The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-10-18
THE BANK CHECK.
New York Times. ]

the story show the play of those fell pas
sions, greed and coVetousness. but | trust |
what / have to say will not lose its point |
from brevity. The moral is the same
old trite one, that honesty is the best pol |
icy. When a man is tempted to commit |
wicked action it often happens that the |
injury done another becomes irrepara-
bic. There is a sequence in all dishonest |
transactions which escapes the evil-doer |
Effect follows cause. This may come
instantly, as quickly as an explosion when |
The hammer of the gun-lock strikes the
cap containing the illuminate, or Me fire |
may hang back, but it will come some day
or other This is longer preamble than l
thought would be drawn from my pen,
but as ! am not young man l may
indulge in such comments, because in the
life Of any one who has passed the half
century the force of inevitable constantly
occurs to him. A man of my age has been
long enough in this world to have seen
passing before him many sad drama;
he has been present at the very first
scene, and has been an unwilling witness
of the terrible conclusion.
suppose few people who have had di-
rect transactions with banks are not aware
that errors sometimes happen. The heads
of firms rarely are acquainted with such
mistakes. 1t is the business of clerks who
have the checks cashed to see that the
amounts paid them are correct Paying
tellers if they do err are rather likely to
pay too much than too little. Should they
give more money than the face of the
check calls for, if the receiver of the
money is dishonest, then the payer does
not always hear about it. If he underpays,
the demand for the difference is invariably
made at once am rather inclined to re-
peat the assertion that in such mistakes as
are made in the rush of business, it is
the commoner error to pay too much.
Sometimes very tired man, whose brain
has been too long on the stretch, or
who is i'll or nervous, mistakes the number
of the check for the amount, ano paws
away some thousands instead of hundreds
/ have known this to happen in a New
York bank to young friend of mine. lie
had sufficient good Judgment not to EN-
barrass the paying teller by making any
noise about it. He resumed his place in
the line, handed back his bank book, po-
litely requested the teller to look at the
check he had presented, the amount he
had received, and it was all so quietly done
that he made for life fast friend of
careful and expert bank teller. | have
two or three times been overpaid by
bank teller. People who shop have very
often mistakes made in their change to
their advantage. Need it be said that
without waiting an instant restitution
should be made?
was clerk in a house when the Incl
dent am about telling happened. We
did large business In the city Of, and
our check book was in constant demand.
! made out the checks and kept the bank
account but did not have the signature OF
the firm. Generally for greater security
VIXEN the amount was large, | drew out
the money myself A great many Of the
transactions We were engaged i re-
quired us to pay at once to the individual
the hard cash.
The paying teller of our bank in he
busine. season had all he could attend to.
The money to be paid for an agricultural
some days make the cash disburse
ments of the bank amount to $3.50, 600
l remembered that on one OCCASION
looking at the teller, he seemed tired and
depressed. Presenting my check for some
amount less than 81, ,000-wanted by me
in s. and SO bills-he overpaid me $50
! He had counted the money over twice be-
| fore passing it to me. l recounted the
money, found the error, and, being pressed
| for time. could not return the $50 until
| after 3 O'clock. The teller was obliged to
lie, but noticed that he bore worried
| look A month after this we had some
balance to pay a customer living out of
the city, amounting to $3.50. A check
was drawn by me, handed to the creditor,
and his account was balanced. The bust
ness entirely dropped out of my mind
| Some three months afterward the firm
received letter from this man, which was
rather ambiguous of its kind There was
an error, so he said, in his account Would
we look over it? At once examined the
books, checked off every item, went
through all the debts and credits of his
business, and ended by inspecting the final
check paid him. My employers, who
were very honest and careful gentlemen,
were satisfied with the accuracy of the ac-
letter to that effect did so, as politely
as could, but at the conclusion of my let.
ter / said ou leave us In the dark, how.
ever, us to one thing Three months have
elapsed since our check was given to you
If you bad not been paid what was due
you we should have certainly heard
from you before. Have you been
overpaid?" My senior employer
a shrewu business man, looking over my
letter remarked, "Perhaps your question
here might not be liked by Mr.. -.
However, let 1t go. !" mailed the letter
We heard nothing more about it for 9
month. Then there came tortuous let
ter from the man. "His account. was
wrong, ;" he wrote "Maybe he had come
across some money he could not exactly
account for " He did not state how much
money it was, or how it happened. 1t wa:
mcan shamble on his part. knew that
He had prieks of conscience; that I wa!
certain of. The firm consulted with me
what they should do. made up my minC
that more money had been paid the man
on the check than he was entitled to.
went ut once to the teller of the bank.
found him ill., nervous, and tremulous
Yes, lie said, my accounts were
wrong. There had been big deficit.
have not slept for months. am afraid
have oyerpaid some one. But thank Cox
l made it up. | mortgaged my house ant
passed the amount short to the credit o
the bank. must have made blunde
somewhere But the strain on my mine
no longer fit for the place" He scenes
to me 10 have moments of doubt and un
certainty. Il still cling to my place." b
said. "Of course have no recollection o
having ever paid that check of $3.50.
said to him that had hopes of gettini
some Of ihe money back, but did nc
like 10 tell him how But what | did d
was 10 60 that evening to the president 0
the lank and state the case to him. AS
had been through him that owed my pc
sition in the firm, he ha
every confidence in me. My adyic
was asked | was forced {