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letters are entirely different from those usually made by ProŁ, W., yet I
believe they were wsit-
teri by him.
In the direction " Franpis Tukey;" the letter 11 F." bears a great
resemblance in its parts to
those madeby Prof. W.
[Here the Court remarked that it was about as well to pass over these
minute particulars.]
Here the reed pen and plate of ink found on the bench in the laboratory,
were exhibited to the
Jury and to the witness, and his opinion was asked as to the erasure of the
name of Marshal
Tuke7 inside the envelope of the " Chap in the dark " letter. This question
and the opinion of
witness was objected to by the' defense and ruled out by the Court.
The letter supposed to be written entirely by the reed pen, and dated Nov.
30, was exhibited
to witness, who recognized peculiarities in almost every letter, which
induced him to form the
opinion that the letter was written by Prof, W.
Witness proceeded-I know that this letter could not have been made by a pen
or brush; nei-
ther of them could have been made with marks; these have been shown me as
instruments, which
I think was used to make these letters with.
Objected to by defense, and ruled by the Stench to be entirely incompetent
and inadmissible.
The mortgage notes were exhibited to the witness, and he expressed his
opinion that the hand.
writing of the word " paid," in them, was that of P. W.
examination continued-The letters and words found in pencil-mark on the
notes and the me-
morandum, are in the hand-writing of the prisoner ; the erasure of the
signatures on the notes,
anal the marks made across them, could nothave been made by a pen.
Cross-examination-I have seen the papers now exhibited, before ; have seen
other anony-
mous letters sent to Marshal Tukey by the Post-office ; the chirography of
the " Civis" letter is
not disguised from my view ;the letters are a little rounder than is
customary in Prof. W.'s
hand-writing; can't tell whether it is disguised ; my skill in detecting
disguised instruments
extends over the whole instrument ; I can't say that it (the writing of the
Civis letter) is intehd-
ed to be a disguised hand ; there are three letters in this " Civis" letter
which are dissimilar
from Professor Webster's ordinary hand-writing ; the rest are in the
ordinary hand-writing ;
I mean to say that in all except a few cases, the hand-writing just looks
like Prof. W.'s hand-
writing ; cant say that the letters which are dissimilar to Prof. W.'s
chirography in the
" Civis" letter are not exactly alike all through ; some persons make
letters very much alike.
In the letter °' D" the Professor generally turns the uppei'line over, but
in this letter it is dif-
ferent from his ordinary hand-writing; the same difference is observable
between the ordinary
hand-writing of Prof. W. and that of the " Civis" letter in the letters "
A" " R," and the char-
acter " 3, ;' don't pretend to tell whether a hand-writing is disguised or
not, unless I have the
real hand-writing of the person who disguises his hand to compare it with.
I have compared
the hand-writing of these letters with that of several persons ; I
expressed the opinion when I
first saw this " Civis" letter, that it was in the hand-writing of Prof.
Webster ; afterwards said
it differed somewhat from it, and after that came to the conclusion that it
was the hand-writing
of Prof. W. In the letter signed " Dart" or " Dark," there are several
letters which bear a
strong resemblance to Prof. W.'s hand-writing ; the letter is evidently
written in a disguised
hand; it was not written with a pen ; there is a similarity between whole
words in the letter.
To the Court.-I have the opinion that the " Dart" letter written with a
so-called reed pen,
(which is actually a piece of pine stick with cotton cloth tied round the
end to form a brush,) was
written by one and the same hand, because it resembles in its general
characteristic the letters
which were written with a pen. ,
Sixty-Second Witness.-GEORGE G. SMITH, called-Am an engraver ; have known
Professor
Webster several years ; have seen his handwriting often in the course of
business ; have seenhis
signature on diplomas and on notes; as an engraver I have been obliged -to
take particular notice
of the hand-writing of individuals in order to make accurate fac similes.
Here the letters signed °' Civis" and the other letters put in and to be
put in as evidence, were
exhibited to the witness.
Examination resumed-Am sorry to say that I feel confident that the
hand-writing of the
'~ Civis" letter is that of Professor Webster ; of the " Dart" or °° Dark"
letter I am not so con-
fident ; think the erasure of the direction on the inside of the envelope
directed to Marshal Tu-
key, might. have been made partly by drawing a finger across the writing; I
think I can detect
the sparks of a fibrous substance in the letters of the " Dart" or " Dark'
letter.
The Court ruled this testimony as incompetent.
Had examined a good many specimens of Professor W's hand-writing.
Cross-examined-Don't think the writing of the " Dark" or °` Dart' letter in
the marks across
the mortgage notes was written with any ordinary pen ; it is possible it
might be done with an
old quill pen ; you can see the fibrous marks by looking through a
magnifying glass.
Here a glass was produced by witness.
The fibrous mark might have been made by cotton-wool being in the ink, and
adhering to the
pen at the time ; in the " Civis" letter, the letters " A," " D,' and the
character " &,"are very
similar to those generally made by Professor Webster in his ordinary
handwriting, and there is
one character of the " &" that appears to have been commenced the usual
way, and afterwards
altered. There is an air of identity about the whole letter which impresses
the conviction on my
mind that this letter was written by Professor Webster himself ; I think
that the letter is writ-
ten in a partly disguised hand ; some of the letters appear genuine ; the
letter °` D" appears
the most natural of all the letters ; there is an appearance of identity
and appearance of dis-
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