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Show - I THE TYPEWRITER AS I I AN AUTO DETECTIVE TJ I It is More Difficult to Commit Forgery with a Machine Than It Is with a Pen. "u7hJ H Sherlockian Methods of the Men Who Trace Crime Through Almost Microscopic s,ce We9 p fV I I Defects in Type, f" 7 mZ CV I f J Cl S 1 Wl O Senator Root hn9 .ent the proof or . petition f thV Z IT J Sf?? i L- !-". by Bowers Mil burn Ar.o Outhrla.in aupport cl their , r UtAc" Wail er' On .,N'eabjr j ' 5 g f ff ' i. ''- 1 contention that the statute a lin-itation naa rur in ' . . c i of in 2l T-nl!.r che.J . ch 4r. t. " 'B I I 1 J '' '4LX I Z Pareona.Kl.eon .nd )!arnod. If the only overt acta ( ' Wil CJo, ffl" in fta V . H T Jk jf 'JflShr a-nte Jk. Jk K. J ne to carry out the object of the -niawmi Conspiracy 0, Up tbifP fr,.01 0 tn?" Hi W i . 1r 4 X- Ucr '.haoe referred to In tho brief.I should think they wore 2r , . fdrod Uc i tl. -H 1- lneufficlent to sae the bar of the statute. A strong effort L. . r 02frt . lovi !H V J. -.,.. i will be made tc-sorro to persuade the President to Interfere V fAsTl 0y 0wIhg e;r-,lr if & : 1 n oc,m' TOy t0 Pr'Tent he lnd lctmente , but .aside fron thnt.rir-1" . ,. . "'Utt. ialTi, j? I ln11ctcents should be returned against anyone, if there is no y ! j '""'- - ,, I t tit t &t 'ltftfijeV . - . 4. -sa. xfc . j treasonable ground to belle they can be sustained ,-if , for " "t' . ) ' f ' -F JJ T ," Vm. j Mnstance.the offen:ct charged .r- clearly barred by the ' ' v ( Wis i 'sB -'" "ft'' T-:yS., r 3 Wr-'t ' t M C I ttUt. I need hardly say this to you. hat 1 want to in- I . MrH A 5 -1 VrV4 , "Si4'rC w " T: S4 V i I 1 -preos upon you is that If you have any reasonable doubt In - W 7 vi i X L P . ri&4e. r Hi . 5 1 S, ' th- aatter.you either have th- Grand Jury aek the Court for n-. f 'AlHPA I HS I-'-' - r iTkJs ' n ' 3 f ' I 'fc- Jp lnenructlone, or, If that is not feasible, that you advise the v i LilTIXC f51 1 3 1 ' ! CTfc5 i .'. -tej ssjrfT '. T, a.X. 4 Departsurnt of the specific chnreee on which you rely to save - ' i T; r ' ; ,L WK J H9 " --- - ' the statute before actually ha.lng the lndlcttaente brought iclfi rj f y . ' , ; J , I: 9 You ay telephone either to ne or to Mr.Sllie.lf I should be I tJ . J jt) ' T Y ' rv V 1 WSi out of the Department vhen you call, on this point. iwwe. i-.X UijJ, CI i i ' Vjfi "7 IH Mf. iA Q'- -.' C3 . . . T";"nrTfl-TTv.ri7v?ir---V Showing Defects in Ut. I , Jl .JPWW- ' 7. -g& 5 J i Vi-r PS- Ae 1 13 WTiti'1f. -'r- d hE'r' no copy or 'hie, l v-v'.i w ' UUe 1 fwffe'.J j . JL -'A i r eW JflBe' J ?1 J-s -111 you kindly have your typewriter cake and eesd ce a copy, i; , ... , , - .---.'vj 1. Disputed Words in Affidavit -S"0 A lte 8S T Riley's Copy of Mr Wtckcrsham s Photograph of the Address on a Logcman Letter and on 2. Written on Riitley Machine. -'L t A t0 s Letter. Showing the Peculiarities an Original Copy of a Telegram in the Logcman 3. Written on Doctored Machine. K I t V t Punctuation Case. Showing That Both Pieces of Work IfiopTrifbt. isi. tr u.e .v-w y.ji k ucraM cj. au I . .fe41 k ' . e u , Were Done on the Same Machine. 17 nchu reined., f .O e . V II FORGER stands about as mnch chance of cohering r his SI traoks by using a m pewritlDC nxa-;f nxa-;f chine as an strh.li doos of bul-Lng bul-Lng from his enemy by sticking his head into n hole in the saud, Aceorimg to William J. Kinsley, who has had considerable erpenenee in identify-f identify-f ln typwTiLinK and h and writing and examining ex-amining disputed document. Those to irbom forgery is not a familiar art generally gen-erally believe 'that one typewriter writes jnst about the same as anoiher, even if the other is of dinrcnt make. This is not fx In many cases it is easier to identify the work of a particular machine than it is to identify the pen writing ofi particular person or to differentiate be-1 a tween a genuine and a forged signature ! S A typewriter may be termed an auto- biographer and an autodetective. Tlie first because by studying the defects In the imprint of rtain leiters tlie expert can ""determine the approximate age of tlie ma-1 elune and the manner of usage it hasi liad. niwl tbe sc-c-ond because every ina-1 chine has its vn particular defects and' tp combination l six or more of these defects de-fects would not occnr in two machines out of many millions M' Typewriters are frequently used to M change the wording of wilh, briefs. afB-: daritfc or other documents, and the per-, sou wliu trifles with the document j prob-' ably feels aeure in the belief that so long as hn liandwriting does not appear ,J be is safe. In Fehruary a lawyer of Herkimer, X. Y., was charged with hav-j ing alured an affidavit, and the casej hinged on six letters of the disputed! "Swords which had been inserted In the. i document in typewriting. The' six letters were sufficient to not only eetab- lish that the word5 had actually beeu Ln-sartcd Ln-sartcd eeven years after the original docu-J docu-J meet was made but to identify the machine ma-chine which was used. The Altered Document. A man named Bennett brought salt ftint the Iron Clad Manufacturing! Company, alleging that the company was illegally manufacturing a seamless l metal basket which he had invented. Ln k the lower courts the snit was decided 0 against the company, but in the Appellate Appel-late Division the decision waB reversed- Another suit was brought. Bennett abstained in the lower court, but the case js was carried to the Appellate Division, whero it practically devolved on the TJ question as to whether or not the basket made by the Iron Clad Company was the M same basket patented by Bennett. m In the affidavit of Mr. Oilman, man-j man-j ager of the Iron Clad Company, occurred ("Deponent admits that between September Sep-tember 30, 1902, nnd June 9, lfti. the defendant manufactured nnd sold seam-Mess seam-Mess metal and pieced metal baskets tor which It has never accounted to the plnin-tiff plnin-tiff nor paid royalties,"' &c. When Mr Edwiu H. K .y, the attor- ney for the inventor, rose to present his A case he said to Justice Merrill : m "1 do not think it is necessary to argue I this cac f jrther, for you will see by die ffij affidavit of Mr. Oilman that h asserts M : l,o aun.'- basket patented nud invented by Mr B'.uo :t Im- been sold by the Iron Clad iv.mp.uij and that no royaltiei have flff been paid ther.-for." H Lawyers for both sides and witnesses I were astounded, and the Court's copj of K the Oilman atlidant was immediately pro-B pro-B iuced for inspection. In this copy the jS uatement quoted nbovc read : g(K "The defendant manufactured and lold f 'the B.io.C -U'' i,C"d melul baski-ts," Tlit ,-o.y uf the affidavit held by the 01 uttorncy for the Ir..n Clad Company did l no: ton '.u in the v.-oU ihe s-.i u. ," and p0 ths qut:-iiu luiaat-ui.ut.y ra, Had ihr I ' rvA V " 1 t8 eti & t0 ?eflf l f4,r 10 ( a ( latlyy -Xhoreby. appoln-a-Exccutor-, J, Barnard -W3rter , --or0 ttc t,0 a t -proent-fttr-I10-SehrBterhorn--Streot, -Brooklyn,-H-.-Y and Sxe oorv rtjcef moP et 1 """TOtPtSe Carol ineT, Raymond .""SO- rtevr Yorli" Avenue, "Br5oia'y-n,""Tr. Y. J t&k k.K oXe yr0 rtuuer TT"' deceased the Society 11 kindly appdThT6Uch persons as thoy T r ,v " desire, and also ae Executrix I appoint the caid Margaret B. V ot Vi af tf mJl Section of thcGilman Hendrentbut the said Hendren Is not to "be overrulled at any time -pa e-- Affidavit. Showing the Bod v to ' . "BT in Remington Pica Type and the Words La.Lhe said 2iargaraU3.-iIeiidrori-I-baqueath-alX-niy-wear-- "thcsafTTc' in Underwood Medium Roman. j lrr apparei . je-Iry-i-etc , V " 1 1 ?1 ? -A) document held by tu Court been altered and by whom? 1'rank A. Schmidt, the District Attorney, At-torney, had the words copied on the two typewriting machines in Mr. Risley a office One ivas an Oliver and the other an Underwood with medium Iiom;iri type Enlarged photographs were made by Mr. Kinsley of the words the same'' ns they' appeared in the disputed document and' as they appeared in tbe copies nude on' Risleya two ma'bia-" I Examination showed that the body of the uffldarit wa written on Kcuiiog-j ton machine in pica type and that the disputed words, the same," were in Underwood medium Human type, A glass plate nilJ ith horizontal' lines was laid ou the photograph of the three words "sold the ume' which appeared ap-peared in the questioned affidavit. The1 bottom two lines were one one-bumlredth of an inch apart. Tlie third line was two one-hundre.dths of an inch above the second sec-ond and so on. Viewing the ..r,N through this glass it was seen that the type used for ' the same was taller thau that used for sold. It also shows the lines at the bases of the letters to be thicker. rhotopraphs of the two words written j on Risleya m:.cbine and the two words in the affidavit were compared and .Mr I lvjnvley pointed ont that in the seven letters t( the v.ords ' the same" thirteen identical variations from the normal oc-curred oc-curred in both copies. The letter "t" slants to the left of the xertical at the same angle in both cases This was determined by looking at thi-lcrteru thi-lcrteru through glnss plates ruled with vertical lines. Detection by Type. In both copies the upper serif of the letter "h" is broken oft in a certain manner, man-ner, and part of the lower right hand serif of "h" is broken off The "e" was lightly broken Just where the upper curve joined the straight horizontal line j and there was a piece missing from the tinal stroke of the "e." The same letter f-ometiines printed above the base line; and sometimes to the left ot centre. To' determine this many sentenced were written writ-ten ou the Ilisiey machine, and although! for most letters the alignment was very : good, the "e" almost always was a little out of plumb. The letter "s" wns too light in the lower part and much too lie.ivy in the upper' pjrt for a normul type The "a" was abnormally light in the; right upper part aird too heavy in the lower left part Its finishing stroke was, j slightly defective. The first dow n stroke j of the "m"' was defective. Then the question aro-e as to what1 were the diances of these came defects occurring in iuu clifiereiit machines. Pro-.. Pro-.. ;or iril Suyder, of tbe department' j of mathematics of Cornell University,! . irai called upon at the trial to calculate this. Men familiar with typewriters know, that not one machine in five hundred 'would have tbe same identical peculiarity jia lb same place ib the saau letter 80 as Executrix I J j e said Hendren Is j - 8aid....Marg.aret-...E. E Disputed Word. Showing Three Types of Letter. fouud in another machine of the same make with the same design of type. Notwithstanding Not-withstanding experts saul th;s could oeeur I only once in five hundred tunes, Professor Snyder figured on the bai that it could j occur every other time. This, of course, would make the finding of two machines Which could produce identically the words 'the same" much more probable. Ky the law of probability Professor Snyder determined de-termined that, disregarding the fact that the same make of machine and the same kind of type must be used, two machines might be found with the identical thirteen defects as shown in the words "the same" just oner in 3,500,000,000 limes. To take into consideration 1MB make of macbiDe and the type us I,. which is very easily determined, we miw; multiply this number by a)out one thousand. At the time of the triul there were Id existence only 3,'X0 Underwood machine! using medium Roman type, so tbat 'he chances of finding two machines with the idecti cal thirteen defects were negligible. As a matter of fact it was shown at tbe trial that Mr. Risley had tried to have an expert mechanic produce defects in the letters of the words "the same" on an Underwood machine to duplicate the defeats de-feats shown in the document He was 'unable to do so. He had borrowed the Court's copy of the affidavit and inserted the word "the same." One of the firs: thinrs t be done ini tracing the origin of the work done by j anv typewriter ! to find wh.it make of' machine was used All types differ Each company has hundred! of different typSi of design, and as each letter is designed! by hand there is always SQme distinctive, peculiarity by which tbe make of machine may be determined. Once knowing the; machine used it can be pretty accurately j leiirned when the machine wan made by the differences between alphabets of the' sjtme msU. I roin the sie and desigu lhe! mode) of the machine Is determined The, pies. nt style r,f type differ from lhoe formerly made DOt only in design hot in metho.i of making hrsl drawing for t he i letters, iun. tne master patei anil en graving the dies. Even new machine! havo certain defects in the type, though: 'these are not always visible to the naked: eve The type 1 1 self is made by pressing metal into a mould, and as the metal is not heated there are frequently defects where the metal did not quite fill. I Ry telling the age of tbe typo used the1 problem is sometimes ulinost , ntire!) I Mjlved. Take, for instance, u will in dts pute. If it can be ehowu that the questioned ques-tioned clause or words were wniion on a machine not manufactured until four lor five years after the dote of the docn nienl, it is s trong argument that the I will has been "doctored." Portion of the Dicputed Will, Showing Differences in Type. In the icilter of dates eich machine has certain identification marks. They show at whit period of lift" the "OpT was made Certain defect :ire generally DO Mead first aud the n:itiire of the defect gives some clew to the ase of the typewriter type-writer Even if a document were written writ-ten on the machire it purport to be and this machine ';s on the tuuket rt the original date, yet the work of this particular par-ticular mat bine at the time iho document docu-ment bears date may no! show all or ,iuy of the defects appearing in ilie disputed part, thus proving the typewriting in question was done at M 'Liiv iler tb.iu that of the .rigir.il dinm-nt. Anothec means of Identifies. t ioo ' found in unerenness of Impif lilill. or, as the printers lay, when the letters are "off tlrnir feet." Typewriter types are uot flat, with the exceplion of two or three manufactures. They are concave, to fit the round platen of the machine, so if the type strike the least bit out of position po-sition it will produce an uneveu unpres-sion, unpres-sion, loo light in ore place, too h.ivy in I iiorbeT Promoter of "get rich quick" schemes sem to turn to thf typewriter as a simple meaius to their ends which they believe will protect them from discovery How-far How-far I hey (ire from safety bSCMlSS Ol the typewriter ns shown by the li.izlcy & IOemnnn eae io the United States court A concern advertised to promote corporations cor-porations and float stocks and bonds. To thoe who answered advertisements the .umpauy said chat "fieJd men" would be sent all over the couurrr to sHI th- Itooks imk) bo-id-. l"hio "field men" were to be paid $50 a week After a person had paid a certain amount of money to the nmipnny as wages for the tock and bund valesnien he would begin lo receive en--ori raging lMters from the Hrm'a Sew Vork oUce and freiue-nt telegr.iuus from towns and ciUes in all parts ot the country ....... T.tlVV,Vtt tler.vo the victim became hre.l of ton-Lsibnting ton-Lsibnting to the support of the iniigiuary salesmen he would receive a teiegrao) from W i Ii)3iiii, t ho head of the firm, from some distant town, ayins that everything wn; ready for the fina! deal All that wns necessary was a check for Si 00 or more to keep the meii in the field and fa touch with the subscribers. sub-scribers. The sender of the telegram would name some distant town for which 'he was jnst leaving and ask that the check be mailed to Ins office at once. A 'letter would follow. Sometimes the man wh.e stock was being floated was so gratified with the prospect! of immediate nches that he sent a check for $..K) in stead of i on. i f course the scheme would hav; lo be slKirt lived, and as a final coup a number lot victims received telegrams from the 'same man od the siame date from widely 'separated towns. This was in order to ! collect as muny checks for $1U0 as possible pos-sible before closing up the business, hot it happened that two of the victims com-I com-I pared notes. Other similar eases were ; discovered and the matter was taken to the courts. By comparing the typewriting in original orig-inal copies of the different telegrams and 'the letters wrirtCD from the New York j office of the firm .Mr. Kinsley learned 'tiiat all were made with the same type writing machine. The telegrams Nere I written oh the machine in New York and ' mailed to the desired towns for trans-liui.siou trans-liui.siou from thein. I One telegram was to i ictiui in a W . (em .Stale He had also received a letter, and a coui.kjrisou of the two names and addresses showed the same defects in the tatno letters in each piece of work, tor instunce, the a 1. guinea I in the name was not good- The tinal little stroke of the a was broken, there was I slight defect in the lop of the curve of thej fower case b. The upper serif of the capital 1 was Worn down. The capital M printed heavier at the bottom thau at I the top and the linal downward stroke ot tin" d was worn off. There were many other oints of idcntiheution. Forgery of Wills Iliw secure many forgers feel in tlie ,use of a typewriter was shown iu the case "f an altered will, ihree different ina- bines having been used to make tbe al-, terations. A portion of the will iu ques-' tion iead: J.aslly, I hereby appoint as executor. J. Barnard Walton, at present at lin Beherinerhorn stp-. t. Hn okiyn N Y ; nnd exec utri... Caroline 1 Raymond, St) New York -avenue. Brooklyn, N. Y. If deceased de-ceased the society will kindly appoint such Persona as they desire" Thus far the will seemed lo be auihen tic. but (he next sentence' was in dispute. It read. "and also as executrix I appoint the said Margaret B. Hendren. but the said Hendren is not lo be overruled over-ruled at any lime. "To the s.iJd Margaret B. Hendren I bequeath all my wearing apparel, jewelry. V hen Mr. Kinsley examined this ilocu-meut ilocu-meut he found that the disputed clause: had not only been added to thr original will but Uiey bad beeu added at three different times by three different typewriter. type-writer. Besides the many minor points i . : 'H which would have shown that the ma- HB chines were different each typewriter had n differently designed r from either of the others. It was first shown that the words "and HH I also as executrix I appoint the said IB i M iraret li. Hendren ' were written on a j different machine from the body of tbe will, because they were m different type. H So was all the part quoted which foJ- ' lowed. lu the phrase which appointed Mar- garet Hendren as executrix the arm of the letter r li nlncc. at right anjics to the upright strokes of the r. It does Hh not go any higher than tbe stem of ;l,e r But if the arm were coniiooH B downward in the direction it is pointin; IB the line would cross the base line outside the lav? of the r almost in the base of the i in executrix, for instance. K Now the letters r in the words "but the said Hendren Is uot to be overruled Htf at any time' are entirely different Tbe Hp"" arm is not at right angles to the stem and the arm goes higaer than the top of the Bp upright stroke. It is not flat. Hg.v Take the next sentence, ' To the said Kl" Margaret Hendren, &c " At first glance tbe letter r in this sentence seems much Wmi' like that in the first disputed sentence. mnH The ami is approximately at right angles 'WKtt to the stem, but if tbe very last stroke ft j of the arm were continued in the direc- Ex I tion it is pointing it would intersect the j bas of the r, or at least join the end Ft I ; It developed that Misi Hendren, who fcjji l wrote the will from dictation, made a St - I business of typewriting and owned several IE' I I machines. The testimony of the experts Jp.. showed that the clause making her an Bp - i irix Lad been first inserted and then w ' was added the dense making her vote su- preme. Later the clause giving her the IE' dead man's jewelry was added. It is not. yet known who tampered with the docu- M.? Recently in the I nited States District Y (.'onrt foi ;he Bouthern District of New R-- ! Y' Thomas P. Riley was tried for copy- B. ing nnd furnishing to a magazine for pub- 'Ky- . lication a personal and official letter writ- W eh to fnited States District Attorney Ifc' YV;-.e of New York, by George W. B Wickersham, Attorney General of the K.1 United State! The letter was written by .Mr Wickersham himself, and in a post- script he said: H "As I am writing this from my honse ffi and have no copy of this wiL' you kindly El have your typewriter make aud send me E The Riley Case. U Riley was at this time employed by the k 'interstate Commerce Commi.sion and was p in confidential relations with Mr. Wise. . 11. was Belling to magazines information v he had obtained about the Supar Trust , before be was employed by the eommiv k sion, but it wss understood tbat t he busi- f.t Deal of tbe commission and the District Attorney was confidential. ft- Tbe original letter, the typewritten copy I sent to Mr. Wicliersbam, aud the copy of H tbe letter printed iu tbe magazine were used at the trial. Riley's copy exhibits many peculiarities outside the defects in - It is not an accurate copy of the f peg written letter, and the same discrep- h ancies occur in the copy sent to Mr. H WicLcriham and tbe copy in the magd- I jlr Wickersham! letter was headed, "Sunday, 6 7-'l0." but Riley's copy was I dated Washington, K-ST-'OO. I The original letter bad a comma after H My Dear Wise," but the copy had a sciui- H colon and dash, which is very unu.u.il, and f wis a liabit with Riley. He also used 9. this ponctuntion after the word "sus- H tinned" i u the body of the letter, although the original letter called only for a daslu H The use of a comma with a dash was H also a personal habit which be could not H Another point was tbat where Riley H divided his words at the end of a line ho used a hyphen after the syllable at the . d(3 of one line and a hyphen before tbe I liable of the same word at (he begin- H uihg of the next Line. This is never done H by expert typists in the United States, al though it is done in Europe and in Canada. Hi lev was educated in Canada. All the mistake! made by the man who copied the letter were characteristic of H Bile?! and be used i capital I for the numeral nu-meral 1 instead of using the lower ease. 1 as most persons do. That was another hf bit of hi He finally admitted that he copied the H i In this case the mechanical defects of a I machine were backed up by certain human elements or traits; this makes the task !of identitication much simpler. In cases I I where only a few words havo been in- I sorted or changed the thing is not so easy, I but in a lengthy document it is quite likely that certain habits or characteristic o. ihe person who did the work will show themselves to aid in tracing the origin ol the copy. |