Disputed Handwriting | Page 8

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.
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