Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 62, December, 1862 by Various

V >> Various >> Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 62, December, 1862

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[Footnote A: There is a curious story connected with this "clergyman,"
which may yet appear in the biography of Mr. S.]

* * * * *

"Individual handwriting," says Lavater, "is inimitable. The more I
compare the different handwritings which fall in my way, the more am
I confirmed in the idea that they are so many expressions, so many
emanations, of the character of the writer. Every country, every nation,
every city has its peculiar handwriting." And the same might be said of
painting; for, if one hundred painters copy the same figure, an artist
will distinguish the copyist.

Some years since, a certain bank placed in my hands two promissory notes
for large amounts, purporting to be signed by a Mr. Temple and indorsed
by a Mr. Conway, and which both maker and indorser pronounced forgeries.
Both notes were written on common white paper, and were purchased by the
bank of a certain broker at a time when it was difficult to make loans
by discount in the usual manner. Before the maturity of the notes, the
broker, who was a Jew, had left for parts unknown. He left behind him
no liabilities, unless he might be holden for the payment of the notes
above specified, and several others signed and indorsed in the same
manner in the hands of other parties. Several attempts had been made by
professional experts to trace resemblances between the forgeries and the
genuine handwriting of said Temple and Conway, as well as the broker,
but all had reluctantly come to the conclusion that the signatures were
as dissimilar as well could be. The cashier was exceedingly embarrassed
by the fact that Mr. Conway was one of the directors of the bank, and
he was presumed to have been so familiar with his signature as to be
incapable of being deceived.

After a most diligent investigation and the expenditure of much time and
money, and after skilful experts and detectives had given up in despair
of ascertaining either the whereabouts of the Jew or anything further
till he could be produced, the holders of this paper had settled down
quietly in the belief that the broker was the guilty party and that all
further effort was useless. At this point of time, when all excitement
had subsided, these notes came into my possession. I immediately
telegraphed to Mr. Sidney, and it was with great joy that I received the
reply that he was on his way. At three o'clock in the morning I met him
at the railroad station. He complimented me by saying there was not
another man living for whom he would have left the city of ---- on a
similar message. I thanked him, and we walked to the office. Before
arriving there, I had merely informed him that I desired his services in
the investigation of a forgery that baffled our art. He demanded all the
papers. I produced the forged notes, several genuine checks and letters
of Mr. Temple and Mr. Conway, and several specimens of the handwriting
of the broker.

Long as I live I can never forget the almost supernatural glow that came
over his features. I could almost see the halo. No language can describe
such a marked and rapid change of countenance. His whole soul seemed
wrapt in a delightful vision. I cannot say how long this continued, as
I was lost in admiration, as he was in contemplation. I spoke, but he
seemed not to hear. At last his muscles relaxed, and he began to breathe
as if greatly fatigued. He wiped the perspiration from his brow, and
said, as if to himself,--

"Sure!"

I asked what was sure. A few minutes elapsed, and he said more loudly,--

"As sure as you are born,"--without seeming to have heard my inquiry.

I proposed to state what could be proved, and the suspicions that were
entertained of the cashier. He objected, and said,--

"I take my departure from these papers. Mr. Temple is aged thirty-eight,
a large, well-built man, full six feet high, strongly nerved, bold,
proud, and fearless. His mind is active, and in his day he has been
professor in a college. He fares well and is fashionably dressed. I
think he is not in any legitimate business. He is a German by birth,
though he has been in this country several years. He is somewhat
affected and immensely hypocritical. I think he is a gambler and dealer
in counterfeit money. He certainly is not confined to one department of
rascality. This is not the name by which he was christened, if indeed he
was ever christened at all. He could not have written it in his youth,
and must have assumed it within a year and a half." (Exact in every
known particular.)

"Mr. Conway I at first thought an attorney-at-law, but he is not. I
reckon he administers on estates, acts as guardian, and settles up the
affairs of the unfortunate in trade as their assignee, in connection
with his business of notary and note-shaver. He is aged fifty-six, was
born and educated in New England, and is probably a native of this city.
He is tall, lean, and bony. His nerves are not steady, and he is easily
excited. He probably has the dyspepsia, but he would not lose the
writing of a deed to be rid of it. The remarkable feature of his
character is stinginess. His natural abilities being good and his mind
strong, he must therefore be a man of means, and I think it matters
little to his conscience how he comes by his wealth. At the same time,
he has considerable pride and caution, which, with his interest, keep
him honest, as the world goes. If he were not an old bachelor, I should
think better of his heart, and he would be less miserly.

"The Jew's signature is the most honest of the three. Timidity is the
marked character of the man. He could not succeed in any department of
roguery. It is physically, as well as mentally and morally, impossible
for him to have had any connection with the forgery. He would be
frightened out of his wits at the very suggestion of his complicity."

"And so, Mr. Sidney," said I, "you know all about these parties and the
particulars of the forgery?"

"Nothing whatever," he replied, "save by these specimens of their
handwriting. I never heard of the forgery, nor of these men, till this
hour."

To which I replied,--

"I cannot believe that you can give such a perfectly accurate
description of them (saving their moral characters, of which I know
little) without other means of knowledge. It _must_ have been that you
knew Temple to be a German, Conway to be the most penurious old bachelor
in town, and the broker the most timid. And _how_, in the name of all
that is marvellous, _could_ you have known Conway to be afflicted with
dyspepsia?

"Then," answered Mr. Sidney, "you are not prepared to believe one other
thing, more strange and paradoxical than all the rest. Listen! These
notes are forgeries both of the maker and the indorser. And who think
you are the criminals?"

"The Jew?"

"No."

"The cashier?"

"No. But, as sure as you are born, these notes are in the handwriting of
Temple and Conway, and the signatures are not only genuine, but they are
forgeries also: for both had formed a well-matured and deliberate design
of disputing them before placing them on the paper. And, Sir, from
my notion of Conway's character and temperament, as expressed in his
handwriting, I venture the assertion that I can make him own it, and pay
the notes. He shall even faint away at my pleasure. Temple is another
kind of man, and would never own it, were it ten times proved."

A meeting of the directors of the bank was to be holden at nine o'clock
of the same morning. None of them knew Mr. Sidney, or were known by
him. It was arranged that he should meet them, Mr. Conway included,
and exhibit his skill, and if he should convince them of his power of
divination, he should discuss the genuineness of the signatures of the
supposed forgeries.

For several hours he was on trial before the board with a very large
number of specimens of handwriting of men of mark, and he astonished
them all beyond measure by giving the occupation, age, height, size,
temperament, strength of nerve, nationality, morality, and other
peculiarities of every one of the writers. His success was not partial,
it was complete. There was not simply a preponderance of evidence, it
was beyond a doubt. The directors did not question the fact; but how was
it done? Some thought mesmerism could account for it, and others thought
it miraculous.

The first experiment was this. Each director wrote on a piece of paper
the names of all the board. Eleven lists were handed him, and he
specified the writer of each by the manner in which he wrote his own
name. He then asked them to write their own or any other name, with as
much disguise as they pleased, and as many as pleased writing on the
same piece of paper; and in every instance he named the writer.

As an example of the other experiments, take this one. The
superscription of a letter was shown him. He began immediately:--

"A clergyman, without doubt, who reads his sermons, and is a little
short-sighted. He is aged sixty-one, is six feet high, weighs about one
hundred and seventy, is lean, bony, obstinate, irritable, economical,
frank, and without a particle of hypocrisy or conceit. He is naturally
miserly, and bestows charity only from a sense of duty. His mind
is methodical and strong, and he is not a genius or an interesting
preacher. If he has decided upon any doctrine or construction of
Scripture, it would be as impossible to change him as to make him over
again."

The company began to laugh, when one of them said,--

"Come, come, Mr. Sidney, you are disclosing altogether too much of my
father-in-law."

And now the supposed forged notes were handed him. He gave the
characteristics of the signatures very nearly as he had before done
in the office, but more particularly and minutely. He analyzed the
handwriting,--showed the points of resemblance, where before none could
be discerned,--showed that the writing, interpreted by itself, was
intended to be disguised,--explained the difference between the
different parts of the notes,--pointed out where the writer was firm in
his purpose, and his nerves well braced, and where his fears overcame
his resolution,--where he had paused to recover his courage, and for a
considerable time,--where he had changed his pen, and how the forgery
was continued through several days,--what parts were done by Temple, and
what by Conway,--

"Till all the interim
Between the acting of the dreadful thing
And the first motion"

was brought so vividly and truthfully to mind that Mr. Conway fell to
the floor as if dead. The cashier, relieved from a pressure that had for
weary months been grinding his very soul, burst into tears. A scene of
strange excitement ensued, during which Mr. Conway muttered incoherent
sentences in condemnation of Temple and then of himself,--now with
penitence, and then with rage. Recovering his composure, he suggested
the Jew as the guilty party. Mr. Sidney then dissected the handwriting
of the Jew, and demonstrated that there was as great a difference
between his chirography and a New-Englander's as between the English and
the Chinese characters,--showed how the Jew must have been exceedingly
timid, and stated the probability that he had left the city not because
he had taken any part in the forgery, but because he had been frightened
away. Then turning to Conway, he gave him a lecture such as no mortal
before ever gave or received. The agony of Conway's mind so distorted
his body as made it painful in the extreme to all beholders. "His inmost
soul seemed stung as by the bite of a serpent." When at last Mr. Sidney
turned and took from his valise a small steel safe, which Conway
recognized as his own, "the terrors of hell got hold of him," and his
anguish was indescribably horrible. The little safe had been by some
unknown and unaccountable process taken from a larger one in Conway's
office, and was unopened. Neither Mr. Sidney nor the directors have ever
seen its contents; but in consideration that it should not be opened,
Mr. Conway confessed his crime in the very form of Mr. Sidney's
description, paid the notes before leaving the bank, and _remains a
director to this day_. As is often the case, the greater criminal goes
unwhipped of justice.

* * * * *

Mr. Sidney, besides the faculty I have described, had acquired another,
less wonderful perhaps, but still quite remarkable, and which was of
incalculable assistance to him in the prosecution of his Herculean
labor. He was a most rare physiognomist. And by physiognomy is here
intended, not simply the art of discerning the character of the mind by
the features of the face, but also the art of discovering the qualities
of the mind by the conformation of the body,--and still further,
(although it may not be a legitimate use of the word,) the power
of distinguishing the character, mental and moral, the capacity,
occupation, and all the distinctive qualities of a person by his figure,
action, dress, deportment, and the like: for Sterne said well, that "the
wise man takes his hat from the peg very differently from a fool."

The ancient Egyptians acquired the greatest skill in this science; and
Tacitus affirms, not without reason, that their keen perception
and acute observation, essential in communicating their ideas in
hieroglyphics, contributed largely to their success. Certainly, few
better proofs of the existence of the science have been furnished than
that given by the Egyptian physiognomist at Athens in the days of Plato.
Zopyrus pronounced the face of Socrates to be that of a libertine. The
physiognomist being derided by the disciples of the great philosopher,
Socrates reproved them, saying that Zopyrus had spoken well, for in his
younger days such indeed had been the truth, and that he had overcome
the proclivities of his nature by philosophy and the severest
discipline.

Pliny affirms that Apelles could trace the likeness of men so accurately
that a physiognomist could discover the ruling passion to which they
were subject. Dante's characters, in his view of Purgatory, are drawn
with accurate reference to the principles of physiognomy; and Shakspeare
and Sterne, particularly the latter, were clever in the art; while Kempf
and Zimmermann, in their profession, are said seldom to have erred as
physiognomists. Surely it is a higher authority and more practical,
which saith, "A wicked man walketh with a froward mouth; he speaketh
with his feet; he teacheth with his fingers.--A man is known by his
look, and a wise man by the air of his countenance." And yet again, "The
wickedness of a woman changeth her face."

If it be true, as Sultzer declares, that there is not a living creature
that is not more or less skilled in physiognomy as a necessary condition
of its existence, surely _man_, with all his parts fitly joined
together, should be the most expert; and there are circumstances and
conditions, as well as qualities of mind and body, which will conduct
him more surely along the pathway of his research, and direct him onward
towards the goal of perfection. Consider, then, the characteristics of
Mr. Sidney, the circumstances by which he was surrounded, and the school
in which he was taught, in order to determine if there were in him the
elements of success.

Chiefest among the essential qualities is to be named his astonishing
strength of nerve. No danger could agitate him, however imminent or
sudden. No power could deprive him of his imperturbable coolness
and courage. Perils seemed to render his mind more clear and his
self-reliance more firm. (And yet I have heard him say, that there
was among the band of criminals before mentioned one woman of greater
strength of mind and nervous power than any person he had ever seen,
whom alone of all created beings, whether man or devil, he dreaded
to encounter.) Had not Mr. Sidney been thus potently armed, he must,
without doubt or question, have become almost a monomaniac; for,
secondly, he was for years enraged almost to madness that his entire
estate had been swept from his grasp, as he believed, by the torch of
the incendiary; and he was to the last degree exasperated, and with
a just indignation, that the merchant-princes who he supposed had
occasioned his impoverishment yet walked abroad with the confidence of
the community, and were still trusted by many a good man as the very
salt of the city. Nevertheless, Mr. Sidney, solitary and alone, had
arraigned them before a criminal tribunal. He was therefore driven to
his own resources, and there was no place in his nature, or in the
nature of things, for the first retrograde step. All his vast energies
were thenceforth consecrated to, and concentrated in, the detection of
crime. And from the time that he was refused payment for his loss, so
far as my observation extended, he seemed to have been governed by no
other purpose in life than the extermination of that great gang of
robbers which he subsequently discovered. Add to these incentives
and capacities his extraordinary perceptive faculties and power of
analytical observation, together with his wonderful patience, and it
must be granted that he was qualified to discover in any incident
connected with his pursuits more of its component parts than all other
beholders, and had greater opportunities than almost any other man by
which to be informed _how_ it is that "the heart of a man changeth his
countenance."

If I remember rightly, it was some two years after our acquaintance
commenced that I became aware of Mr. Sidney's proficiency as a
physiognomist, and it was then communicated, not so much by his choice
as by a necessity, for the accomplishment of one of his purposes.

The object of Mr. Sidney's visit to the city of P----, at that time,
was nothing less difficult than the discovery and identification of an
individual of whom no other knowledge or description had been obtained
than what could be extracted from the inspection, in another city, of a
single specimen of his handwriting in the superscription of a letter.
So much from so little. Within three days thereafter, with no other
instrumentalities than what were suggested by Mr. Sidney's expertness
in deciphering character in handwriting and his proficiency as a
physiognomist, the result was reached and the object happily attained.
In the prosecution of the enterprise, it was important, if not
essential, that I should believe that the data were sufficient by which
to arrive at a correct conclusion, and that I should confide in Mr.
Sidney's skill in order that there might be hearty cooeperation.

My office was so situated, that from its windows could most
advantageously be observed, and for a considerable distance, the vast
throng that ebbed and flowed, hour after hour, through the great
thoroughfares of the city. For the greater part of three consecutive
days I sat by Mr. Sidney's side, watching the changing crowd through
the half-opened shutters, listening incredulously, at first, to the
practical application of his science to the unsuspecting individuals
below, till my derision was changed to admiration, and I was thoroughly
convinced of his power. As my friends of both sexes passed under the
ordeal, it was intensely bewitching. Hour after hour would he give, with
rapidity and correctness, the occupation and peculiarity of character
and condition of almost every individual who passed. This was not
occasional, but continuous. The marked men were not singled out, but all
were included. He was a stranger, and yet better acquainted with
the people than any of our citizens. And this was the manner of his
speaking:--

"That physician has a better opinion of himself than the people have
of him: he is superficial, and makes up in effrontery what he lacks in
qualification. The gambler yonder, with a toothpick in his mouth, has of
late succeeded in his tricks. The affairs of this kind-hearted grocer
are troubling him. Were we within a yard of that round-shouldered man
from the country, we should smell leather; for he works on his bench,
and is unmarried. Here comes an atheist who is a joker and stubborn as
a mule. There goes a man of no business at all: very probably it is the
best occupation he is fitted for, as he has no concentrativeness. The
schoolmistress crossing the street is an accomplished teacher, is
very sympathetic, and has great love of approbation. That lawyer is a
bachelor, and distrusts his own strength. This merchant should give up
the use of tobacco, and pay his notes before dinner, else he will become
a dyspeptic. Here comes a man of wealth who despises the common people
and is miserly and hypocritical; and next to him is a scamp. I think it
is Burke who says, 'When the gnawing worm is within, the impression
of the ravage it makes is visible on the outside, which appears quite
disfigured by it': and in that young man the light that was within him
has become darkness, and 'how great is that darkness!'"

Of some qualities of mind he would occasionally decline to speak until
he could see the features in play, as in conversation. Some occupations
he failed to discover, if the arms were folded, or the hands in the
pockets, or the body not in motion. It is not my purpose to specify any
of the rules by which he was governed, though they differed materially
from those of Lavater, Redfield, and others, nor the facts from which he
drew his conclusions, but simply to give results.

I selected from the crowd acquaintances of marked character and
standing, and obtained accurate descriptions of them. Of one he said,
"He is a good merchant, and has done and is doing a large business. He
carries his business home with him at night, as he should not. He has
been wealthy, and is now reduced in circumstances. His disaster weighs
heavily upon him. He has a high sense of honor, a keen conscience, and
is a meek, religious man. He has great goodness of nature, is very
modest and retiring, has more ability than he supposes, and is a man of
family and very fond of his children."

Another he accurately described thus: "He is a mechanic, of a good mind,
who has succeeded so well that I doubt if he is in active business.
Certainly he does not labor. He is very independent and radical,--can
be impudent, if occasion requires,--gives others all their rights, and
pertinaciously insists upon his own." Here the mechanic took his hands
from his pocket. "Hold! I said he was a mechanic. He is not,--he is a
house-painter."

I desired to be informed by what indications he judged him to be a
painter. He replied, that he so judged from the general appearance
and motions, and that it was difficult to specify. I insisted, and he
remarked that "the easy roll of his wrists was indicative."

After obtaining similar correct descriptions of men well known to me,
I spied one whom I did not know, and who was dressed peculiarly. I
inquired his occupation, and Mr. Sidney, without turning a glance
towards me, and still gazing through the half-opened shutters, replied,
"Yes! you never saw him before, yourself. He is a stranger in town, as
is evident from the fact of his being dressed in his best suit, and by
the manner of his taking observations. Besides, there is no opportunity
in these parts for him to follow his trade. He is a glass-blower. You
may perceive he is a little deaf, and the curvature of his motions also
indicates his occupation."

Whether this description was correct or not I failed to ascertain.

Mr. Sidney contended that any man of ordinary perceptive faculties need
never mistake a gambler, as the marks on the tribe were as distinct as
the complexion of the Ethiopian,--that, of honest callings, dealers in
cattle could be most easily discovered,--that immorality indicated its
kind invariably in the muscles of the face,--that sympathetic qualities,
love and the desire of being loved, taste and refinement,--were among
the most perspicuous in the outline of the face.

A man of very gentlemanly appearance was approaching, whom Mr. Sidney
pronounced a gambler, and also engaged in some other branch of iniquity.
His appearance was so remarkably good that I doubted. He turned the
corner, and immediately Mr. Sidney hastened to the street and soon
returned, saying he had ascertained his history: that he was in the
counterfeiting department,--that his conscience affected his nerves,
and consequently his motions,--that he was a stranger in town, and was
restless and disquieted,--that he would not remain many hours here, as
he had an enterprise on hand, and was about it. I remarked, that, as the
contrary never could be proved, he was perfectly safe in his prophecy,
when Mr. Sidney rose from his chair, and, approaching me, slowly said,
with great energy,--

"I will follow that man till it _is_ proved."

The next day but one, I received a note from Mr. Sidney, simply
saying, "I am on his track." He followed the supposed counterfeiter to
Philadelphia, where he ascertained that he had passed five-dollar bills
of the ---- bank of Connecticut. Mr. Sidney obtained the bills the
gambler had passed to compare with the genuine. Failing, however,
to find any of the same denomination, he presented the supposed
counterfeits to a broker skilled in detecting bad bills, and was
surprised to be informed that they were genuine. At Baltimore, he
repeated the inquiry at the counter of a well-known banker relative
to other similar bills, and received the same response. So again in
Washington, Pittsburg, Chicago, and several other cities whither he had
followed the suspected man, and invariably the reply of the cashier
would be, "We will exchange our bills for them, Sir." In some Western
cities he was offered a premium on the bills he had collected. At St.
Louis he obtained a known genuine bill of the bank in question, and in
company with a broker proceeded to examine the two with a microscope.
The broker pronounced the supposed counterfeits to be genuine. In the
mean time the gambler had left the city. Two days after, Mr. Sidney had
overtaken him. So great were his excitement and vexation that he could
scarcely eat or sleep. In a fit of desperation, without law and against
law, he pounced upon the suspected man and put him in irons. He beat a
parley. It was granted, and the two went to the gambler's apartments in
company. In a conversation of several hours, Mr. Sidney extracted
from him the most valuable information relating to the gang he was so
pertinaciously prosecuting, and received into his possession forty-seven
thousand dollars in counterfeits of the aforesaid bank, some of which I
now have in my possession, and which have been pronounced genuine by our
most skilful experts.

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