NAME: ODOŃO,KIMBERLYN F.

SECTION: 3-ALPHA

FORC 104: QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS EXAMINATION

MODULE 1: Historical Background of Questioned Document

A. ACTIVITIES/EXERCISES

Instruction: Search the following personalities and cases related to the history of questioned
document examinations.

1. Enumerate the contribution of different personalities in the development of questioned

document examination

Personalities Date Contributions

1. Albert Sherman 1942-1946
Osborn Albert Sherman Osborn was the first American
to become well-known in the field of questioned
document examination and forged document
analysis. In 1910, he published Questioned
Documents, which is still in print and is
considered a seminal text in questioned
document analysis.

2. Albert D. Osborn 1950-1952

He was one of eight document examiners who
testified for the prosecution in the case against
Bruno Hauptmann in the kidnapping/murder
of the Lindbergh baby.

3. B.J. Vreeland Haring The father and son Haring of New york were
and J. Howard the world famous handwriting experts who
Haring testified on the charles a. linderg jr. kidnapping
case.

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These experts conclusovely demostrated
Hauptmanns authorship by a vivid
photographic illustrations of his handwriting
individualities as they appeared in the kidnap
letters and in Hauptmnn exemplars.

4. J. Newton Baker 1955

J. Newton Baker has incorporated the legal and
scientific features of the subject which have
developed in the evidence as related trial
procedure and he was also a consultative expert
in dispute documents, and in 1955 he authored
the book”Law of Dispute and forged
documents”.

5. James V.P. Conway 1959 He was the author of “Evidential Documents”

which was publish in Springfield, illnios, U.S.A
in 1959. He is also a examiner of Questioned
Documents, California postal Inspector in-
cahrge San Franicsco Identification Laboratory
U.S Postal Inspection Service.

6. Hans Scheickert 1920-1928 A well-known Handwriting expert, and a doctor

of Law also Director of the identifiction Bureau
of the Police Department of Berlin until 1928.
Hans Scheickert is instructor of criminology at
athe University of Berlin on 1920.

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7. Dr. Wilson R.
Harrison Dr. Wilson Harris discussed the deciphering of
erasures, the chemical analysis of ink, the
identification of fingerprint s, discovering of
invisible writing , and the establishment oof the
age of ball point pen documents, also the
tracing of anonymous letters and the authorship
of typewriten manner. He is also a Director of
the British Government’s Office Home Office
Forensci Science Laboratory and Honorary
member of the American Society of Quenstion
Document Examiners.

8. Ordway Hilton 1959-1960

Hilton was a Diplomate of the American Board
of Forensic Document Examiners. He
was instrumental in establishing the Questioned
Documents Section of the American Academy of
Forensic Sciences (AAFS). From 1959 to 1960,
Mr. Hilton served as the tenth president of the
AAFS

9. Roy A Huber 1950 He wrote and presented more than 30 papers

including such titles as Typist Identification,
Modern Trends in Counterfeiting, The
Production and Identification of Embossing
Seals , and The Quandary of “Qualified”
Opinions.

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10. Charles Chabot Beginning as a lithographer, he developed as an
expert in handwriting and became sought after
as an expert witness in a variety of famous trials
including the Roupell case and the Tichborne
Case. In 1871, Chabot became involved
in establishing the identity of Junius and
concluded that he was Sir Philip Francis.

2. Discuss the different World cases regarding disputed documents.

1. John Magnuson case
John Magnuson (1922) A package mailed to the rural home of James Chapman
exploded as it was unwrapped. James Chapman's wife actually opened the package,
thinking it was a Christmas present. She was killed, and James was injured. John
Magnuson, a neighbor, was a suspect because he had recently quarreled with
Chapman over property drainage rights. John Tyrell was called in to analyze the
handwriting on the package. He concluded that Magnuson's handwriting matched
the handwriting on the package. In addition, many of the misspellings indicateda
reliance on phonetic spelling and a person of Swedish ancestry. John Magnuson was
the only person of Swedish descent (ancestry) in the area and lived less than four
miles from Chapman's home. The pen point and ink mixture used on the bomb's label
also matched supplies found at Magnuson's house. Magnuson was sentenced to life
imprisonment.

2. Arthur Perry case

In arthur perry’s case, there was a body found in vacant lot which is the Mr. Arthur
Perry’s. the Perry’s move from North Carolina to New york about a year and half
before Mrs. Perry was murdered, along with the body is the paid gas bill containing
the namen of the landlord of perry’s house, the New york police investigated the

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landlord and he seemed so frank about the case making the police that the evidence
found is just pointing to the wrong suspect. The nest sbject of the investigation is
Arthur Perry the huband of murdered woman. which had alibi during the time of
crime and he also show a letter addressed to his wife which seems from the landlord.
this letter contains some improper sugestions and threats of bodily harm if the
content is disclose to him. the investigation goes on and they recovered two disputed
letter of perry obtain from the North Carolina for comparison as it wasa possible to
show conclusive that perry hmself had written the letter to his wife which was alleged
to have come from the landlord. this letter constituted very damaging prove of perry’s
trial for murder. He was tried in Queens County and convicted of first degree murder.
Because of an error by the trial judge this conviction was set aside by the Court of
Appeals but when he was tried again a jury again returned a first degree murder
verdict. This verdict was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. The Perry case illustrates
the value of investigating every clue in a murder case and making the investigation a
real scientific inquiry.

3. Hitler Diaries case

In February 1981, three diaries supposedly written by Adolf Hitler were discovered.
Document experts authenticated the documents by comparing them with forged
samples. A bidding war followed, with the price of somne of the manuscripts reaching
$3.75 million. Eventually, the paper on which the documents were written exposed
the hoax. A paper whitener found in many of the pages of the documents had not
been developed until nine years after the war ended and Hitler committed suicide.
The inks used were also from the postwar era. It was determined that the documents
had been written less than a year before their discovery, Konrad Kujau, the West
German memorabilia dealer who had written and forged the diaries, was located and
imprisoned for four years. The hoax was said to have cost more than $16 million in
lost revenues to those who had purchased the alleged diaries.

4. Graham Backhouse case

Mrs. Margaret Backhouse was a victim of car bomb in small farming community of
Horton, England. Magaret started the engine of the car of her husband which
triggered the bomb planted on it, passersby found her body and brought her to the

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local hospital where she was treated until her recovery. the incident happened after
days of finding a sheep head impaled to the fence with a note attached on it that says”
you next”. Graham complained to the police about the matter but the police just
ignore the report. after the incident authorities closely examined the prevoius note
found in the sheep’s head and the investigator found the impression of a doodle on te
back of the threat note. the police interviewed Graham about what they found and to
find who might be the responsible for the incident. Backhouse pointed his nieghbor
which acting weird because of the sudden death of his son. after the investigation the
police was called for a bloody incident on april 30, the police found the bloody scene
where Graham has slashed several times across the face and chest, while Bedal-
Taylor which is thier nieghbor is dead from the two shots in the chest area.
Backhouse claimed that Bedale-Taylor had come over and admitted the bomb
incident was his doing before slashing him with the stanley knife. He said that he rant
and got his shotgun, which he used to shot Bedale-Taylor. Although the police found
evidence at Bedale-Taylor’s house linking him to the bomb, they also found evidence
suggesting that he did not own the Stanley knife found in his hand. In addition,
physical evidence at the crime scene did not correspond with Backhouse’s description
of events. This led police to search the Backhouse home. A notebook in Graham’s
drawer showed a doodle that perfectly matched the impression on the “You Next”
threat note. Backhouse had increased his wife’s life insurance, created the false
threats, set the car bomb, and then, to avoid detection, framed and killed Bedale-
Taylor. In 1985, Backhouse was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

3. LEGAL BASIS OF DOCUMENTS:

1. In the case of People vs. Moreno, CA, 338 O.G. 119

A document is any written document by which a right establsihed or obligation is
extinguished.

2. In the case of People vs. Nillosquin, CA, 48 O.G. 4453

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A document is every deed or instrument executed by person of which disposition
or agreement is proves, evidence.

Post-test

Identify the following:

Papyrus 1. The first form of paper used by the Egyptians made from grasses called reeds.

China 2. The first paper was made more than 2,000 years ago in

Chinese inks 3. Inks made from soot, lampblack, and glue and other ingredients.

Iron galloo-tannate ink 4. Inks made up of Gallo tanic acid from the gall nuts obtained from
the oak tree.

Logwood ink 5. Ink containing potassium chromate in saturated logwood used since about
1850.

Nigrosine and Aniline inks 6. Inks manufactured sometime in 1870 derived or made from a
coal tar.

Alkaline ink 7. Inks made from alkaline solutions.

Synthetic invisible inks 8. Inks that are usually composed of chemical or vegetable
substances called sympathetic or cryptographic inks with cobalt chloride, citric acid or lemon
juice.

Alphabet 9. The first form of written communication started about 20,000 years ago which is
graphically represented by arranged objects and drawing on the walls of caves and big
stones.

Cuneiform 10. Perhaps this is the oldest system of writing. The name is coined to mean
wedge-shaped.

Demotic 11. It is a highly cursive form of hieratic developed about 700 BC which was
generally used in Egypt.

Hieroglyphics 12. Refers to form of writing using characters in which symbols represent
objects and ideas. The word comes from the Greek term meaning "sacred carving," which the
ancient Greeks used to describe decorative characters carved on Egyptian monuments

Phoenicians 13. They are credited with the spread of the first alphabet from 1,200 to 900 BC.

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Minuscules 14. A Greek new form of handwritten design emerged about 7th and 8th century
AD. These are small letters in the alphabet.

Messapian alphabet 15. The first Latin alphabet consists of Greek letters from the Etruscan
alphabet.

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