Show I NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY A STORY OF OP CIRCUIT JUDGE By E J I This dully dull of ot anecdotes and Incidents I that throw new Interesting and frequently n dramatic light s OH famOus events amid t of time the past tj Jilg J nd ur il oot rl have e been collected i SU by Edwards r during e forty r years of more or loss less I Inti Intimate Intimate mate acquaintance with many of ot tho the co leaders since the time Civil War Each anecdote ol at 0 Incident Is Ie fresh from Mr lr K H notebook and either cither In iii allele choicer or er In part It constitutes New News of or Yesterday garnered from lom the men who made time the news iho history or from tram equally eq authoritative sources As Im Important Important portent contributions of ot the Human sort to American history these thellO articles have havo a distinctive value alue all their the 11 own First as a justice of the tho supreme court of or tho United States from 1862 to 1877 18 7 and then as a senator from rom Illi 1111 Illinois Illinois nois mlois until 1893 1883 the tIme late David Davis who presided over the senate following the accession of Chester A Arthur to the tho presidency was for 01 many man years prominently In the tile eye oe of or the country Hut long after his hits name has been for Cor forgotten forgotten gotten as that hint of or a supreme court Judge or em a United States senator benator it will tili willbo willbo bo be remembered as that of the Judge before whom Lincoln tried his cases when he rode lOde the tho circuit In Illinois The histories s of or life lIe are full Cull of anecdotes telling of Judge Daviss partiality for tor Lincoln and ana of his eager eagerness eagerness eagerness ness to hear stories when whoa the days work was over t tI tI I 1 sot JOt to know Judge Davis well In 1 Washington when he was a senator from Illinois and at the time that ho lie went south to marry man for or the tho second time I traveled with him Do you ou know he said to me lne as pa a we were nearing tIme the end of tho journey jo rne It was a n case with which Mr Mm Lincoln was connected that had a very Im un Important effect upon my m of doing business This particular case Involved tho the nonpayment of ot a promissory l note Tho The note Itself was ns In evidence and the de do defendant fondant admitted that the signature on onIt onit onit It was wag Ills his 1 ls But hp he denied ever having written the body bod of the time note Ho also swore that lie could not explain how it had got into time the hands of ot the man who vho was suing suin upon it It was not an uncommon practise for business men to sign notes not s in blank bl lk which their partners might utilize and antI that would explain the difference be between tween n tho the handwriting In the Ule signature and tho the body bod of or the time noto note It was writ written ten en upon ordinary letter paper and that was not uncommon In those days hut but I noticed that the strip of oC paper papel used was wan much narrower than that usually employed ed in matting malting out notes Upon closer examination it looked to tomo tomo toma mo ma as H though time tho bit bil ot of paper had hod been cut off tho time bottom of a sheet of ot writing paper letter loHer size I had an un expert a n watchmaker I th make a mi ml examination of o the time upper edge elge of ot the note and antI he h testified that In his lila opinion time the paper had been beets cut cutoff oft off the bottom of or a sheet of oC paper papel with witha a pair pall of scissors As a result I asked the tho defendant to produce several letters which he had written Then I discovered that In imm each Cach case cape lie he had placed his signature at the bottom of or the tho page pae several inches below the tho bottom o othe of oC the letter let tor Itself leaving plenty of o space on oil which a noto note could have boon written above aboe his signature Various reputable witnesses had testified as asto asto asto to the tho defendants good character and amid integrity so I gave him the tho benefit of or tho the doubt and decided the case ease In iii his lila favor Cavo Afterwards I learned learne the name annie of the man nina who had got ot hold of or orone one of or the defendants letters cut off tho the signature and on the two Inches of or blank paper above it written In iii the time note which ho lie had sold the thc defendants defendants credit being excellent Well this case set bet me to thinking I realized that I frequently signed my m name a considerable space below the bottom of oC a letter or document It might not be hc easy to prove If It some someone someone one on cut off orr my m signature and end tilled In Inthe inthe inthe the blank paper above It with a note or something that the document was wasa a fraudulent ono one So I decided to make male malea a radical change In my m methods of ot writing and amid from that day to this I have always written from one edge ed o of oC tho the paper papel to 10 the other both across and down and I sign my name minnie to a n document I place It so se to the last of or the text t That It all but runs into Int it making any an between text and signa signature sIgnature ture tore impossible And any an elsewhere elso hero 1 is II made Impossible by b the time fact that T r cover coer the page completely with my and antI write the lines IInes as us close clOHa to one another as legibility will permit This is tIme the method T I followed all nil the time I was on tho time cine bench amid nil all tho the time I have been in tho time und and I recommend It as a good rulo rub for fot any all business man lo to adopt I |