EXPERTS IN BOX

Taranaki Daily News, 3 August 1935, Page 7

EXPERTS IN BOX

BLACKBALL POISONING COMPARISON OF WRITING LETTERS AND WRAPPER SAID TO BE IN SAME HAND CORRESPONDENCE SHOWN By Telegraph—Press Association. Greymouth, Last Night. Highly technical evidence of two handwriting experts was heard at the Blackball murder trial to-day, and took the whole day. The accused is John Skikelthorp Page, a miner, who is charged with the murder of Margaret May Smith at Blackball on September 24, 1934, and with the attempted murder of Jean Kennedy Clark and Ethel Annie Bragg. Page spent a comparatively quiet day in the dock, although at times he behaved strangely. He did not interrupt the Court with his usual nonsensical utterances, but talked almost inaudibly up his sleeve. The first witness called was Raymond George Collins, a member of the philatelic firm of Verne and Collins, Christchurch, who said he had had about 17 years’ experience in the examination of handwriting, and had given evidence regarding it in the Courts at least six times in the past two years. He had examined the exhibits in the Court and had found certain outstanding recurring personal characteristics, in addition to formal similarities, and as a result he could deduce the opinion that the., whole of the exhibits were written by the same person and could not possibly have been written by more than one person. Collins detailed carefully the personal characteristics he discovered, including a backhand predilection, careless spelling, mixing of lower case letters with capital letters, the use of a larger size capital letter at the beginning of words in block letters, occasional use of serifs, the projecting below the horizontal line of the small letters “y” and "g,” with the consequent running into the words on the next line, the division of certain words into two or more parts, a most curious form of capital letter “G,” which he could best describe as possessing prognathism, and the regularity of the relative slopes of small double letters. In addition to personal characteristics, Collins detailed other similarities in the writing on the various exhibits. NO DOUBT WHATEVER. In reply to Inspector D. Cameron, Collins said he had no doubt whatever that the writing on the wrapper note signed “Jim,” the anonymous letter to the chief of police, and the envelope addressed to Mrs. Clark were written by the person who wrote the exhibits in the Labour Department’s' file, and no one else could possibly have written them. In regard to the note to Mrs. Clark, it was Collins’ opinion that the person who wrote the other exhibits • laid out the original inscription. The ink inscription superimposed over the Original had been drawn, and not written, and, although it possessed sufficient of the characteristics of the other exhibits to make it reasonably certain it was the work of the same person, the fact that ' it was drawn and not written made it difficult to give a certain pronouncement on the subject. „

Collins also made comparisons of -various envelopes exhibited, whiph were of the same make. He quoted authorities on handwriting, and said he found 13 individual characteristics in the writing on the exhibits. The possibilities of the writing Of any other person including so great a number of the same characteristics were nil. The first witness after the luncheon adjournment, when the Court was crowded, .was Oscar Moller,, a retired engraver and signature cutter, Wellington. He said he had 30 years’ experience in handwriting. He had examined all the exhibits. In his opinion, some of them were written by the same hand and some were in a disguised hand. Nevertheless the peculiarities corresponded throughout to the admitted handwriting and printing of Page. Moller detailed his comparisons of the characteristics and similarities found on sinfilar lines to those of the previous witness. In his opinion, the envelope addressed to Mrs. Clark, although the writing was disguised, was written by the same person as were the other exhibits

The proceedings were adjourned until to-morrow morning, and the hearing will probably conclude on Monday. There is still some long evidence to be given, including that of the investigating detectives.