Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1898 — NEAT SWINDLE. [ARTICLE]

NEAT SWINDLE.

How a Sick Cleveland Man Is Two Hundred Dollars to the Hood. A very curious fact about the philosophy of handwriting Is this: That a man never writes his name twice in exactly the same way, or, in other words, one signature is never a sac simile of any other. So that, if an expert finds among same genuine signatures one* that corresponds in every detail with a disputed signature—and such a thing has happened several times—he is absolutely certain, first, that the latter really is bogus, and, second, that he has before him the very model used by the forger. All detectives of the ink pot agree that the discovery of two signatures which, on being superimposed and held to the light, are identical, seem as one. Is a conclusive proof that there has been tracing. Sutffi are the leading principles of the expert’s profession. How are they applied? In some cases they are not applied at all. The paper itself, the stamp, If there is one, may proclaim a document to be a forgery. Then the microscope and other appliances will sometimes show whether a signature is fraudulent. Swindlers commonly write a name in pencil and then ink it over. If the expert lias reason to believe that liis method has been detected—and it is not difficult to detect, because, for one thing, the signature looks duller than the other writing—he has only to put a drop of acid on one of the letters, and, presto! the ink disappears, revealing the glistening plumbago beneath. But it is practically impossible to obtain by any mode of tracing a sign-manual that will successfully bear the closest scrutiny. In following the model, whether that be a sac simile In pencil or carbon, or a genuine signature held to the light, the pen hesitates, giving the* writing a zigzag appearance, which, although not visible to the naked eye, can be clearly seen with the aid of a microscope. The most useful ally of the expert, however, is the camera, which lias no equal for showing signs of erasure, correction and pen hesitancy. In one way or another, then, a document may be pronounced a forgery without any comparison of writing. Rarely is this so when the work of a really accomplished professional penman comes to band. He generally practices a signature till he can imitate it closely enough to deceive any bank cashier, when he dashes It off at the foot of a check with greater fluency, perhaps, than could its owner. In this art Jim the Penman was an adept—the greatest adept in the annals of crime. No tracing or boggling for him, no rubbing out or tdbeliing up; he wrote at once exactly what was wanted, Imitating the most difficult hand with a freedom, an ease, ami a perfection that were marvelous. —Cassell’s Journal.