Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-09-17
HOW BANKS ARE SWINDLED.
The Trick by Which Bankrupt
Merchant Stole Fifteen Thousand
Dollars.
n. Y. Sun.

Merchant Stole Fifteen Thousand
Dollars.
n. Y. Sun.
Banks ars constantly being impos-
ed upon, i said the cashier, of one of tie
largest national banks IN this city the
other day, land the public knew
nothing about it. Why, if I was to
tell YOU that the son of one of the
largest dry goods merchants in Ne
York had presented two forged checks
to this bank within the past mouth,
got money on both, and escapey arrest
and publicity, YOU would hardly be-
lieve it; but it is so. His father made
good the amount. Almost every week
someone manages to defraud US some
way, and it Is oaly once III six months
that we ever report the case to the
authorities. In the first place, it hurts
a banks reputation to get caught too
often; but the principal reason for
cur silence is, it wouldn't pay us to
complain. In nearly every casa the
culprit is q friend Or relative of some
influential customer. That is the way
he manages to secure his credit, and
the customer nearly always talks
turkey when we go to him about the
matter.
"Use as much precaution as We can,
we have 10 trust some people. Of
course we can, as rule, protect our
selves against professional sharpers
and strangers by requiring identificat-
ion, but there is no way of preventing
our customers from defrauding as by
a too close scrutiny Of their cheeks.
That might drive away good business,
and we have to take our chances as to
the paper being all right.
''Some years ago." continued the
cashier, Il was the paying teller of q
bank in large western city. Among
our customers was o wholesale mer>
chant named Henderson, who did q
very large business with our bank.
He was in the habit of dra wing large
sums to meet his bills, which were
heavy. and all these passed through
my hands. Among Mr.. HendersOn's
business associates was man named
Hirtz, VINO had lately come to that
city from the east. He was a commits
sion broker. and sold Mr. Henderson
great many goods, for which he res
ceived Mr.. Henderson's check on our
bank.
Zone day Mr. Hiriz brought to the
bank check for SIS. 1t was the
largest check he had ever presented
[ hesltated abodt paying it. 1t was
evidently Mr.. Henderson's sigma ure,
and there was no question about the
bearer being Mr.. Hirtz. [ asked the
bookkeeper how Enuch money Mr..
Henderson had to his credit. He had
$18, 000 So I paid it. Mr., Hirtz took
thirty $500 bills, and left the building
with the money carefully concealed
in his inside vest pocket. This was
on Saturday, just before the bank
closed. Monday afternoon Mr. Hen
derson sent a check for Sc geo to the
bank. I sent back word that the &C.
count was not large enough to cover
that amount. In a few minutes Mr..
Henderson appeared at the bank. He
was very angry.
"'V7 hat do you mean said he, by
sending such word to naeF
81 mean said I, that you only
have So, 600 to your credit
THAT is not so, said ne; I have
SIS, 600 here, and if those figures are
not correct I shall make this bank
some trouble
"'You did have SIS, 900 last Satur>
day, but Mr.. Hirtz drew out SIS, 600
MIR. Hirtz did nothing of the
sort, interrupted the merchant hotly.
Mr.. Hirtz did not draw one cent on
Saturday.
"'Is that your .writipg9' [ asked,
producing the check Mr.. Rirtz had
given me.
''Mr. Henderson was amazed | laid
down the paper before him.
"'That certainly does look like my
check he said. Tt certainly does.
But it is q forgery
''Now it was my turn to be amazed.
If had paid forged check Of that
size could count my chances of hold
ing nay position with cipher. We
took tho check to the cashier and ex-
amiped it together, aud then we com
pared it with his other signature. 1t
was SO nearly alike that we could
hardly tell them apart. The only diff
ference was that it was not written in
the ink Mr.. Henderson usually wrote
with. We sent down to Mr.. Hirtz' S
Office but it was closed, and his clerk
did not know where he had gone, but
believed he left for New YorR. He
had made his escape. This strength
ened Mr.. Henderson's statement. and
after a few days we made good the
amount and my resignation WAS de-
manded. I told our president that I
thought there was soma mystery about
the matter, and I had the check litho-
graphed for my own use. A month
later Mr.. Henderson surprised the
business community by failing, and
after the settlement with his creditors
he came out a bankrupt. [ determin-
ed to ferret out the mystery, and for
considerable time I searched the
country for any news OF Mr. Hirtz,
but all to no avail, Finally I came
to New York and secured employment
irthe bank where / ana now.