THE consideration of the effect of the use of ink upon civilization from primitive times to the present, as we have seen, offers a most suggestive field and certifies to the importance of the manufacture of honest inks as necessary to the future enlightenment of society. That it has not been fully understood or even appreciated goes without saying; a proper generalization becomes possible only in the light of corroborative data and the experiences of the many.
History has not given us the names of ancient ink makers; but we can believe there must have been during a period of thousands of years a great many, and that the kinds and varieties of inks were without number. Those inks which remain to us are to be found only as written with on ancient MSS.; they are of but few kinds, and in composition and appearance preserve a phenomenal identity, though belonging to countries and epochs widely separated. This identity leads to the further conclusion that ink making must have been an industry at certain periods, overlooked by careful compounders who distributed their wares over a vast territory.
"Gall" ink and "linen" paper as already stated are Asiatic inventions. Both of them seem to have entered Europe by way of Arabia, "hand in hand" at the very end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth centuries and for the next two hundred years, notwithstanding the fact that chemistry was almost an unknown science and the secrets of the alchemists known only to the few, this combination gradually came into general vogue.
In the fourteenth century we find one or both of them more or less substituted for "Indian" ink, parchment, vellum and "cotton" paper. It was, however, the monks and scribes who manufactured for their own and assistants' use "gall" ink, just as they had been in the habit of preparing "Indian" ink when required, which so far as known was not always a commodity.
As an industry it can be said to have definitely begun when the French government recognized the necessity for one, A. D. 1625, by giving a contract for "a great quantity of 'gall ink' to Guyot," who for this reason seems to occupy the unique position of the father of the modern ink industry.
Ink manufacture as a growing industry heretofore and to a large extent at present, occupies a peculiarly anomalous situation. Other industries follow the law of evolution which may perhaps bear criticism; but the ink industry follows none, nor does it even pretend to possess any.
Thousands are engaged in its pursuit, few of whom understand either ink chemistry or ink phenomena. The consumer knows still less, and with blind confidence placidly accepts nondescript compounds labeled "Ink," whether purchased at depots or from "combined" itinerant manufacturing peddlers and with them write or sign documents which some day may disturb millions of property. And yet in a comparative sense it has outpaced all other industries.
With the commencement of the eighteenth century we find the industry settling in Dresden, Chemnitz, Amsterdam, Berlin, Elberfield and Cologne. Still later in London, Vienna, Paris, Edinburgh and Dublin, and in the first half of the nineteenth century in the United States, it had begun to make considerable progress.
Among the first pioneers of the later modern inkindustry abroad, may be mentioned the names ofStephens, Arnold, Blackwood, Ribaucourt, Stark,Lewis, Runge, Leonhardi, Gafford, Bottger, Lipowitz,Geissler, Jahn, Van Moos, Ure, Schmidt, Haenle, Elsner,Bossin, Kindt, Trialle, Morrell, Cochrane, Antoine,Faber, Waterlous, Tarling, Hyde, Thacker, Mordan,Featherstone, Maurin, Triest and Draper.
In the period covered by the nineteenth century at home, the legitimate industry included over 300 ink makers. Those best known are Davids, Maynard and Noyes, Carter, Underwood, Stafford, Moore, Davis, Thomas, Sanford, Barnes, Morrell, Walkden, Lyons, Freeman, Murray, Todd, Bonney, Pomeroy, Worthington, Joy, Blair, Cross, Dunlap, Higgins, Paul, Anderson, Woodmansee, Delang, Allen, Stearns, Gobel, Wallach, Bartram, Ford and Harrison.
The ink phenomena included in the past eighty years has demonstrated a continuing retrogression in ink manufacture and a consequent deterioration of necessary ink qualities. When the attention of some ink makers are addressed to these sad facts, they attribute them, either to the demand of the public for an agreeable color and a free flowing ink, or to an inability to compete with inferior substitutes, which have flooded the market since the discovery of the coal tar colors; they have been compelled to depart from old and tried formulas, in the extravagant use (misuse) of the so-called "added" color.
An exceptional few of the older firms continue to catalogue unadulterated "gall" inks; but the demand for them except in localities where the law COMPELS their employment, is only little.
Interesting deductions can be made from the accompanying brief sketches of the leading ink manufacturers of the world.
The "Arnold" brand of inks possesses a worldwide reputation, although not always known by that name, beginning A. D. 1724 under the style of R. Ford, and continuing until 1772, when the firm name was changed to William Green & Co. In 1809 it became J. & J. Arnold, who were succeeded in 1814 by Pichard and John Arnold, the firm name by which it is known at the present day. This last named concern located at 59 Barbican, on the site of the old City Hall in London, and later moved to their present address, No. 155 Aldersgate street. The inks made by the "fathers" of the firm were "gall" inks WITHOUT "added" color. At the commencement of the nineteenth century we find them making tanno-gallate of iron inks to which were added extractive matter from logwood and other materials to form thick fluids for shipment to Brazil, India and the countries where brushes or reeds were used as writing instruments. For the more civilized portions of the world similar inks but of an increased fluidity were supplied, that the quill pens might be employed. The demands for still more fluid inks which would permit the use of steel pens, resulted in the modern blue-black chemical writing fluid, the "added" blue portion being indigo in some form. It was first put on the market in 1830. They manufacture over thirty varieties of ink, but only one real "gall" ink without "added" color.
In the early part of May, 1824, Thaddeus Davids started his ink factory at No. 222 William street, New York City. His first and best effort was a strictly pure tanno-gallate of iron ink, which he placed on the market in 1827 under the name of "Steel Pen Ink," guaranteed to write black and to possess "record" qualities. In 1833 he made innovations following the lines laid down by Arnold and also commenced the manufacture of a chemical writing fluid, with indigo for "added" color. Many more "added" colors were employed at different periods, like logwood and fustic, with the incorporation of sugar, glucose, etc. In the early fifties the cheap grades of logwood ink after the formula of Runge (1848) and which cost about four cents per gallon was marketed, principally for school purposes; it was never satisfactory, becoming thick and "color fading." Mr. Davids made many experiments with "alizarin" inks in the early sixties but did not consider them valuable enough to put on the market. In 1875 the firm introduced violet ink made from the aniline color of that name. Experimentations in 1878 with the insoluble aniline blacks and vanadium were unsuccessful; but the soluble aniline black (blue- black) known as nigrosine they used and still use in various combinations. During this long period their establishments have been in different locations. From No. 222 William street it was changed to Eighth street, with the office at No. 26 Cliff street. In 1854 the works were removed to New Rochelle, Westchester county, N. Y. In 1856 the firm name was Thaddeus Davids and Co., Mr. George Davids having been admitted as a partner and their warehouse and offices at this time were located at Nos. 127 and 129 William street, where a business of enormous proportions, which includes the manufacture of thirty-three inks and other products, is still carried on at the present day under the name and style of "Thaddeus Davids, Co." The old "Davids' Steel Pen Ink" continues to be manufactured from the original formula and is the only tanno-gallate of iron ink they make, WITHOUT "added" color.
The Paris house of "Antoine" as manufacturers of writing inks dates from 1840. They are best known as the makers of the French copying ink, of a violet- black color, made from logwood, which was first put on the market in 1853 under the name of Encres Japonaise. In 1860 an agency was established in New York City. They make a large variety of writing inks but do not offer for sale a tanno-gallate of iron ink without "added" color.
"Carter's" inks came into notoriety in 1861, by the introduction of a "combined writing and copying ink," of the gall and iron type and included "added " color. It was the first innovation of this character. At the end of the Civil War, John W. Carter of Boston, who had been an officer of the regular army, purchased an interest in the business, associating with himself Mr. J. P. Dinsmore of New York, the firm being known as Carter, Dinsmore & Co., Boston, Mass. In 1895 Mr. Carter died and Mr. Dinsmore retired from the business. The firm was then incorporated under the style of "The Carter's Ink Co." They do an immense business and make all kinds of ink. Of the logwoods, "Raven Black" is best known. When the state of Massachusetts in 1894 decided that recording officers must use a "gall" ink made after an official formula, they competed with other manufacturers for the privilege of supplying such an ink and won it. They do not offer for sale, however, "gall" ink WITHOUT added color. Their laboratories are magnificently equipped; the writer has had the pleasure of collaborating with several of their expert chemists.
The "Fabers," who date back to the year 1761, are known all over the world as lead pencil makers. They also manufacture many inks and have done so since 1881, when they built now factories at Noisy-le-Sac, near Paris. Blue-black and violet-black writing and copying inks of the class made by the "Antoines" are the principal kinds. They do not offer for sale, tanno-gallate of iron ink without "added" color. A branch house in New York City has remained since 1843.
"Stafford's" violet combined writing and copying ink was first placed on the New York market in 1869, though it was in 1858 that Mr. S. S. Stafford, the founder of the house, began the manufacture of inks, which he has continued to do to the present day. His chemical writing fluids are very popular, but he does not make a tanno-gallate of iron ink without "added" color, for the trade.
Charles M. Higgins of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1880 commenced the manufacture of "carbon" inks for engrossing, architectural and engineering purposes, and has succeeded in producing an excellent liquid "Indian" ink, which will not lose its consistency if kept from the air. It can also be used as a writing ink, if thinned down with water. He does not make a tanno-gallate of iron ink without "added" color.
Maynard and Noyes, whose inks were much esteemed in this section for over fifty years, is no longer in business, as is the case with many others well known during the first half of the nineteenth century.
The enormous quantities of ink of every color, quality and description made in the United States almost surpasses belief. It is said that the output for home consumption alone exceeds twelve millions of gallons per annum, and for export three thousand gallons per annum.
It is very safe to affirm that less than 1/50 of 1 per cent of this quantity represents a tanno-gallate of iron ink WITHOUT "added" color. Most colored inks and "gall" ones which possess "added" color if placed on paper under ordinary conditions will not be visible a hundred years hence.
This statement of mine might be considered altogether paradoxical were it not for associated evidential facts, which by proving themselves have established its correctness and truth. To repeat one of them is to refer to the report of Professors Baird and Markoe, who examined for the state of Massachusetts all the commercial inks on the market at that time.
"As a conclusion, since the great mass of inks on the market are not suitable for records, because of their lack of body and because of the quantity of unstable color which they contain, and because the few whose coloring matters are not objectionable are deficient in gall and iron or both, we would strongly recommend that the State set its own standard for the composition of inks to be used in its offices and for its records."
An official ink modelled somewhat after the formula employed by the government of Great Britain was contracted for by the state of Massachusetts. It read as follows:
"Take of pure, dry tannic acid, 23.4 parts by weight.of crystal gallic acid, 7.7 parts.of ferrous sulphate, 30.0 parts.of gum arabic, 10.0 parts.of diluted hydrochloric acid, 25.0 parts.of carbolic acid, 1.0 part.of water, sufficient to make up the mixtureat the temperature of 60 degrees F.to the volume of 1,000 parts byweight of water."
Such an ink prepared after this receipt would be a strictly pure tanno-gallate of iron ink WITHOUT any "added" color whatever.
The estimation in which such an ink is held by the majority of the ink manufacturers is best illustrated by quoting from two of the most prominent ones, and thus enable the reader to draw his own conclusions.
"We do not make a tanno-gallate of iron ink without added color, and so far as we know, there is no such ink on the market, as it would be practically colorless and illegible." * * * * * * *
"There is no such ink (a tanno-gallate of iron ink without added color) manufactured by any ink- maker as far as I know. It is obsolete."
The commercial names bestowed on the multitude of different inks placed on the market by manufacturers during the last century are in the thousands. A few of them are cited as indicative of their variety, some of which are still sold under these names.
Kosmian Safety Fluid, Bablah Ink, Universal JetBlack, Treasury Ledger Fluid, Everlasting Black Ink,Raven-Black Ink, Nut-gall Ink, Pernambuco Ink, BluePost Office Ink, Unchangeable Black, Document SafetyInk, Birmingham Copying Ink, Commercial WritingFluid, Germania Ink, Horticultural Ink, ExchequerInk, Chesnut Ink, Carbon Safety Ink, Vanadium Ink,Asiatic Ink, Terra-cotta Ink, Juglandin Ink, PersianCopying, Sambucin, Chrome Ink, Sloe Ink, Steel PenInk, Japanese Ink, English Office Ink, Catechu Ink,Chinese Blue Ink, Alizarin Ink, School Ink, BerlinInk, Resin Ink, Water-glass Ink, Parisian Ink, ImmutableInk, Graphite Ink, Nigrilin Ink, Munich Ink,Electro-Chemical, Egyptian Black, "Koal" BlackInk, Ebony Black Ink, Zulu Black, Cobalt Black,Maroon Black, Aeilyton Copying, Dichroic, CongressRecord, Registration, "Old English," etc.
The list of over 200 names, which follow, includes those of manufacturers of the best known foreign and domestic "black" inks and "chemical writing fluids" in use during the past century, as well as those of the present time.
AdrianaAllfieldAndersonAntoineArnaudonArnoldArtusBalladeBallandeBarnesBartBartramBeaurBehrensBelmondiBerzeliusBizangerBlackwoodBlairBolleyBonneyBossinBoswellBottgerBoutenguyBraconnotBrandeBufeuBuftonBureCarterCawCellierChampionChaptalChevallierClarkeCloseCochraneCollinCookeCoupier and CollinsCoxeCrockCrossDarcetDavidsDavisDelunelDelarveDelangDerheimsDizeDraperDruckDuhaldeDumasDumovlenDunandDunlapEllisEisnerFaberFaucherFauxFeatherstoneFesneauFontenelleFordFourmentinFreemanFuchsGaffardGastaldiGeisslerGeoffroyGebelGooldGoupeirGrasseGreenGuesnevilleGullierGuyonGuyotHaenlesHagerHaldatHanleHareHarrisonHausmanHeerenHenryHerepathHevrantHigginsHogyHuntHydeJahnJamesJoyKarmarschKasleteyerKindtKlaprothKloenKnafflKnechtLanauxLanetLarenaudiereLemancyLenormandLeonhardiLewisLey KaufLinkLipowitzLormeLuhringLyonsMacCulloghMackensicMathieuMaurinMaynard and NoyesMelvilleMendesMeremeeMergetMinetMollerMooreMordanMoserMorrellMozardMurrayNashNissenOhmeOttPaulPayenPerryPeltzPetibeauPlatzerPlisseyPomeroyPonceletProlliusProustPusherRappReadeRedwoodReidRemigiReinmannRheinfeldRibaucourtRickerRoderRuhrRungeSanfordSchaffgotochSchleckumSchmidtSchoffernScottSeldrakeSelmiSimonSouberinSouirsseanStaffordStarkSteinStephensStevensSyuckerbuykSwanTabuyTarlingThackerThomasThumannToddTomkinsTrialleTriestTrommsdorffUnderwoodValletVan MoosVogelWagnerWalkdenWallachWaterlousWindsor and NewtonWinternitzWoodmanseeWorthington
"The administration of justice profits by the progress of science, and its history shows it to have been almost the earliest in antagonism to popular delusion and superstition. The revelations of the microscope are constantly resorted to in protection of individual and public interests. . . . If they are relied upon as agencies for accurate mathematical results in mensuration and astronomy, there is no reason why they should be deemed unreliable in matters of evidence. Wherever what they disclose can aid or elucidate the just determination of legal controversies there can be no well- founded objection to resorting to them." Frank v. Chemical Nat. Bank, 37 Superior Court (J. & S.) 34, affirmed in Court of Appeals, 84 N. Y. 209.
THIS decision by a final court of adjudicature, expresses in no uncertain terms the now generally estimated value of evidence which science may reveal. The importance which that branch of it denominated "Chemico-legal ink" has attained and its utilization in many trials of causes both civil as well as criminal, places it beyond the purview of criticism or objection. With the introduction of a new class of inks in the last two decades, its scope has been much broadened.
Innumerable verdicts by juries wherever the system prevails, all over the world, the opinions of learned judges, whether presiding during a jury trial or sitting alone, more or less affected by this character of evidence, presents fairly the trend of the views of the public mind respecting it.
Constant experiment and successful demonstrations, covering a period of over fifty years, was necessary to overcome prevailing prejudices and ignorance.
The conditions to-day, which happily obtain, are that the objection to the introduction of such evidence finds its source usually in the side seeking to obscure and hide the truth or facts, while the honest litigant or innocent individual hastens to advocate its employment.
Another feature worthy of consideration is that persons who possess intimate knowledge of ink chem. istry and who might otherwise successfully perpetrate fraud if opportunity presented itself, refrain from making the attempt because of that very knowledge, which is sufficient also to teach them of the possible exposure of their efforts. Again, they and others are aware of the reliance placed on chemico-legal evidence as an aid to the cause of justice by courts and juries and this is an added reason why they hesitate to take chances. These propositions being true, they establish another one, viz: that most of the attempted frauds at the present time in this connection, are by the ignorant and those whose conceit does not permit them to believe that any one knows more than themselves.
Chemico-legal ink evidence as before stated has been employed in the trials of causes for many years; but it was not until the year 1889 that a precedent was established for the chemical examination of a suspected document preceding any trial. The honor of this departure from the ordinary modes of procedure belongs to the Hon. Rastus S. Ransom, who was surrogate of the county of New York at the time.
The matter in controversy was an alleged will executed in triplicate by one Thomas J. Monroe. Charges were made that the three wills were spurious, as they were facsimiles of each other. It was for the main purpose of determining the methods of their make-up that Judge Ransom rendered the opinion and made the order for its chemical examination which is cited in full:
Estate of Thomas J. Monroe.—"This is an application by the special guardian and contestant in this proceeding, which is now pending before the assistant, for leave to photograph the various papers which have been filed as the will of the deceased, and to compel the filing of two parts of one of said wills, which was executed in triplicate; likewise that the last paper be subjected to chemical tests for the purpose of disclosing the nature of the composition of the ink and the process or processes to which it has been subjected.
"Upon the oral argument the surrogate decided the applications first stated in favor of the petitioner, reserving only the question of his power to direct or permit the chemical tests. The special guardian on the oral argument stated that he was unable, to find any authority for the application.
"Consultation of the various sources of authority upon the subject of expert testimony and the various tests for the purpose of establishing or disproving handwriting has not resulted in the discovery of any authority for granting the application. It is apparent, however, from some of the cases that such an examination must have been permitted; for instance, in Fulton v. Hood (34th Penn. State Reports, 365), expert testimony was received in corroboration of positive evidence to prove that the whole of an instrument was written by the same hand, with the same ink, and at the same time. It is inconceivable how testimony of any value could be given as to the character of ink with which an instrument was written, unless it had been subjected to a chemical test. The writer of a valuable article in the eighteenth volume of the American Law Register, page 281 (R. U. Piper, an eminent expert of Chicago, Ill.), in commenting upon the rule as stated in the case of Fulton v. Hood (supra), very properly says:
" 'Microscopical and chemical tests may be competent to settle the question, but these should not be received as evidence, I think, unless the expert is able to show to the court and the jury the actual results of his examination, and also to explain his methods, so that they can be fully understood.'
"The writer of this article is also authority for the statement that in the French Courts every manipulation or experiment necessary to elucidate the truth in the case, even to the destruction of the document in question, is allowed, the Court, as a matter of precaution, being first supplied with a certified copy of the same.
"The most obvious argument to be urged against allowing a chemical test to be made on a will, and one that was suggested by the court on the argument of this motion, is that, inasmuch as the paper may be the subject of future controversy in this or some other tribunal, future litigants should not be prejudiced by any alteration or manipulation of the instrument. I do not think, however, that this objection is sound. Take an extreme case, of permitting a sufficient amount of the ink (which the affidavit of the expert shows to be but infinitesimal) for the purpose of chemical examination; the form of the letter would remain upon the paper; if not, the form and appearance of the entire signature might, as a preliminary precaution, be preserved by photography. The portion of the signature remaining would afford ample material for future experiments and investigations in subsequent proceedings wherein it might be deemed advisable to take that course.
"Because the subject matter of the controversy may be litigated hereafter should not deprive parties in the proceeding of any rights which they would otherwise have. They certainly are entitled to all rights in this proceeding that the parties to any future proceedings would have. Besides, all the parties whose presence would be necessary to an adjudication in, for example, an ejectment proceeding, are (or their privies are) parties here. It certainly cannot be that the law, seeking the truth, will not avail itself of this scientific method of ascertaining the genuineness of the instrument because of some problematical effect upon the rights or opportunities of parties to future litigations respecting the same instrument. The possibilities of litigation over a will are almost infinite, and if such a rule should obtain this important channel of investigation would be closed. Suppose the same objection were raised to the first action of ejectment which might be brought, it might then with the same force be urged that parties to some future ejectment suit would be prejudiced by a chemical test of the ink used in the will, and so on ad infinitum.
"By not availing itself of this method of ascertaining the truth as to the character of the ink, the Court deprives itself of a species of evidence which amounts to practical demonstration.
"I can see no reason why the application should not be granted."
The order in part reads:
"It is ordered and directed that Charles H. Beckett, the special guardian aforesaid, be and he hereby is allowed permission to photograph the aforesaid paper writings described in said order to show cause, viz., one of the two parts of a triplicate Will of Thomas J. Monroe, deceased, dated February 10th, 1873, which were filed in the office of the Surrogate of the City and County of New York on or about the 9th day of May, 1889, and also the contested Will herein dated March 27th and June 1st, 1888, and to have the said paper writing, bearing date March 22d and June 1st, 1888, subjected to such chemical test or tests as shall disclose the nature of the composition of the ink and, if possible, the process or processes to which it has been subjected, if any.
"And it is further ordered and directed that such chemical test be applied to the ink or writing fluid on said alleged Will to the following specified portion, or any part of such portions, viz."
Specifications in minute detail follow, calling attention to the words and spaces which are permitted to be chemically tested, and then continues:
"And it is further ordered and directed that the said paper writings shall be photographed before any chemical tests are applied thereto.
"And it is further ordered and directed that such photographing and chemical tests be performed by David N. Carvalho, Esq., a proper and suitable person, at the places above indicated respectively, between the 10th and the 20th days of June, 1889, inclusive, in the presence of the parties in interest or their attorneys, upon at least two days' notice to all parties herein or their attorneys.
"And it is further ordered and directed that in the event of destruction or breaking of the negatives after such paper writings have been photographed, the said special guardian, upon similar notice, shall have leave to re-photograph the said paper writings, at the same place and by the said David N. Carvalho, between the 10th and 20th days of June, 1889, inclusive. "(Signed) RASTUS S. RANSOM, "Surrogate."
On the 19th of June, 1889, pursuant to the order of the court, the alleged will referred to was first photographed, and later in that day such places as had been designated in the order were chemically treated, as part of a series of experiments. The results obtained briefly summarized were as, follows: The instrument which purported to be a holographic will of Thomas J. Monroe the experiments showed conclusively to be not the case, as neither pen nor ink in the body writing portion or in the decedent's signature had ever touched the paper; the date and names of the witnesses thereon were written, however, with pen and ink. Furthermore, the experiments demonstrated beyond question that exclusive of its date and names of witnesses, that it was what is commonly known as a transfer taken from a gelatine pad (hektograph), a method of duplicating popularly in vogue at that time. The deduced facts in the matter being that Thomas J. Monroe had written his will in an aniline purple ink, to which he had appended his name, leaving blank spaces to be filled in for the date, names of witnesses, etc., and had transferred the same to a hektograph, from which he had taken a number of duplicate facsimile copies, and at some other time had filled in the blank spaces by ordinary methods and to which, at his request, the names of the witnesses had been written with a pen and ink. In the trial which followed the surrogate declined to sustain the allegation of the proponents that the alleged signature was the original writing of Thomas J. Monroe, or indeed of any person. The will was not admitted to probate.
Experiments, both in open court or during its sessions in the testing of ink and paper, microscopically and chemically, are of frequent occurrence, and many contests involving enormous interests have been more or less decided as the result of them.
The contest of the alleged will of George P. Gordon, tried before the late Chancellor McGill of New Jersey in 1891, illustrates in a remarkable degree just how certain are the results of investigations of this character. The chancellor's decision, after listening to testimony for many weeks, was in effect to declare the will a forgery, largely because of the fact that the premise on which it rested was a so-called draft, from which it was sworn it had been copied. The ink on this draft it was proved could not have had an existence. until many years after the date of the forged will.
The decedent, who died in 1878, was the inventor of a famous printing press, and left a large fortune.
A will offered for probate soon after the death of Gordon was not probated, owing to the discovery that the witnesses had not signed it in each other's presence. The principal beneficiaries, however, under that will, the widow and daughter of Gordon, agreed to a division of the estate which was satisfactory to the other heirs at law, and the matter apparently was settled.
But a retired lawyer named Henry C. Adams began in 1879, a year after Gordon's death, to endeavor to obtain the assistance of some heirs at law in an enterprise which was finally ended only when Chancellor McGill's decision was rendered.
In 1868 Adams lived with his father and brothers on a farm, near Rahway, N. J., adjoining the Gordon place. The two men became well acquainted through their common interest in music. Adams called upon A. Sidney Doane, a nephew of Gordon, and told him that Gordon had made a will in 1868 which might be found or if lost, established by means of a draft of it which he (Adams) had retained. Mr. Doane refused to act upon this proposition. Then Adams presented the matter to Guthbert O. Gordon, a brother to George P. Gordon. He declined to consider the proposed search for a new will. Adams then wrote to Guthbert Gordon, Jr., cautioning him to say nothing to any one, but to come and see him. Guthbert Gordon, Jr., declined to accept Adams's invitation for a secret conference. Adams did not write or communicate with the widow or daughter of George P. Gordon, or with any of the officials or other persons who dealt with the estate. Finding that the heirs at law were satisfied with the arrangement of the estate under Gordon's daughter's management, he gave up his efforts at that time.
In 1890 Mary Agnes Gordon, the daughter, died in Paris, and remittances from her ceasing and her will not being satisfactory to those who had been receiving them from her, another contest was begun. This caused a renewal of Adams's activity. In 1890 he wrote to Messrs. Black & King, a firm of lawyers who represented the contestants of Mary Agnes Gordon's will. Adams's letter to the law firm contained this expression:
"If one of you will come over here on Sunday morning, bringing no brass band, fife or drums, I will tell you something worth knowing."
Mr. King visited Adams, who was then living at Orange, N. J., and was told by him that Mr. Gordon had executed a will in 1868 which he (Adams) had drawn at Gordon's instance, and that he had retained a corrected draft from which the will itself had been copied. He also told King that the original will after its execution had been left with his father, and that it must be at his father's homestead near Rahway, where he would try to find it. A few days later he wrote to Black & King that the will had been found, and the next day went with the lawyers to Rahway and identified the package found by his brother Edward Adams, who occupied the Rahway farm, as that which contained the will. The package, unopened, was taken to a safe deposit company and the original draft was deposited with the secretary of state. The alleged will, which Chancellor McGill pronounced a forgery when finally opened in the preliminary probate proceedings, was found to be a very long and complicated document, written on blue paper in black ink. The draft, which was on white paper, was also written in the main in black ink, but a copious quantity of red ink had been used in interlineations. The significant paragraph of the new will was a direction to his heirs to purchase, if the testator had not succeeded in doing so before his death, the Henry Adams farm for $32,000. Minute directions were given to insure the purchase, but no lower price than $32,000 was mentioned. Commenting upon this Chancellor McGill's remarks:
"It is also to be here noted that the Adams farm is now scarcely worth one-third the price for which it is directed to be purchased."
Continuing the court says:
"The only living person who professes to have had knowledge of this disputed paper prior to November, 1890, is Henry C. Adams. He most clearly and positively testified that he drew the disputed paper at the instance of Mr. Gordon. He produced a draft from which he said it was copied. . . . I have already stated that Mr. Adams testified most positively when the draft of the disputed paper was offered in evidence that it was the identical document from which the will of 1868 had been copied, and it is to be remembered that the interlineations in that draft are almost all made with red ink, and that Mr. Adams testified that those interlineations existed when the will was copied from the draft. With a view to testing the truth of this testimony the contestants submitted the draft to scientific experts, who pronounced the red ink to be a product of eosine, a substance invented by a German chemist named Caro in the year 1874, and after that time imported to this country. At first it was sold for $125 a pound, and was so expensive it could not be used commercially in the manufacture of ink. Afterwards the price was so greatly reduced that it became generally used in making red ink. It is distinguished by a peculiar bronze cast that is readily detected. It was recognized in the red ink interlineations in the draft of the disputed paper produced by Mr. Adams by a number of scientific gentlemen, among whom were some of the best known ink manufacturers in the country, and Mr. Carl Pickhardt, who first imported eosine. Upon further examination the witness, Adams, said he thought the draft produced to be the original until he saw the will on blue paper, and that then he was perplexed, but dismissed his doubt upon the suggestion of counsel, but afterward he thought upon the subject 'in the vigils of the night,' but by an unfortunate coincidence did not reach substantial doubt enough to correct his previous testimony until after the testimony concerning the character of the red ink he had used in interlining had been produced. . . . It is impossible to study this remarkable case at this point without grave doubts as to the truthfulness of Mr. Adams, and indeed as to the frankness with which the case was produced in court in behalf of the proponents."
As to Adams as a witness, the court finally says:
"And as I read the confused answers of Mr. Adams and note his apparent misapprehension of questions that would tend to involve him, and note the apparent failure of his theretofore wonderfully clear and exact memory of the most trivial and unimportant details, I am inclined to reject the whole story as a fabrication that has been punctured and fallen to pieces. . . . I find it to be impossible to rely upon the testimony of Henry C. Adams. Excluding it the will is not proved. . . .
"I will deny probate, revoking that which I have heretofore granted in common form." * * * * * * *
In the attempt made to prove the alleged last will and testament of Stephen C. Dimon, deceased, chemistry was the all-determining factor in the most important branch of the case. The peculiar features of this remarkable and unique case are best described by presenting them with a brief history of the entire matter.
In 1884 Stephen C. Dimon of the city of New York made and executed a will, choosing as legatee and executrix a Mrs. Martha Keery. The will he intrusted to the custody of his counsel. It appeared. that some time during the following year his attorney transferred this will from its resting place in a desk drawer to a new safe and recalled having seen its envelope a year later, but said he never saw the will thereafter.
In 1893 Mr. Dimon died. No will being produced, his brother took, out letters of administration. Whereupon Mrs. Martha Keery commenced a suit against the brother and the next of kin he represented, in an effort to obtain the dead man's estate. She based her claim solely on the LOST will, the contents of which were recalled in the trial by Mr. Dimon's former counsel, who was also one of the witnesses to the lost will. During the course of the trial in the Supreme Court, presided over by Justice George L. Ingraham, Mrs. Keery's attorney produced a mutilated document which from its reading indicated that it had once been a will, though not the "lost" one. But the names of the legatee, executrix, testator, names of witnesses and their addresses were completely obliterated. The written portions still undisturbed showed it to be in the handwriting of Stephen C. Dimon. Mrs. Keery's story was that after the death of Mr. Dimon in going over an old coat formerly worn by him, she had found it in a side pocket and had given it to her counsel just as it came into her hands.
Its condition showed it to be considerably pocket- worn. The obliterations referred to represented huge blots of black ink covering a lot of scratches and making it impossible to decipher the under writing. Defendant's Counsel immediately requested that the document be turned over to an expert, to see what could be done with it. The judge granted the motion and adjourned the case for several days to await results.
Counsel on both sides joined in the selection of myself. Three days were occupied in its decipherment. The will occupied two sides of a full sheet of legal cap. The original ink which was employed in the writing of the will was of pale gray color. The first obliterations were a series of pen and ink scratches and marks which destroyed the writing. Not satisfied with them the operator had with a saturated piece of blotting paper, brushed over the scratches and as that ink was of good quality every mark of writing had disappeared in the jumble and blots. It so happened that three inks had been employed. The original ink, the ink used for scratching and the one employed to do the blotting. The three inks were happily mixtures containing different constituents, and so by utilizing the reagent of one which did not affect the other, gradually the encrusted upper inks were removed and later the original writing appeared sufficiently plain not only to be read but to identify it. Photographs made before and after the chemical experiments, permitted court and counsel to make their own comparisons during the giving of the testimony about it.
It permitted also the finding of the two witnesses who lived outside of the city and to learn many details from them as to Mr. Dimon's conduct in the matter.
The restored will showed that Mrs. Keery at its date (1891) was still in his mind, and its destruction by himself—that he had changed his mind.
Justice Ingraham completes his opinion in deciding the case as follows:
"In this case, however, the long time that elapsed between the time of the delivery of the will to Mr. Morgan and the death of the testator, the absence of my satisfactory proof of the existence of the will from the time it was delivered to Mr. Morgan to the time of the testator's death, and the fact that the testator made another will, making substantially the same disposition of the property, which he subsequently destroyed, all tend to cast a doubt upon the fact that the will was in existence at the time of the testator's death, and there is positively no evidence that it was ever fraudulently destroyed.
"I do not think the court is justified in diverting a large sum of money from those legally entitled to it, by allowing, a lost will to be proved, except upon the clearest and most satisfactory evidence of the existence of the will at the time of the testator's death. And the testimony in this case falls short of what I consider necessary to establish such a will.
"There should be, therefore, judgment for the defendants with costs." * * * * * * *
A case of considerable interest was tried before Hon. Clifford D. Gregory in the month of March, 1899, in the city of Albany, New York. It was entitled the "People of the State of New York against Margaret E. Cody," as charged with the crime of blackmail, in the sending of a letter to Mr. George J. Gould, in which she threatened to divulge certain information which she claimed to possess about his dead father, Jay Gould. The character of this information was such that if true it meant that Jay Gould and his wife had lived in bigamous relations during a great number of years preceding their death and hence also affected the legitimacy of the entire Gould family. Mrs. Cody asserted that Jay Gould was married to a Mrs. Angel some time in 1853, and that as a result of that "lawful" marriage she gave birth to a daughter, a Mrs. Pierce, who was still alive and living somewhere in the west. As Mrs. Cody offered to sell or secrete the information which she said she possessed for a consideration, Mr. George J. Gould and his sister, Miss Helen Gould, instantly determined that it could be nothing else than a clear case of an attempt at blackmail, which falsely impugned the reputations of their dead parents. They instituted criminal proceedings against Mrs. Cody, charging that Mrs. Cody when she wrote the letter well knew that her claim that his father had been married to Mrs. Angel and that Mrs. Pierce was their daughter, was absolutely false. Two trials followed, the first in 1898 in which the jury disagreed, and a second one in 1899 which lasted over a week. It was in the second trial that chemical tests on a certain entry in a church record in the presence of the jury were made, which showed conclusively that ancient writing of another character than that which had been substituted was still existent beneath the writing which was apparent to the naked eye.
The following are excerpts of the judge's charge to the jury:
"I wish to invite your attention, for a few moments, to the baptismal certificate. You have had produced here before you the original baptismal record of the church at Cooperville. It has been substantially admitted, in the arguments of this case, that there has been a change made in this certificate. I do not think that the District Attorney claims that there is any evidence that Mrs. Cody herself changed this record; there is no claim, as I understand it, made by the prosecuting officer that she went there and obtained this book, and with her own hand changed this record; but he asks you to infer and find from the evidence that has been given, that she was a party to this change, that she was privy to this change, and that knowing that fact she had guilty knowledge when she wrote the letter upon which the indictment is based.
"You will remember that Mr. Carvalho, the expert in handwriting, was placed upon the stand; and he has testified in your presence as to his qualifications in determining disputed handwritings, and what his experience has been during a long series of years. He tells you that he has examined this record, and that there is no question but some of the words have been erased and others substituted in their places. He tells you that the words 'Jay Goulds' were not the original words in the certificate, or if they were, the present 'Jay Goulds,' as they appear in the certificate, have been forged; that the words 'Mary S. Brown,' the 'sex mois,' the French words for six months, and other changes which he has described to you are forgeries.
"I shall submit to you, as a question of fact, whether or not Mrs. Cody had any knowledge or took any part, or authorized or connived at any of the changes made in this certificate. I do not say that she did; I leave it to you to say, from the evidence in this case, whether your minds are convinced that she had any part or parcel, or undertook in any way to accomplish the changes which have been made in this baptismal record. And if you find as matter of fact that she had such knowledge at the time this letter was written; if you find as matter of fact she had this information given to her by Mrs. Angel, then I leave it to you to say whether she had such knowledge, such guilty knowledge, as should prevent her, if acting honestly, from writing a letter such as has been described here and contained in the indictment."
The jury brought in a verdict of guilty.
In the trial of the People v. David L. Kellam (1895), who was charged with altering the dates of three notes for $6,000 each, the contention of the prosecution was that the dates of the notes had been changed by chemicals, and with the consent of the defense a reagent was applied to the suspected places and the original dates restored. The verdict of the jury was guilty.
In the Holt Will case, tried in Washington, D. C., in the month of June, 1896, great stress was laid on the fact of the difference in the admixture of inks found on letters contemporaneous with the date of the will, and it was asserted also that the ink with which the will was written was not in existence at the time it was alleged to have been made, June 14, 1873, and probably not earlier than ten years later. Furthermore, that it was a habit of Judge Holt up to the time of his death, which habit was illustrated in his writings and correspondence to "sand" his writing. The jury decided the will was a forgery.
Another famous case in which the scientific testimony about ink and pencil writing must have assisted the court in arriving at a conclusion was in the trial of the famous Tighe will contest, tried before Hon. Frank T. Fitzgerald, one of the present surrogates of the county of New York. The story of this case is incorporated in the opinion which is cited in part:
"Hon. Frank T. Fitzgerald, Surrogate of the county of New York:
"That Richard Tighe died on the 6th day of May, 1896, at No. 32 Union Square, in the city and county of New York, where he had lived for fifty years prior to his death, and was at the time of his death over ninety years.
"That the testator, on or about the 27th day of March, 1884, in the presence of the attesting witnesses, duly signed the instrument in writing, and duly published and declared the same to be his last will and testament, and requested said witnesses to witness the same, and pursuant to such request said attesting witnesses did subscribe said will as attesting witnesses. That at the time said Richard Tighe so signed, published and declared the said instrument to be his last will and testament, the said Richard Tighe was in all respects competent to execute the same, and was not under any restraint or undue influence. That the said instrument, so signed, published and declared by testator was and consisted of the identical sheets of paper and the identical writing now appearing upon the same as to all except pencil writing; the testator did not publish or declare the marks, words or figures written in or upon said instrument in pencil to be a part of his last will and testament, and it is not found that such marks, words or figures were upon said instrument at the time when said instrument was so published and declared to be the last will and testament of the testator. That the said last will and testament is written consecutively upon two sheets of legal cap paper.
"That the said last will and testament was originally prepared with blank spaces left for the insertion of the numbers of shares intended to be bequeathed and devised to the various beneficiaries named therein, and as so prepared was in the hand-writing of Caroline S. Tighe, the wife of testator, and that at some subsequent time and before the execution of the said instrument by the said Richard Tighe, the blank spaces hereinafter referred to as filled in in ink, were filled in by or under the direction of the testator. Upon said instrument as offered for probate there appears in the blanks originally left thereon, in some instances, pencil writings superimposed over other pencil writings, which have been either wholly or partially erased, and in other instances ink writing different from the body of the instrument in the material employed, appearing over pencil writings wholly or partially obliterated. . .
"That the said words written in ink filling such blanks as aforesaid expressed the final determination of the testator with regard to the beneficiaries to whom the same applied; and that the words and figures written in pencil filling such blanks as aforesaid were written only deliberately and tentatively and that as to those words and figures the testator had not at the time when he executed, published or declared said instrument to be his last will and testament determined as to whom or in what proportions he would give the several shares of his estate and property covered by said words and figures, but the testator attempted and intended to reserve to himself the power of making disposition of said shares thereafter, and intended the final disposition thereof to be in ink writing. . . ."
THE books contain no clearer or more forcible exposition of "Chemico-legal" ink, in its relationship to facts adduced from illustrated scientific testimony, than is to be found in the final opinion written by that eminent jurist Hon. Edgar M. Cullen on behalf of the majority of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, in the case of De Frees Critten v. The Chemical National Bank. It was the author's privilege to be the expert employed in the lower court about whose testimony Judge Cullen remarks (N. Y. Rep., 171, p. 223) "The alteration of the checks by Davis was established beyond contradiction," and again, p. 227, "The skill of the criminal has kept pace with the advance in honest arts and a forgery may be made so skillfully as to deceive not only the bank but the drawer of the check as to the genuineness of his own signature." The main facts are included in the portion of the opinion cited:
"The plaintiffs kept a large and active account with the defendant, and this action is to recover an alleged balance of a deposit due to them from the bank. The plaintiffs had in their employ a clerk named Davis. It was the duty of Davis to fill up the checks which it might be necessary for the plaintiffs to give in the course of business, to make corresponding entries in the stubs of the check book and present the checks so prepared to Mr. Critten, one of the plaintiffs, for signature, together with the bills in payment of which they were drawn. After signing a check Critten would place it and the bill in an envelope addressed to the proper party, seal the envelope and put it in the mailing drawer. During the period from September, 1897, to October, 1899, in twenty-four separate instances Davis abstracted one of the envelopes from the mailing drawer, opened it, obliterated by acids the name of the payee and the amount specified in the check, then made the check payable to cash and raised its amount, in the majority of cases, by the sum of $100. He would draw the money on the check so altered from the defendant bank, pay the bill for which the check was drawn in cash and appropriate the excess. On one occasion Davis did not collect the altered check from the defendant, but deposited it to his own credit in another bank. When a check was presented to Critten for signature the number of dollars for which it was drawn would be cut in the check by a punching instrument. When Davis altered a check he would punch a new figure in front of those already appearing in the check. The checks so altered by Davis were charged to the account of the plaintiff s, which was balanced every two months and the vouchers returned to them from the bank. To Davis himself the plaintiffs, as a rule, intrusted the verification of the bank balance. This work having in the absence of Davis been committed to another person, the forgeries were discovered and Davis was arrested and punished. It is the amount of these forged checks, over and above the sums for which they were originally drawn, that this action is brought to recover. The defendant pleaded payment and charged negligence on plaintiff's part, both in the manner in which the checks were drawn and in the failure to discover the forgeries when the pass book was balanced and the vouchers surrendered. On the trial the alteration of the checks by Davis was established beyond contradiction and the substantial issue litigated was that of the plaintiff's negligence. The referee rendered a short decision in favor of the plaintiffs in which he states as the ground of his decision that the plaintiffs were not negligent either in signing the checks as drawn by Davis or in failing to discover the forgeries at an earlier date than that at which they were made known to them.
"The relation existing between a bank and a depositor being that of debtor and creditor, the bank can justify a payment on the depositor's account only upon the actual direction of the depositor. 'The question arising on such paper (checks) between drawee and drawer, however, always relate to what the one has authorized the other to do. They are not questions of negligence or of liability to parties upon commercial paper, but are those of authority solely. The question of negligence cannot arise unless the depositor has in drawing his cheek left blanks unfilled, or by some affirmative act of negligence has facilitated the commission of a fraud by those into whose hands the check may come.' (Crawford v. West Side Bank, 100 N. Y. 50.) Therefore, when the fraudulent alteration of the checks was proved, the liability of the bank for their amount was made out and it was incumbent upon the defendant to establish affirmatively negligence on the plaintiff's part to relieve it from the consequences of its fault or misfortune in paying forged orders. Now, while the drawer of a check may be liable where he draws the instrument ill such ill incomplete state as to facilitate or invite fraudulent alterations, it is not the law that he is bound so to prepare the cheek that nobody else call successfully tamper with it. (Societe Generale v. Metropolitan Bank, 27 L. T. [N. S.] 849; Belknap v. National Bank of North America, 100 Mass. 380) In the present case the fraudulent alteration of the checks was not merely in the perforation of the additional figure, but in the obliteration of the written name of the payee and the substitution therefor of the word 'Cash.' Against this latter change of the instrument the plaintiffs could not have been expected to guard, and without that alteration it would have no way profited the criminal to raise the amount. . . ."
A Pinkerton case of international repute, best known as the "Becker" case, included the successful "raising" of a check by chemical means from $12 to $22,000. The criminal author of this stupendous fraud was Charles Becker, "king of forgers," who as an all round imitator of any writing and manipulator of monetary instruments then stood at the head of his "profession." Arrested and taken to San Francisco he was brought to trial. Two of his "pals" turned state's evidence, and Becker was sentenced to a life term. Through an error on the part of the trial judge he secured a new trial on an appeal to the Supreme Court. The jury disagreed on a second trial, but on the third trial he was convicted. Becker pleaded for mercy, and as he was an old man and showed signs of physical break-down, the court was lenient with him. Seven years was his sentence.
After his incarceration in San Quetin prison, he described in one sentence how he had risen to the head of the craft of forgers. "A world of patience, a heap of time, and good inks,—that is the secret of my success in the profession."
On completing his sentence, his reply to the question, "What was the underlying motive which induced you to forge?" was one word, "Vanity!"
The detailed facts which follow are from the "AmericanBanker:"
"On December 2, 1895, a smooth-speaking man, under the name of A. H. Dean, hired an office in the Chronicle building at San Francisco, under the guise of a merchant broker, paid a month's rent in advance, and on December 4 he went to the Bank of Nevada and opened an account with $2,500 cash, saying that his account would run from $2,000 to $30,000, and that he would want no accommodation. He manipulated the account so as to invite confidence, and on December 17 he deposited a check or draft of the Bank of Woodland, Cal., upon its correspondent, the Crocker- Woolworth Bank of San Francisco. The amount was paid to the credit of Dean, the check was sent through the clearing-house, and was paid by the Crocker- Woolworth Bank. The next day, the check having been cleared, Dean called and drew out $20,000, taking the cash in four bags of gold, the teller not having paper money convenient. He had a vehicle at the door, with his office boy inside as driver, and away he went. At the end of the month, when the Crocker-Woolworth Bank made returns to the Woodland Bank, it included the draft for $22,000. Here the fraud was discovered, and here the lesson to bankers of advising drafts received a new illustration. The Bank of Woodland had drawn no such draft, and the only one it had drawn which was not accounted for was one for twelve dollars, issued in favor of A. H. Holmes to an innocent- looking man, who, on December 9, called to ask how he could send twelve dollars to a distant friend, and whether it was better to send a money order or an express order. When he was told he could send it by bank draft, he seemed to have learned something new; supposed that he could not get a bank draft, and he took it, paying the fee. Here came back that innocent twelve-dollar draft, raised to $22,000, and on its way had cost somebody $20,000 in gold.
"The almost absolute perfection with which the draft had been forged had nearly defied the detection of even the microscope. In the body of the original $12 draft had been the words, 'Twelve …….. Dollars.' The forger, by the use of some chemical preparation, had erased the final letters 'lve' from the word 'twelve,' and had substituted the letters 'nty-two,' so that in place of the 'twelve,' is it appeared in the genuine draft, there was the word 'twenty-two' in the forged paper.
"In the space between the word 'twenty-two' and the word 'dollars' the forger inserted the word 'thousand,' so that in place of the draft reading 'twelve dollars,' as at first, it read 'twenty-two thousand dollars,' as changed.
"In the original $12 draft, the figures '1' and '2' and the character '$' had been punched so that the combination read '$12.' The forger had filled in these perforations with paper in such away that the part filled in looked exactly like the field of the paper. After having filled in the perforations, he had perforated the paper with the combination, '$22,000.'
"The dates, too, had been erased by the chemical process, and in their stead were dates which would make it appear that the paper bad been presented for payment within a reasonable length of time after it had been issued. The dates in the original draft, if left on the forged draft, would have been liable to arouse suspicion at the bank, for they would have shown that the holder had departed from custom in carrying, such a valuable paper more than a few days.
"That was the extent of the forgeries which had been made in the paper, the manner in which they had been made betrayed the hand of an expert forger. The interjected hand-writing was so nearly like that in the original paper that it took a great while to decide whether or not it was a forgery.
"In the places where letters had been erased by the use of chemicals the coloring of the paper had been restored, so that it was well-nigh impossible to detect a variance of the hue. It was the work of an artist, with pen, ink, chemicals, camel's hair brush, water colors, paper pulp and a perforating machine. Moreover the crime was eighteen days old, and the forger might be in Japan or on his way to Europe. The Protective Committee of the American Bankers' Association held a hurried consultation as soon as the news of the forgery reached New York, and orders were given to get this forger, regardless of expense—he was too dangerous a man to be at large. It was easier said than done; but the skill of the Pinkertons was aroused and the wires were made hot getting an accurate description of Dean from all who had seen him. Suspected bank criminals were shadowed night and day to see if they connected with any one answering the description, but patient, hard labor for nearly two months did not seem to promise much."
Not satisfied with their success in San Francisco these same bank workers began a series of operations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. This information by chance reached the Pinkertons who laid a trap and captured two of the gang. Shortly afterward Becker on information furnished by them was also arrested, taken to California and after three separate trials as before stated, sent to San Quetin.
This triumph of the forger's art, I examined in the city of San Francisco and although it was not, the first time I had been brought into contact with the work of Becker, was compelled to admit that this particular specimen was almost perfect and more nearly so with a single exception than any other which had come under my observation. Becker was a sort of genius in the juggling of bank checks. He knew the values of ink and the correct chemical to affect them. His paper mill was his mouth, in which to manufacture specially prepared pulp to fill in punch holes, which when ironed over, made it most difficult to detect even with a magnifying glass. He was able also to imitate water marks and could reproduce the most intricate designs. He says he has reformed.
During the last twenty years quite a number of cases have been tried in New York City and vicinity in which the question of inks was an all important one. The titles of a few not already referred to are given. herewith: Lawless-Flemming, Albinger Will, Phelan- Press Publishing Co., Ryold, Kerr-Southwick, N. Y. Dredging Co., Thorless-Nernst, Gekouski, Perkins, Bedell forgeries, Storey, Lyddy, Clarke, Woods, Baker, Trefethen, Dupont-Dubos, Schooley, Humphrey, Dietz-Allen, Carter, and Rineard-Bowers.
THE instruments of antiquity employed in the art of writing belong to two of the most distant epochs.
In the first period, inscriptions were engraved, carved or impressed with sharp instruments, and of patterns characteristic of a graving tool, chisel or other form which could be adapted to particular substances like stone, leaves, metal or ivory plates, wax or clay tablets, cylinders and prisms.
The ancient Assyrians even used knives or stamps for impressing their cuneiform writing upon cylinders or prisms of soft clay which were often glazed by subsequent bakings in kilns.
The other period was that in which written characters were made with liquids or paints of any kind or color. The liquids (inks) were used in connection with a pen manufactured from a reed (calamus), while the paints were "painted" on the various substances with a brush. The writing executed with both of these instruments was on materials like the bark of trees, cloth, skins, papyrus, vellum, etc.
The ancient as well as modern pens, though of many sorts and kinds, are to be classified under two general heads, those which scratch and those which use an ink.
There is no authority to dispute the generally conceded fact that the "scratching" instrument was the first one used. Its most popular form seems to have been the stylus or bodkin, which was made of a variety of materials, such as iron, ivory, bone, minerals or any other hard substance, which could be sufficiently sharpened at one end to indent the various materials employed in connection with its use. The other end was flattened for erasing marks made on wax and smoothing it. From it the Italian stilletto took its origin.
The stylus is best described in the following lines:
"My head is flat and smooth, but sharp my foot,And by man's hand to different uses put;For what my foot performs with art and care,My head makes void, such opposites they are."
Relative to the employment of marking instruments which belong to the most venerable antiquity, Noel Humphreys observes:
"Before the growth of wealth and luxury had taught nations to raise magnificent temples and stately palaces, whose walls the hieroglyphic sculptor covered with records of the pomp and pride of princes, more purely national memorials had found their place upon the native rock, the most convenient surfaces of which were smoothed for this purpose. Where no such rock existed in the situation required, a massive stone was raised by artificial means and the record, whether referring to a victory, a new boundary, or any other event of national interest was engraved upon it. Such memorials have been described by Hebrew writers as aumad or ammod, literally, the lips of the people, or, the words of the people, but actually meaning a pillar. Records in this form and the early name they bore account for the strange legends of mediaeval times referring to speaking stones—a name by which such monuments were probably still called long after time had effaced the speaking record, and the original purport of the defaced stone was forgotten. In semi-barbarous epochs, like the era which followed the partial extinction of Roman civilization, popular curiosity and superstition combined would seek to give a meaning to the name of such 'speaking stones,' and as an example of the legends which thus arose, the itinerarium cambriae of Geraldus may be cited, in which a stone is mentioned at St. David's as the 'speaking stone' (lech lavar) which was said to call out when a dead body was placed upon it. The most remarkable rock inscriptions still remaining are those of Assyria and Persia, but many national tablets of more recent date are still in existence. For the execution of such records and those of the palaces of Egypt and Assyria, some kind of steel point must have been used, as no softer substance would have served to engrave them in granitic and basaltic slabs with the sharpness they still exhibit, which proves that the art of hardening steel, long thought a comparatively modern invention, was known to the ancient people of Asia and Africa."