Disputed Handwriting

d-How to Erase Words and Lines Without Creating Suspicion-Writing Over an Erasure-How to Determine Whether or Not Erasures or Alterations Have Been Made-Additions and Interlineations-What to Apply to

res-Washing With Chemical Reagents-Restoration of Original Marks-What Erasure on Paper Exhibits-Erasure in Parchments-Identifying Typewritten Matter-Immaterial Altera

and, except in the case of a will, the presumption, in the absence of rebutting testimony, is that the erasure was made at or before the execution thereof. If an alteration or erasure has been ma

an be plainly shown what that effect and operation actually was. To accomplish this the mutilated instrument may be given in evidence as far as its contents appear and evidence will be admitted to show what portions have been altered or erased, and also the words contained in such altered or erased parts; but if, for want of such evidence or any deficiency or uncertainty arising out of it the original contents of the instruments cannot be ascertained, then the old r

the rule usually followed is that the deed must show that they have been advisedly adopted by the party; and this will be effected by mentioning them in the body of the writing. Thus if some words are erased and others superinduced, you mention that the superinduced words were written over an erasure; if words are simply delite that fact is

be made by the party himself and a formal claus

to erasure; and suspicion will be most effectually removed by not obliterati

ws that of England and Scotland in

the letters on the unaltered surface. The latter are broader, and in most cases, to the unaided eye, darker in color, while the erased spot, if not further treated t

een on the reverse side of the paper, and the lines have a distinct border which makes them broader than in the same writing under normal conditions

n among the disturbed fibres of the paper and its sudden release when su

the erasure it may partially mark was there before the blot,

reverse side of the paper will usually furnish satisfactory evidence on the point. If the color of the ink be not more distinct on the und

es used by ignorant persons to conceal the improper manipulation of the paper, but

execution, and with fraudulent intent, must be arrived at by a comparison of the handwriting in which the words appe

tted light. Examine the surface for rough spots. Forgers after erasures frequently endeavor to hide the scratched and

ve the sizing applied by the forger. If held to the light the thinning will show. The water may be appli

act more promptly and show the scratched places.

aper will become slightly red if there is any acid remaining on the suspected document. If the suspected spots be trea

stakes are very liable to be made. Owing to the well-known fact that an inked surface presents a stronger chemical affinity for ink than does a paper surface, when one ink-line crosses another, the ink will flow out from the crossing line upon the surface of the line crossed, slightly beyond where

ruled paper, the base line will be broken or destroyed over the scraped or rubbed surface; fifth, the paper, since it has been more or less reduced in thickness where the erasure has been made, when held to the light will show more or less transparency. When erasures have been thus made the surface of the paper may be resized and polished, by applying white glue, and rubbing it over with a burnisher. When thus treated it may be again written over without difficulty. When erasures have been made with acids, there is a removal of the glo

been "wet down" for printing, since the luster upon the paper would be thereby removed, and, so far as the surface of the paper is concerned, t

ing others not there originally, or in both operations, of which the first mentioned is necessarily

acters, painting over them, or affixing a seal, wafer, etc., to the spot where they existed) or by the use of chemical ag

some sort of "size" or paste with resin soap, which is pressed into the upper pores to give the paper a smooth appe

thus abrased show the running of any fluid which was subsequently laid upon them, but the surface would appear rough to the eye in comparison with adjacent parts of the pa

area sandarach, resin, alum, paste, or two or three of these together, the effect being to

ut a magnifying-glass, a distinct increase in the brightness of the suspected area may be noticed, indic

almost invariably a magnifying-glass will clearly show the disturbance of the superficial fibres, as compared with other and normal parts of

the paper itself, or a washing either with water or with acids, alkalies, or saline solutions. A certain sp

ng are thicker and more blurred than usual a removal of sizi

usual, the cause is generally the application of resin, which has been a

numbra, or blurred marks bordering the tracing

te filter paper and passing a hot flatiron over it, allowing the latter to remain on the spotted parts for a short time. Another method is to wet the suspected paper or document with alcoh

rtial sizing. In this manner apparently white paper on which at first no traces of characters could be found showed a yellow tinge, denoting the presence of pre

oved, and the fibres of the paper which they unite are deranged in form and position. Such a surface exhibits invariably th

positions that they have been disturbed. When an attempt has been made to write over the place without sufficiently restoring the sizing, the effects can be seen in th

. It happens at times that a whole page is taken out, either by scratching or rubbing with pumice (which was the practice in the eleventh c

e made to reappear by warming. The parchment can be either laid on a

h they simulate, by greater clearness and precision, as has been said above; for when a man will risk being sent to jail for forgery it is not likely that h

is surprisingly great. Several instances are recalled where the name of the supposed writer was not only mispelled but spelled in two different ways in the same instrument. It occasionally seems as if the forger

ifferent machines. This may usually be done with considerable degree of certainty. Different operators have their own peculiar methods, which differ widely in

obable that any one even of these accidents should occur in precisely the same way upon two machines, and that any two or more should do so is well nigh impossible. It is equally certain that all the habits and mannerisms of the operators would not be precisely the same. A careful comparis

what has been written upon or erased from the instrument has no tendency to mislead any person to the instru

alteration should be treated as no alteration

changing the legal sense or altering imma

, or tracing a word with ink wr

the rights or duties, interests or obligations, of either of the

by the maker and the payee without the knowledge of the surety so as to be paya

l sense of the instrument. Memoranda made on the margin of the note for the convenience of the holder and merely explanatory of some circumstances co

erial it will not void an instrument e

e the alteration. But in a later Missouri case, it is held, that the addition of the signature of a married woman without a separate estate to a no