HISTORY OF DOCUMENTS

From the very earliest time, man has put down marks on different materials to
make forms of writings like simple pictures on the walls of caves. Man soon found he
could not express all of his thoughts by means of pictures so systems of writing were
developed. Early writings were on stones and metal. Later skins of animals were used.
Paper was first invented by the Chinese more than 2000 years ago but it was not
common in other countries for a long time. With the making of paper, writing became
more common to many people.

Criminals were quick to learn that it was profitable to make false documents
Knowledge of the methods of making false document is therefore necessary to the
police investigator. The examination of questioned document falls into broad classes.

PERSONALITIES IN QUESTIONED DOCUMENT EXAMINATION

1. Albert Sherman Osborn. He was considered as a Father of Scientific Examination

or Questioned Document. The first American prominent in the field of forgery
detection and author of the seminal “Questioned Documents” (1910, reprinted many
times), an exhaustive work indispensabie even today. By his efforts, courts began to
accept the presentation of forged documents as scientific evidence He founded the
American Society of Questioned Document Examiners on 2 September 1942.
2. Albert D. Osborn. He was the third President of the American Society of
Questioned Document Examiners Mr Osborn served In the military during World
Warl. Upon returning from overseas in 1919, he began attending the meetings that
eventually led to the formation of the ASQDE. In 1942, Mr. Osborn was one of the
15 men who founded the Society. He was the son of the founding president of the
ASQDE, Albert S. Osborn, and was associated with A. -S. Osborn in private practice
for many years. A. D. Osborn’s sons, Paul Osborn and Russell Osborn, both
became examiners of questioned documents, as did . his grandson John P. Osborn.
Among Mr. Osborn’s many high profile cases, he was one of eight document
examiners who testified for the prosecution‘ in the case against Bruno Hauptmann in
the kidnapping/murder of the Lindbergh baby Mr. Osborn was 00-author'of the book
 Questioned Document Problems with his father He was also the author of many
professional papers.
3. B. J. Vreeland Haring and J. Howard Haring. The father and son Haring of New
York were the word famous handwriting experts who testified on Charles A Lindberg
Jr. Kidnapping case. The defendant to the case was Bruno Richard Hauptmann
Flemington, New Jersey in 1935. Fourteen letters were directed to the famous
parents of the kidnapped Lindberg baby was abducted. The other letters contained
follow-up ransom demands and instructions.
4. J. Newton Baker. Consultative Expert in Disputed document and in 1955 he
authored the book, “Law of Disputed and Forged Documents”.
5. James V. P. Conway. He was an Examiner of Questioned Documents of San
Francisco, California Postal inspector in-charge, San Francisco Identification
Laboratory US. Postal inspection Service and authored ”Evidential Documents”
which was published in Springfield, Illinois, USA in 1959.
6. Hans Scheickert (1876-1944) A Doctor of Law and Director of the identification
Bureau of the Police Department of Berlin until 1928. He was a Criminology
Professor at the University of Berlin in 1920 and a we'll-known handwriting expert.
7. Dr. Wilson R. Harrison was the Director of the British Government’s Office Home
Office Forensic Science Society of Questioned Document Examiners. He authored
the book “Suspect Document Examiners Their Scientific Examination”, first
published in London in 1958. He had over twenty years experience in the
examination of suspect documents for the police forces of England and Wale and for
many government departments.
8. Ordway Hilton was the sixth president of the American Society of Questioned
Document Examiners. Mr. Hilton was born in 1913 and grew up in Evanston, lllinois.
He majored in mathematics at Northwestern University and received a master’s
degree in statistics from the same university in 1937. Mr. Hilton was the first
questioned document examiner in the then new crime laboratory of the Chicago
Police Department. in 1944, while still on active duty as an officer in the US. Navy
during World War ll, he attended the second meeting of the ASQDE in the Montclair,
New Jersey, home ofAlbert S. Osborn. In 1946, Mr. Hilton became associated with
 Elbridge Stein, the first secretary of the ASQDE, in his private practice in New York
City. He continued the practice alone when Mr. Stein retired in 1951. In 1979, Mr.
Hilton moved his practice to Landrum, South Carolina. A prolific writer of journal
articles and professional papers, Mr. Hilton authored one of the best known texts in
the field, “Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents”, in 1956, and a revised
edition of the text in 1982. He also authored Detecting and Deciphering Erased
Pencil Writing. Mr. Hilton was a Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic
Document Examiners. He was instrumental in establishing the Questioned
Documents Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). From
1959 to 1960, Mr. Hilton served as the tenth president of the AAFS. He is one of the
few AAFS Fellows to be named a Distinguished Fellow and one of only four
questioned document examiners to ever receive this honor. in 1980, he was the first
recipient of the AAFS Questioned Documents Section Award, which would be
named in his honor. Ordway Hilton passed away in 1998.
9. Roy A. Huber was the 24th President of the American Society of Questioned
Document Examiners. After joining the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in
1940, Roy Huber worked as a police constable at various detachments in the
Province of Saskatchewan. In 1949, he transferred to the Document Section of the
RCMP’s Regina Laboratory to commence a career that would span more than fifty
years. Under the tutelage of senior document examiners Hugh Radcliffe and Chester
Eaves, Mr. Huber completed his training program and moved to the RCMP's eastern
laboratory in Ottawa. He wrote and presented more than 30 papers including such
titles as Typist Identification, Modern Trends in Counterfeiting, The Production and
Identification of Embossing Seals, and The Quandary of “Qualified" Opinions In
1999, he published a book entitled “Handwriting Identification Facts and
Fundamentals,” which has become an important text in the training of forensic
document examiners The firstASQDE conference he attended was the 1955
meeting that was held In Houston.
10. Charles Chabot (baptized 19 March 1815 -_ 15 OCtOber 1882) was an English
graphologist who, as part of the firm of Nethersllft, Chabot and Matheson, was an
early practitioner of questioned document examination. Chabot was born Battersea,
 the son of Charles, a lithographer, and Amy ne’e Pearson, a couple of Hugenot
descent, Beginning as a lithographer, he developed as an expert in handwriting and
became SOUght after as an expert witness in a variety of famous trials including the
Roupell case and the Tlchbome Case. In 1871, Chabot became involved in
establishing the identity of Junius and concluded that he was Sir Philip Francis.

Questioned Document Examination

Questioned document examination (QDE) refers to the task of document

examination to compare a questioned document, using the scientific method, to a series
of known standards. The QDE is the forensic science field of study relating to
documents that are in dispute in a court of law. The elementary purpose of questioned
document examination is to answer questions on a disputed document by variety of
scientific processes and methods.

Questioned document examination frequently is found in cases of forgery,

counterfeiting, mail fraud, kidnapping, con games, embezzlement, gambling, organized
crime, white collar crime, art crime, theft, robbery, arson, burglary, homicide, serial
murder, psychological profiling, and deviant sex crime.

Document

 A document is any material containing marks, symbols, or signs either visible,

o partially visible that may present or ultimately convey a meaning to
someone.. This may be in the form of pencil, ink writing, typewriting, or
printing on paper.
 It is written or printed instrument that conveys information.
 The term document generally refers to a particular writing or instrument that has
a bearing upon specific transactions. A deed, a marriage license, and a record of 
account are all considered to be documents.
 The term “document” applies to writings; to words printed, lithographed, or
photographed; to maps or plans; to seals, plates, or even stones on which
inscriptions are cut or engraved.
 In Its plural form, “documents” may mean; deeds, agreements, title, letters,
receipts, and other written instruments used to prove a fact.
 Latin word “documentum”, means “lesson, or example (in Medieval Latin
“instruction, or official paper”), French word “docere”, means‘ to teach.
 According to Microsoft Encarta Reference Library (as a noun):
o formal piece of writing
o object containing information
o computer file