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1 Document Photography: Its Use in the Courts 1911

handle is hein.beal/dcmtph0001 and id is 1 raw text is: DOCUMENT PHOTOGRAPHY-ITS USE IN THE COURTS By WILLIAM J. KINSLEY Examiner and Photographer of Questioned Documents, New York HE first step in a contested questioned document case should be to photograph the entire docu- ment natural size. Then to enlarge all of it, or any disputed or questioned parts to the degree necessary and in the way deemed to best show the facts. These natural size photographs should be made, if for no other purpose, merely as a permanent record. There have been cases that have shown the necessity of just such a record. Documents in dispute have been damaged either de- signedly or accidentally, or have been lost or stolen-hence the necessity of securing accurate copies of them in their original condition. A witness to a forged will in her anxiety to account for all of the unusual features of the document testified with em- phasis and particularity about just how all of the blots on the instrument were made at the time of signing-including sev- eral blots which were made in the Surrogate's office some months after the document had been photographed! The wit- ness did not know that the document had been photographed. In another case where typewriting was in question and the disputed document was in French, it was found that the accent marks over the letters were put on by pen and pencil-thus showing that a typewriting machine other than one made to write the French language was used to do the writing. When the document was again produced by the suspected party, at a second investigation, it was found that some of the most prominent and palpably-added accent marks had been covered by ink blots. The producer of the document had not learned that the document had been photographed! It is a great saving of wear and tear on the original papers to have photographs of them. For court use, photographs are very helpful as then all par- ties interested, court, jury, lawyers and witness, have the same thing before them at the same time. The witness's explanation can be followed much better and the peculiarities pointed out can be observed then and there-and not forgotten, as they would be oftentimes, when the jury retired for deliberation.

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