Forgery Pointed Out--The Work of an Illiterate Man--Crude Imitations
Apparent--Undoubtedly the Greatest Forgery of the Age--General
Garfield's Quick Disclaimer Kills Effect of the Forgery--The Letters
Compared and Evidences of Forgery Made Complete
CHAPTER XXIII
A WARNING TO BANKS AND BUSINESS HOUSES
Information for Those Who Handle Commercial and Legal
Documents--Peculiarity of Handwriting--Methods Employed in
Forgery--Means Employed for Erasing Writing--Care to Be Used in
Writing--Specimens of Originals and Alterations--Means of Discovering
and Demonstrating Forgery--Disputed Signatures--Free Hand or Composite
Signatures--Important Facts for the Banking and Business Public--How
to Use the Microscope and Photography to Detect Forgery--Applying
Chemical Tests--How to Handle Documents and Papers to Be
Preserved--The Value of Expert Testimony--Using Chemical,
Mechanical and Clerical Preventatives
CHAPTER XXIV
HOW FORGERS ALTER BANK NOTES
Bankers Easily Deceived--How Ten One Hundred Dollar Bills Are Made out
of Nine--How to Detect Altered Bank Notes--Making a Ten-Dollar Bill
out of a Five--A Ten Raised to Fifty--How Two-Dollar Bills are Raised
to a Higher Denomination--Bogus Money in Commercial Colleges--Action
of the United States Treasury Department--Engraving a Greenback--How
They Are Printed--Making a Vignette--Beyond the Reach of Rascals--How
Bank Notes Are Printed, Signed and Issued by the Government--Safeguards
to Foil Forgers, Counterfeiters and Alterers of Bank Notes--Devices to
Raise Genuine Bank Notes--Split Notes--Altering Silver Certificates
APPENDIX
This follows with many pages of Illustrations and Descriptions of
Various Kinds of Genuine, Traced, Forged and Simulated Writings and
Autograph Signatures of Bankers, Statesmen, Jurists, Authors, Writers
and the Leading Public Characters of the World; Individual Autographs
of Every President of the United States; Freak Signatures and Curious
and Complicated Writing; and Scores of Other Interesting and
Instructive Autographs and Writings of Various Kinds That Will Prove
of Great Worth and Value
PREFACE
But few writers in the United States have expended their genius in the
field of disputed, forged, or fraudulent handwriting. In France and
Germany the subject has been more studied, and in both languages
several valuable books have appeared, while in this country it is only
recently that disputed handwriting has been looked upon as one of the
sciences.
Up to the time of the publication of this work nothing has appeared in
the United States on the subject of disputed handwriting, short
magazine and newspaper articles sufficing.
Interest in disputed handwriting and writing of all kinds is being
rapidly developed, and is a study and research with which the banker
and business man of the future must and will be perfectly familiar. A
place will be made for the science among the permanent, necessary, and
most helpful studies of the day.
No effort has been spared by the author of this work to make every
feature of handwriting accurate. This work is the result of years of
practical study in the field of disputed handwriting, and personal
application has demonstrated that the facts and suggestions given will
be found absolutely correct. The aim has been to make this the
standard work on this subject.
In conclusion, the author wishes to acknowledge a debt to the leading
handwriting experts of the United States and Europe for many
suggestions that have materially assisted him in the preparation of
this work. We trust it will prove a material aid to the bankers,
business men and professional men of the United States.
THE AUTHOR.
DISPUTED HANDWRITING
CHAPTER I
HOW TO STUDY FORGED AND DISPUTED SIGNATURES
All Titles Depend Upon the Genuineness of Signatures--Comparing Genuine
With Disputed Signatures--A Word About Fac-simile Signatures--Conditions
Affecting Production of Signatures--Process of Evolving a
Signature--Evidence of Experience in Handling or Mishandling a
Pen--Signatures Most Difficult to Read--Simulation of Signature by
Expert Penman--Hard to Imitate an Untrained Hand--A Well-known
Banker Presents Some Valuable Points--Perfectly Imitated Writings
and Signatures--Bunglingly Executed Forgeries--The Application of
Chemical Tests--Rules of Courts on Disputed Signatures--Forgers
Giving Appearance of Age to Paper and Ink--Proving the Falsity of
Testimony--Determining the Genuineness or Falsity by Anatomy or
Skeleton--Making a Magnified Copy of a Signature--Effectiveness of
the Photograph Process--Deception the Eye Will Not Detect--When Pen
Strokes Cross Each Other--Experimenting With Crossed Lines--Signatures
Written With Different Inks--Deciding Order of Sequence in
Writing--An Important and Interesting Subject for Bankers--Determining
the Genuineness of a Written Document--Ingenuity of Rogues Constantly
Takes New Forms--A Systematic Analysis Will Detect Disputed
Signatures.[1]
[1] Note illustrations of various kinds of forged, simulated, and
genuine handwriting in Appendix, with careful descriptions of same.
The title to money and property of all kinds depends so lately upon
the genuineness of signatures that no study or inquiry can be more
interesting than one relating to the degree of certainty with which
genuine writings can be distinguished from those which are
counterfeited.
When comparing a disputed signature with a series of admittedly
genuine signatures of the same person whose signature is being
disputed, the general appearance and pictorial effect of the writing
will suggest, as the measure of resemblances or differences
predominates, an impression upon the mind of the examiner as to the
genuine or forged character of the signature in question. When it is
understood that to make a forgery available for the purposes of its
production it must resemble in general appearance the writing of the
person whose signature it purports to represent, it follows as a
reasonable conclusion that resemblances in general appearances alone
must be secondary factors in establishing the genuineness of a
signature by comparison--and the fact that two signatures look alike
is not always evidence that they were written by the same person.
As an illustration of the uncertainty of an impression produced by the
general appearances and close resemblance of signatures, even to an
expert observer, is manifested when the fac-simile signatures of the
signers of the Declaration of American Independence, as executed by
different engravers, are examined. On comparing each individual
fac-simile made by one engraver, with the fac-simile of the same
signature made by another engraver, they will be found to exactly
coincide in general appearance as to form and pictorial effect, and so
much so, that the fac-similes of the same signature made by different
engravers cannot be told one from the other. On examining them by the
use of the microscope they may be easily determined as the work of
different persons. While this is likewise true of the resemblances in
general appearance which a disputed signature may have when compared
with a genuine signature of the same person, it is also true that the
measure of difference occurring in the general appearance of a
disputed signature, when compared with genuine ones of the same
person, are not always evidence of forgery.
There are many conditions affecting the production of signatures,
habitually and uniformly apart from the causes which prevent a person
from writing signatures twice precisely alike, under the influence of
normal conditions of execution. The effect of fatigue, excitement,
haste, or the use of a different pen from that with which the
standards were written, are well known conditions operating to
materially affect the general appearance of the writing, and may have
been, in one form or another, an attendant cause when the questioned
signature was produced, and thus have given to the latter some
variation from the signatures of the same person, executed under the
influence of normal surroundings.
In the process of evolving a signature, which must be again and again
repeated from an early age till death, new ideas occur from time to
time, are tried, modified, improved, and finally embodied in the
design. The idea finally worked out may be merely a short method of
writing the necessary sequence of characters, or it may present some
novelty to the eye. Signatures consisting almost exclusively of
straight up-and-down strokes, looking at a short distance like a row
of needles with very light hair-lines to indicate the separate
letters; signatures begun at the beginning or the end and written
without removing the pen from the paper; signatures which are entirely
illegible and whose component parts convey only the mutilated
rudiments of letters, are not uncommon. All such signatures strike the
eye and arrest the attention, and thus accomplish the object of their
authors. The French signature frequently runs upward from left to
right, ending with a strong down nourish in the opposite direction.
All these, even the most illegible examples, give evidence of
experience in handling or mishandling the pen. The signature most
difficult to read is frequently the production of the hand which
writes most frequently, and it is very much harder to decipher than
the worst specimens of an untrained hand. The characteristics of the
latter are usually an evident painstaking desire to imitate faulty
ideals of the letters one after the other, without any attempt to
attain a particular effect by the signature as a whole. In very
extreme cases, the separate letters of the words constituting the
signature are not even joined together.
A simulation of such a signature by an expert penman will usually
leave enough traces of his ability in handling the pen to pierce his
disguise. Even a short, straight stroke, into which he is likely to
relapse against his will, gives evidence against the pretended
difficulties of the act which he intends to convey. It is nearly as
difficult for a master of the pen to imitate an untrained hand as for
the untrained hand to write like an expert penman. The difference
between an untrained signature and the trembling tracing of his
signature by an experienced writer who is ill or feeble, is that in
the former may be seen abundant instances of ill-directed strength,
and in the latter equally abundant instances of well-conceived design,
with a failure of the power to execute it.
Observations such as the preceding are frequently of great value in
aiding the expert to understand the phenomena which he meets, and they
belong to a class which does not require the application of standards
of measure, but only experience and memory of other similar instances
of which the history was known, and a sound judgment to discern the
significance of what is seen.
No general rules other than those referred to above can be given to
guide the student of handwriting in such cases, but the differences
will become sufficiently apparent with sufficient practice.
A well-known banker, writing to the author of this work, makes some
points on the subject which are rather disturbing. His fundamental
proposition is that the judgment of experts is of no value when based
as it ordinarily is, only upon an inspection of an alleged fraudulent
signature, either with the naked eye or with the eye aided by
magnifying glasses, and upon a comparison of its appearance with that
of a writing or signature, admitted or known to the expert, to be
genuine, of the same party.
He alleges, in fact, that writing and signatures can be so perfectly
imitated that ocular inspection cannot determine which is true and
which is false, and that the persons whose signatures are in
controversy are quite as unable as anybody to decide that question.
Nevertheless, the law permits experts to give their opinions to
juries, who often have nothing except those opinions to control their
decisions, and who naturally give them in favor of the side which is
supported by the greatest number of experts, or by experts of the
highest repute.
Decisions upon such testimony this banker regards as no better than,
if quite as good as, the result of drawing lots. Of course he cannot
mean to include under these observations, that class of forgeries
which are so bunglingly executed as to be readily detected by the eye,
even of persons not specially expert. He can only mean to say that
imitations are possible and even common, which are so exact that their
counterfeit character is not determinable by inspection, even when
aided by glasses.
At first blush this contention of the banker is extremely a most
unsatisfactory view of the case, and the more correct it looks likely
to be, the more unsatisfactory. Courts may go beyond inspection and
apply chemical on the tests, but such tests cannot be resorted to in
the innumerable cases of checks and orders for money and property
which are passed upon every day in the business world, and either
accepted as genuine or rejected as counterfeit. But the real truth is,
in fully ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that no check or order is
paid merely upon confidence in the genuineness of the signature, and
without knowledge of the party to whom the payment is made, or some
accompanying circumstance or circumstances tending to inspire
confidence in the good faith of the transaction. In that aspect, the
danger of deception as to the genuineness of signatures loses most of
its terrors.
It is one of the recognized rules of court to admit as admissible
testimony, the opinions of experts, whether the whole or any specified
portion of an instrument was, or was not written by the same hand,
with the same ink, and at the same time, which question arises when an
addition to, or alteration of, an instrument is charged. It must be
recollected that at this time It is a very easy matter for experienced
forgers and rascals to so prepare ink that it may appear to the eye to
be of the age required, and it is next to impossible for any expert to
give any information in regard to the age of a certain writing. In
many instances experts have easily detected the kind of ink employed,
and have also successfully shown the falsity of testimony that the
whole of a writing in controversy was executed at the same time, and
with the same ink.
James D. Peacock, a London barrister, who has given considerable time
and study to disputed handwritings, lays great stress upon the ability
of determining the genuineness or falsity of a writing by what he
calls its "anatomy" or "skeleton." He says that some persons in making
successive strokes, make the turn from one to another sharply angular,
while others make it rounded or looping. Writings produced in both
ways appear the same to the eye, but under a magnifying glass the
difference in the mode of executing is shown. As illustrating that
point, he makes the following statement in respect to a case involving
the genuineness of the alleged signature of an old man whose
handwriting was fine and tremulous:
"On making a magnified copy of the signature, I found that the
tremulous appearance of the letters was due to the fact that they were
made up of a series of dashes, standing at varying angles with each
other, and further, that these strokes, thus enlarged, were precisely
like these constituting the letters in the body of the note, which
were acknowledged to have been written by the alleged forger of the
note. Upon the introduction of this testimony the criminal withdrew
the plea of not guilty and implored the mercy of the court."
As one means of determining whether the whole of a writing was
executed at the same time, and with the same ink, or at different
times, and with different inks, Mr. Peacock further says that the
photographic process is very effective because it not only copies the
forms of letters but takes notice of differences in the color of two
inks which are inappreciable by the eye. He states that:
"Where there is the least particle of yellow present in a color, the
photograph will take notice of the fact by making the picture blacker,
just in proportion as the yellow predominates, so that a very light
yellow will take a deep black. So any shade of green, or blue, or red,
where there is an imperceptible amount of yellow, will pink by the
photographic process more or less black, while either a red or blue
varying to a purple, will show more or less paint as the case may be."
As to deception which the eye will not detect, in regard to the age of
paper, he says:
"I have repeatedly examined papers which have been made to appear old
by various methods, such as washing with coffee, with tobacco, and by
being carried in the pocket, near the person, by being smoked or
partially burned, and in various other ways. I have in my possession a
paper which has passed the ordeal of many examinations by experts and
others, which purports to be two hundred years old, and to have been
saved from the Boston fire. The handwriting is a perfect fac-simile of
that of Thomas Addington, the town clerk of Boston, two hundred years
ago, and yet the paper is not over two years old."
The most remarkable case of deception to the eye, even when aided by
magnifying glasses, is in determining when two pen strokes cross each
other, which stroke was made first. Mr. Peacock does not explain how
the deception is possible, but that it occurs as matter of fact, he
shows by an account of a very decisive experiment. Taking ten
different kinds of ink, most commonly on sale, he drew lines on a
piece of paper in such a way as to produce a hundred points of
crossing and so that a line drawn with each of ink passed both over
and under all the lines drawn with the other inks. He, of course,
knew, in respect to each point of crossing, which ink was first
applied, but the appearance to the eye corresponded with the fact in
only forty-three cases. In thirty-seven cases the appearance was
contrary to the fact, and in the remaining cases the eye was unable to
come to any decision.
By wetting another piece of paper with a liquid compound acting as a
solvent of ink, and pressing it upon the paper marked with lines, a
thin layer of ink was transferred to the wet paper, and that shown
correctly which was the superposed ink at every one of the one hundred
points of crossing.
Many cases have occurred, in signatures written with different inks,
where some letters in one cross, some letters in another, in which it
becomes important to decide the order of sequence in writing. It is
also frequently important to decide the order of sequence in writing.
It is also frequently important when the genuineness of an addition,
as of a date, is the thing in dispute.
No subject can be more important or interesting to the business public
or especially to bankers than that of the reliability of the lists of
the genuineness of written papers. While it is true that in most cases
there is some ear-mark beside the appearance of a signature, whereby
to determine the genuineness of a document, it is also true that in
many cases, and frequently in cases of great magnitude, payments are
made on no other basis than the appearance of a writing. The most
common class of these last cases is where "A" has been long known to
be an endorser for "B," and where the connection between the two,
which leads to the endorsements, is well known. There is nothing in
the appearance in the market of a note of "B" endorsed by "A," that
is, in any degree calculated to excite suspicion or to put a
prospective purchaser upon his inquiry. If the endorsement of "A"
resembles his usual handwriting, it is almost always accepted as
genuine and if losses result from its proving to be counterfeit, they
are set down to the score, not of imprudence, but of unavoidable
misfortune.
Thus, as the ingenuity of rogues constantly takes new forms, the ways
and means by which they can be baffled in these enterprises are
constantly being multiplied. The telegraph and telephone give
facilities for promptly verifying a signature where one is in doubt.
It happens not infrequently that the desire to get a given number of
words into a definite space leads to an entirely unusual and foreign
style of writing, in which the accustomed characteristics are so
obscured or changed that only a systematic analysis can detect them.
If there be no apparent reason for this appearance in lack of space,
the cause may be the physical state of the writer or an attempt at
simulation. If a sufficient number of genuine signatures are
available, it can generally be determined which of these two
explanations is the right one.
Note illustrations of various kinds of handwriting in Appendix at end
of this book. Particular attention is directed to the descriptions and
analysis. They should be studied carefully.