Science and the Criminal

by C. Ainsworth Mitchell

Here the matter might have ended had it not been for an act of folly upon the part of Thomas.

Priestman invited his solicitor and some friends to come to Leominster to celebrate the occasion, and on their way from the station the carriage drove past the house where Whalley had lived.

As it passed by Thomas stood at the window flourishing a piece of blue paper.

The solicitor, seeing this, jumped to the conclusion that this paper was the “blue will,” which Thomas was flourishing out of bravado, to show that he had beaten them. This led him to make further inquiries, which finally resulted in his concluding that the “white will” was a forgery.

As the Court of Chancery regarded the question as one to be decided by a jury the case was tried in the Queen’s Bench Division, eminent counsel being engaged on each side.

Evidence was given by David Reece, whose name appeared upon the will as one of the witnesses. He swore that he had never seen Whalley sign a will, but that, together with the other witness, Nash, he had put his signature above Whalley’s signature on a piece of white paper on which was some writing in pencil.

Other evidence was then called to prove that shortly before his death Whalley had asked Thomas to write a letter in pencil to Priestman, to which he had appended his signature in ink. This letter Priestman had never received.

The inference, therefore, from this evidence was that the will had been written upon a sheet of paper from which pencil writing had been erased.

A minute examination of the “white will” disclosed the presence of traces of the pencil marks, and words could be sufficiently deciphered to show that they had formed part of a letter.

The evidence of a number of expert witnesses, including Mr. Holmes, the librarian of Windsor Castle, made clear the manner in which pencil marks upon paper which had apparently been erased might reappear. When india-rubber is passed over the surface of the paper it removes part of the fibres of the material but only doubles over another portion, so that in time the latter may unroll again and uncover the writing which had for a time been concealed by it. It was proved further that the words which had now reappeared upon the paper were in the handwriting of Thomas.