Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/167

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Robert B. Montague, the crooked Deputy County Clerk of Linn County, Oregon, who, for obvious reasons, is now sojourning in Honolulu

properly to himself, and was pleased, therefore, to assume the title. This probably gave him the idea that he was a marvelous expert in handwriting; but as a matter of fact, a 10-year-old schoolboy forgot more every night on the subject than Marshall ever knew in his life. It was developed further, that this man had not even been in the bank's employ for something like six years, and that, in the meantime, he was playing baseball for a living and was connected with one of the local teams. It will be shown later to what extent his knowledge went as a handwriting expert.

J. F. Shearman, Deputy Clerk of the United States District Court, of Wichita, Kas., was also placed on the stand by the Government as a handwriting expert, and he proved to be a second edition of the preceding witness, so far as gleams of intelligence were concerned.

Shearman gave it as his opinion that the signatures of Maud Witt were made by Dan Tarpley, and that those of Joseph Wilkins, Thomas Wilson and George A. Howe were executed by McKinley; also that Emma L. Watson signed the name of Emma Porter, while Mattie S. Lowell's signatures were written by Marie L. Ware.

Page 161