Disputed Handwriting | Page 2

in an Instrument--Alterations and Additions Are Immaterial When Interests of Parties Are Not Changed or Affected--Erasure of Words in an Instrument
CHAPTER V
HOW TO WRITE A CHECK TO PREVENT FORGING
How a Paying Teller Determines the Amount of a Check--Written Amount and Amount in Figures Conflict--Depositor Protected by Paying Teller--Chief Concern of Drawer of a Check--Transposing Figures--Writing a Check That Cannot Be Raised--Writers who Are Easy Marks for Forgers--Safeguards for Those who Write Checks--An Example of Raised Checks--Payable "To Bearer" Is Always a Menace--Paying Teller and An Endorsement System Must Be Observed in Writing Checks--How a Check Must Be Written to Be Absolutely Safe--A Signature that Cannot Be Tampered with Without Detection--Paying Tellers Always Vigilant
CHAPTER VI
METHODS OF FORGERS, CHECK AND DRAFT RAISERS
Professional Forgers and Their Methods--Using Engravers and Lithographers--Their Knowledge of Chemicals--Patching Perforated Paper--Difficult Matter to Detect Alterations and Forgeries--Selecting Men for the Work--The Middle Man, Presenter, and Shadow--Methods for Detecting Forgery--Detailed Explanation of How Forgers Work--Altering and Raising Checks and Drafts--A Favorite Trick of Forgers--Opening a Bank Account for a Blind--Private Marks on Checks no Safeguard--How a Genuine Signature Is Secured--Bankers Can Protect Themselves--A Forger the Most Dangerous Criminal--Bankers Should Scrutinize Signatures--Sending Photograph with Letter of Advice--How to Secure Protection Against Forgers--Manner in Which Many Banks Have Been Swindled--Points About Raising Checks and Drafts That Should Be Carefully Noted
CHAPTER VII
THE HANDWRITING EXPERT
No Law Regulating Experience and Skill Necessary to Constitute an Expert--Expert Held Competent to Testify in Court--Bank Officials and Employees Favored--An Expert On Signatures--Methods Experts Employ to Identify the Work of the Pen--Where and When an Expert's Services Are Needed--Large Field and Growing Demand for Experts--Qualifications of a Handwriting Expert--How the Work is Done--A Good Expert Continously Employed--The Expert and the Charlatan--Qualifying as An Expert--A System Which Produces Results--Principal Tests Applied by Handwriting Experts to Determine Genuineness--Identification of Individual by His Handwriting--How to Tell Kind of Ink and Process Used to Forge a Writing--Rules Followed by Experts in Determining Cases--The Testimony of a Handwriting Expert--Explaining Methods Employed to Detect Forged Handwriting--The Courts and Experts--What an Expert May Testify to--Trapping a Witness--Proving Handwriting by Experts--General Laws Regulating Experts--The Basework of a HandwritingExpert--Important Facts an Expert Begins Examination With--A Few Words of Advice and Suggestion About "Pen Scope"--Detection of Forgery Easy--Rules Herewith Suggested Should Be Observed--Expert Witnesses, Courts, and Jurors
CHAPTER VIII
HOW TO DETECT FORGED HANDWRITING
Frequency of Litigation Arising over Disputed Handwriting--Forged and Fictitious Claims Against the Estates of Deceased People--Forgery Certain to Be Detected When Subjected to Skilled Expert Examination--A Forger's Tracks Cannot Be Successfully Covered--With Modern Devices Fraudulent, Forged and Simulated Writing Can Be Determined Beyond the Possibility of a Mistake--Bank Officials and Disputed Handwriting--How to Test and Determine Genuine and Forged Signatures--Useful Information About Signature Writing--Guard Against an Illegible Signature--Avoid Gyrations, Whirls and Flourishes--Write Plain, Distinct and Legible--The Signature to Adopt--The People Forgers Pass By--How Many Imitate Successfully--How an Expert Detects Forged Handwriting--Examples of Signatures Forgers Desire to Imitate--Examining and Determining a Forgery--Comparisons of Disputed Handwriting--Microscopic Examinations a Great Help in Detecting Forged Handwriting--Comparison of Forged Handwriting
CHAPTER IX
GREATEST DANGER TO BANKS
Check-Raising Always a Danger--A Scheme Almost Impossible to Prevent--The American Banker's Association the Greatest Foe to Forgers--It Follows Them Relentlessly and Successfully--Chemically Prepared Paper and Watermarks Not Always a Safeguard--Perforating Machines and Check Raisers--How Check Perforations Are Overcome--How an Ordinary Check Is Raised--How an Expert Alters Checks--How Perforations Are Filled--Hasty Examination by Paying Tellers Encourages Forgers--The Way Bogus Checks Creep Through a Bank Unnoticed--A Celebrated Forgery Case--Forgers Successful for a Time Always Caught--Where Forgers Usually Go That Have Made a Big Haul--A Professional Crook Is a Person of Large Acquaintance
CHAPTER X
THUMB PRINTS NEVER FORGED
Thumb-Print Method of Identification Absolute--Now Brought to a High State of Perfection--Will Eventually Be Used in all Banks--Certified Checks and Also Drafts with Thumb-Print Signatures--Absolute Accuracy of a Thumb-Print Identification Assured--A Thumb-Print in Wax on Sealed Packages--Its Use an Advantage on Bankable Paper of All Kinds--How Strangers Are Easily Identified--Bankers, Merchants and Business Men Protected by This System--Full Particulars as to How Thumb-Prints Are Made--Can be Printed by Anyone in a Few Minutes--How and When to Place Your Thumb-Print on Bankable Paper--Finger-Prints as Reliable as Thumb-Prints--Use to Which This System Could Be Put--Thumb and Finger Tips Do Not Change From Birth to Death--Department of Justice at Washington Has Established a Bureau of Criminal Registry Using the Thumb-Print System--Thumb-Print System Said to Be a Chinese Invention--Its Use Spreading Rapidly--How to Secure Thumb-Print Impression Without Knowledge of Party--An Interesting and Valuable Study
CHAPTER XI
DETECTING FORGERY WITH THE MICROSCOPE
Determining Questionable Signatures By the Aid of a Microscope--A Magnifying Glass Not Powerful Enough--Character of Ink Easily Told--The Microscope and a Knowledge of Its Use--Experience and Education of an Examiner of Great Assistance--An Expert's Opinion--The Use of the Microscope Recommended--Illustrating a Method of Forgery--What a Microscopic Examination Reveals--How to Examine Forged Handwriting with a Microscope--Experts and a Jury--What the Best Authorities Recommend
CHAPTER XII
SIGNATURE