Disputed Handwriting | Page 8

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.
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 Skilful 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 Skilful 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.
Forgery by tracing is one of the most common and most dangerous methods of forgery.
There are two general methods of perpetrating forgeries, one by the aid of tracing, the other by free-hand writing. These methods differ widely in details, according to the circumstances of each case.
Tracing can only be employed when a signature or writing is present in the exact or approximate form of the desired reproduction. It may then be done by placing the writing to be forged upon a transparency over a strong light, and then superimposing the paper upon which the forgery is to be made. The outline of the writing underneath will then appear sufficiently plain to enable it to be traced with pen or pencil, so as to produce a very accurate copy upon the superimposed paper. If the outline is with a pencil, it is afterward marked over with ink.
Again, tracings are made by placing transparent tracing-paper over the writing to be copied and then tracing the lines over with a pencil. This tracing is then penciled or blackened upon the obverse side. When it is placed upon the paper on which the forgery is made, the lines upon the tracing are retraced with a stylus or other smooth hard point, which