I- DOCUMENTS WITH QUESTIONED SIGNATURES

The most common disputed document is the signature and may be any commercial or legal paper,
Such as check, note, receipt, draft, order, contract, agreement, assignment, will, deed, or similar document,
the signature of which is under suspicion. In this class are found the traced forgery, spurious forgery and
the forgery produced by simulating or copying process. In disputed documents the signature only may at
first be suspected but many different things may eventually show the fraudulent character of the instrument,
and, as already pointed out, everything about it that in any way may throw light on the subject should be
promptly investigated.

At first view the signature should be critically examined and compared with genuine signatures but
neither at this time later should any writings be used for comparison, by those who are to testify, that
cannot be legally proved as standards of comparison. In this preliminary examination it is necessary to
determine whether the writing in question shows the absence of divergent writing characteristics and the
presence of the genuine writing habits and characteristics of the alleged writer to a sufficient extent to
warrant the conclusion that the writing is genuine; or whether the absence of a sufficient number of
characteristics of genuineness and the presence of the divergent characteristics lead to the conclusion that
the writing is not genuine.
As stated above, this preliminary examination should never be made hastily, and judgment should
be preserved until every phase of the examination is completed. It is desirable in many instances to make
the examination at two settings with some time intervening, that the steps may be carefully reviewed when
the mind and vision are unwearied.
The color and character of the ink of a questioned signature should on first view always be
carefully observed under suitable magnification and compared with the ink on all parts of the documents
and, if condition warrant it, with standard inks of the alleged age of the document. If the ink is fresher than
the age of the document would seem to warrant, a careful color reading of it should be made and recorded.

Not infrequently the attempt is made to hide the evidence of forgery in a fraudulent document by
some alleged accident by which the paper is partially defaced or torn, or it may have been deliberately
crumpled, soiled, or discolored to make it more difficult to show its real character. Any unusual condition in
a document is an additional reason why it should be subjected to an even more rigid examination than
would otherwise be given it.

Another question which it is sometimes necessary to investigate in any signature inquiry is whether
it is possible the writer had under command two styles of signature, one a conventional body-writing style
and the other an individualized, distinctive check signature. There are writers who write a signature in a
manner quite divergent from their general writing and when a writer of this class writes his signature in his
body-writing style, especially with the given name spelled out which he usually writes as an initial, it may be
sufficiently divergent from his usual signatures so that with only the initialed signatures for comparison it
may be difficult to say whether or not it is genuine. With only usual standard signatures for comparison, it
may not be possible to say positively that the handwriting is genuine.

In an investigation of signatures written in unusual form it is desirable, if not necessary, to have for
standards of comparison not only signatures but extended writing of other classes. With ample standard
writings of various classes, it is usually possible to determine whether such an unusual signature is or is not
genuine. As already stated, however, with certain writers it is very difficult if not impossible to reach a
definite conclusion with only usual signatures for comparison. The careful examiner will require that every
available standard writing be supplied before a definite opinion is given.