The Red Cloud chief., 1884-07-25
MY OF A BANK CHECK.

Zho 8o0ky psuIt OF = Paying Tellor's Mis-
tske-Li pm to Lunacy by an Overpaid
Chsek-~a Portion Of the Money wa
R~ecevsss<
What I hSe to tell is absolutely true.
It did happeSN xactly as 1 shall try to
write it. The Any things will omit are
the names of ttNpersons and the place
where it happenaA l might by length
cning out the stot3 show the play OF
those fell passions.sRT greed and covetous-
ness, but l trust wh3kl have to say will
not lose its point I'm brevity. Ire
moral is the same ON trite one, that
honesty is the best polieH When a mar
it often happens that tho injury done
another becomes irreparaLe. There is
a sequence in al dishonest Transactions
which escapes the evil-do& Effe Il
follows cause. This may CON- instant
/, ly, as quickly rs an explosion Men the
hammer of the gun-lock strikes9 cap
containing the illuminate, or ~ fire
may hang back, but it will comeNn me
day or other. This is a longer prs8m-
BILE than ] thought would he drawn ffS b
my pen. but rs | am not a young mari
2 may indulge in such comments, because
an the life of any one who has passed
She half century the force o. the inevit-
able constantly occurs TO him. A man
of my age has been long enough i'm the
word TO have seen passing before him
many a sad drama: he has been present
at the very first scene, and has been an
unwilling witness OF the terrible con-
.cluSion.
L suppose few peopie who have had
direct transactions with banks are not
aware that errors sometimes happen.
The heads OF firms rarely are acguaint-
cd with such mistakes. IL is the bust
ness of clerks who have the cheeks
cashed TO see that the amounts paid
them are correct. Paying ~teilers. if they
do err. are rather likely TO paw 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 al
ways hear about it. III he underpays,
the demand Tor the difference is invari-
ably made at once. | am rather in
clined TO repeat the assertion that IN
such mistakes as are made in the rush
of business it is the commoner error to
pay too much. Sometimes a veiy 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, and pays away some thou
sands instead of hundreds. l have
known this to happen in y New York
bank to a young friend of mine. He
had sufficient good judgment not to en-
barrass the paying teller by making
any noise about il. He resumed his
place in the line. handed back his bank.
book. politely requested the teller to
look at the check he had presented. the
amount he rad received. and it was all
so quietly done that he made for life a
fast friend ora careful and expert bank
teller. / have two or three times been
overpaid by n bank teller. People who
shop have very often mistakes made in
their change to their advantage. Need
1t be said that without waiting an in
Stant restitution should be made?
/ was clerk in a house when the in
cident l am about telling happened.
We did q large business in the city of
-, and our check-book was in con-
slant demand. / made out the checks
and kept the bank account. but did not
have the signature of the firm. Gener-
ally for greater security. when the
amounts were large. l drew out the.
money myself. A great many of the
transactions We We're engaged in re-
quired Is to pay at c to the individ-
nal the hard cash.
The paying-teller of our bank il the
business season had all he could attend
to. The money to be paid for an agri-
cultural product very much in demand
would on some days make the cash dis
bursements of this bank amount to
$750.00o. remembered that on one
occasion, looking at the teller. he
seemed tired and depressed. Present.
ing my check for something less than
$i.Oo0-wanted by me in i've and ten
dollar bills-he overpaid me $50. He
had counted the money over twice be-
aore passing it to me. Irecouuted the
money. found the error, and. being
pressed for time, could not return the
$50 until after three O'Clock. NIhe
teller was obliged to me, bdt l noticOl
he bore 3 worried look. A mouth aftef(
this we had some balance to pay . Gus
fomor living ont Of the city, amounting /
b cas- a check Was drawn BY me,