I have tried to show that this opinion evidence—expert testimony in regard to questions of disputed handwritings—is less accurate and has less authority than the opinion of other specialists. If this is true, should it not be limited to a greater extent than all other kinds of expert testimony? And to this end I venture to propose the following: That a commission be appointed to thoroughly and exhaustively examine all so-called public and official experts in handwriting. No thorough and conscientious expert would object to being tested as to his qualifications. Licenses should be issued to the successful candidates. (Few “sheepskins” would be needed.) Such a license should be required before the expert can practise in court.
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_Prologue to a little Comedy written in the Death-Chamber, and called_
I come to tell you how the author sat And looked upon the picture of his love. He spoke to her—you know he could do that— And she replied. But this you must believe. Although no ears received her charming words, Nor keenest eyes saw her sweet lips pronounce— It was her heart which spoke to his and said What none but they may know. ’Twas thus she brought him Of love and faith and joy and merriment. The last alone he has set down because No tongue or pen can tell the other three. But they, God bless them, knew it in their souls, And so do I—for, would you think it, I’m that happy man. Is there another Half so blessed—“Once in a Hundred Years?”
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_Impressions—The Last Night and the Next Morning—The Last Night_
There are unwritten laws and canons for all important occurrences in the Death-Chamber. I do not mean the prison rules; but the way “we” have of doing things. For instance, the new arrival, after he has passed through all formalities at the officials’ hands, and they are many, is initiated by “us” on the first night passed in our society.
This is an ancient and honorable custom, and like all initiations, a secret. These fixed ceremonies occur all through his long and brutal life in the Death-Chamber.[1] Long, for even a short stay in it makes him old; brutal, because his punishment is—death. Is that not enough? And to add thereto years of solitary confinement is to kill him not once, but over and over again. The system is all wrong. Oh, the years in the Death-Chamber! The loneliness, the quiet. Hell must be a quiet place.