The Interocitor

The Other Examiner

CBS has shown its memos now to 6 "experts" (one handwriting expert, three document experts, a former typewriter repairman, and a software designer). Of these, only three saw them before the first 60 Minutes broadcast. Two of the latter (both document experts) are on record as having declined to authenticate, with indications (that CBS disputes) that they suspected fraud. One, a handwriting expert says now that he only saw one document, thinks that the signature is valid, but has no opinion on the text or format of the one memo he authenticated.

Score before the show (from CBS's experts):
Handwriting: 1-2
Document: 0-2 with one abstention.

This is apparently convincing authentication.

After the show, three more people saw the memos. Two of them can say nothing about the signatures, one argues that somewhere in the world there was equipment in 1972 that could have maybe produced these memos, the other argues, well, hard to say, something about how you can't type a lower-case "L" on a computer, and how hard it is not to superscript a "th", whatever that proves.

The last, one James J Pierce, hitherto a Google virgin, reports yesterday that

As a result of my examinations and comparisonsm it is my opinion, based on the available evidence, that the balance of the Jerry B Killian signatures appearing on the photocopied questioned documents are consistant and in basic agreement.

In regard to the balance the same typed-written photocopied questioned documents, the same typed-face designs are strongly similar to corresponding samples that indicate the same typed-face existed prior to the date in question on the photocopied documents.

In my professional opinion, with what I know and have examined based on the photocopied questioned documents, the documents in question are authentic.
[link courtesy Beldar]

Translation: "The signatures, as photocopied, were sourced from actual signatures. I have no idea where they might have come from, however. The fonts are similar to fonts that exisited at the time. This is the limit of my curiosity. I guess they're authentic, but let me toss in as many weasel-words as I can just in case."

Score as of today (again, from CBS's experts):
Handwriting originated from Killian: 2-2, 2 abstain
Documents might have been created in 1972: 2-2, 1 abstain, 1 incoherant
Documents are judged authentic: 1-2, 2 abstain, 1 incoherant

Not mentioned by CBS are several amatuers who call the documents fakes: the chief font guy at Adobe, the forger Spielberg made a bl**dy movie about, the retired type-face guru of North America, and a few others of similar quality, not to mention the lady who asserts she would have typed them.

Tell me, would you buy a used car from Dan Rather?

Posted by Kevin Murphy at September 15, 2004 10:46 PM | TrackBack