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 Buell Lavay

As to the best methods of raising checks so that the fraud will not be readily detected, much depends upon the way in which they are written. The style of handwriting, the texture and quality of the paper, and the chemical properties of the inks, are points which are necessary to be considered.

Many checks may be altered to a larger amount by the mere addition of a stroke of the pen here or the erasure of a line, by means of chemicals, in some other place. For instance, take a check of $100, no matter how it may be written, there are five or six different ways in which it may be altered to a much larger amount, and in such a manner as to defy the scrutiny of the most careful bank teller. It may be made into six hundred by merely adding the "S" loop to the "O," dotting the first part of the "n" to make of it an "i," and crossing the connecting stroke between the "n" and the "e" to form the "x." To complete the change it will be found necessary to erase with chemicals part of the "e."

A check for one hundred dollars may also be easily altered to eight hundred dollars, especially when sufficient space has been left between the "one" and the "hundred," as follows: Add to the "O" the top part of an "E," dot part of the "n" to form an "i," connect the remaining part of the "n" with the "e," forming the loop of a "g," and then add "ht." The figure "i" is very easily changed to "8."

Sometimes a small capital is used for an "o." In this case an alteration into "Four" hundred is easily accomplished by simply prefixing a capital "F" and transforming the "e" into an "r," the "n" being made to serve as a "u."

Another change frequently made is to "Ten" hundred. It is done simply by adding the stem and top part of the "T" to the "O" and changing the first part of the "u" to an "e."

Of course, any of the foregoing changes may be made with equal facility whether the amount be "hundred" or "thousand."

Two hundred, if anything, is a much easier amount to alter than one hundred. It is done in the following manner: Make an "F" by simply crossing the "T;" dot the first part of the "w" to make an "i." and change the "o" into an "e." The figure "2" can be made into a perfect "5" by simply adding the top part of the "5" to it.

Three hundred is not so easily altered; still it may be done by changing the word "hundred" into a "thousand"—an alteration which is by no means rare, and which is quite simple, especially when the word is begun with a small "h." The modus operandi is as follows: Place a capital "T" before the "h"; change the first part of the "u" into an "o," connecting it with the second part, which, with the first part of the "u," will form a "u"; change the second part of the "u" to an "s"; erase the top part of the "d," making of it an "a," and complete the alteration by making an "n" of the "r" and "e." This alteration may appear to be somewhat complicated, but a trial of it according to direction will show how nicely it may be done.

"Four" is another easy amount to alter. It is done by extending the second part of the "u" into a "t," and adding the "y" loop to the "r." "Five" is changed into "Fifty" and "Fifteen." "Six," "Seven," "Eight," and "Nine" are changed into "Sixty," "Seventy," "Eighty," and "Ninety" by simply affixing the syllable "ty." "Twenty" is another easily changed amount; all that is necessary to make "Seventy" of it is to make an "S" of the "T," and change the first part of the "w" into an "e." To make the alteration perfect, the top part of the "T" must be erased with chemicals.

In regard to the chemicals used to erase ink, much depends upon the ink. For most writing fluids and copying inks which are in daily use, a saturated solution of chloride of lime is the best eraser known, and when properly made is very quick and effective in its work. It may be applied with a glass pointed pen, to avoid corrosion, or with a clean bit of sponge. It acts as a powerful bleach, and with it the face of a check may be washed as white as before it was written upon. When inks have become dry and hard, sometimes carbolic or acetic acid is used effectively with the chlorine. The application of any alkali or acid to the clean polished surface of a check will, of course, destroy the finish and leave a perceptible stain, but the work of covering up these traces is quite as simple as removing the ink in the first place.