E-text prepared by Ted Garvin
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
"Handwriting is a gesture of the mind"
DISPUTED HANDWRITING
An Exhaustive, Valuable, and Comprehensive Work upon
One of the Most Important Subjects of To-day.
With Illustrations and Expositions for the
Detection and Study of Forgery by
Handwriting of All Kinds
By
Jerome B. Lavay
The first work of the kind ever published in the United States.
For the Protection of America's Banks and Business Houses.
1909
TO THE AMERICAN BANKERS' ASSOCIATION
THAT POWERFUL AGENCY WHICH HAS ELEVATED THE STANDARD OF BANKING IN THE UNITED STATES AND AN INSTITUTION THAT FOLLOWS ALL WRONGDOERS AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE FRATERNITY RELENTLESSLY AND SUCCESSFULLY THIS WORK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I | |
| HOW TO STUDY FORGED AND DISPUTED SIGNATURES |
All Titles Depend Upon the Genuineness of Signatures—Comparing Genuine with Disputed Signatures—A Word about Fac-simile Signatures—Process of Evolving a Signature—Evidence of Experience in Handling or Mishandling a Pen—Signature Most Difficult to Read—Simulation of Signature by Expert Penman—Hard to Imitate an Untrained Hand—A Well-Known Banker Presents Some Valuable Points—Perfectly Imitated Writings and Signatures—Bunglingly Executed Forgeries—The Application of Chemical Tests—Rules of Courts on Disputed Signatures—Forgers Giving Appearance of Age to Paper and Ink—Proving the Falsity of Testimony—Determining the Genuineness or Falsity by Anatomy or Skeleton—Making a Magnified Copy of a Signature—Effectiveness of the Photograph Process—Deception the Eye Will Not Detect—When Pen Strokes Cross Each Other—Experimenting With Crossed Lines—Signatures Written With Different Inks—Deciding Order of Sequence in Writing—An Important and Interesting Subject for Bankers—Determining the Genuineness of a Written Document—Ingenuity of Rogues Constantly Takes New Forms—A Systematic Analysis Will Detect Disputed Signatures
| 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 Skillful 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—Forger