The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-09-08
FUN in A BANK.

"A .DoposftOr VINO Laughed Nnou nc
Was Neatly Robbed by a stranger.
A reporter. who had been an amtis-
ed and interested spectator of a funny
incident in q bank. asked one of the
officials:
DO you meet with such things in
the regular course of businessP'
'.Funny things! We'll. 1 should say
DO. Most people have an idea that
there is nothing that is prosaic anc
commonplace in the banking business,
but they are altogether wrong. Some
Of the funniest scenes ever witnessed
happened right here in this bank. I'll
give you q sample. Years ago man
whom we will call Jim Simpson, be-
cause that wasn't his name, was one of
our depositors. Jim was a character.
He kept tavern q few miles out of
the city and did good business. He
was Yorkshire Englishman. stoutly
built, and over six feet high, with a
fuddy face, and keen, twinkling eyes.
'Jim used to come in every Satur-
day and deposit bis receipts for the
week, often having 5000 or 800. Well,
he invariably went through the same
performance. Standing by desk near
the teller's window. he would take out
bis big pocket. book, draw out his roll
of bills and begin counting them over,
laying the ones, twos, fives and tens
each In a seperate pile. Then he
would pick up the fives, lay them cross
wise of the tens, count them again,
put the twos across, and go through
the same process, until he had satisfied
himself that his count was correct. 1t
often took him fifteen or twenty min
utes to get his money arranged in
shape for depositing
zone day when he had an unusually
large amount of money spread out be-
fore him, stranger entered the bank,
walked up to Jim without saying a
word, nudged the old man with his ell.
bow and pointed to the floor under the
desk. The old fellow supposed, Of
course that he had dropped bill, and
stopped down to look for it. Quick
as a flash the other man swept the
pile of bills off the desk, crammed them
into his pocket and was out in the
street before Jim had time to straight
en- up. He looked around. saw the
retreating stranger. then looked at the
place where his money had been and
broke into loud and hearty laugh
Well I'll Bop said he. ther
laughed more noisly than ever.
None of us in the bank had noticed
what was going on, and we had NJ
idea what the old man was laughing at
| never saw a person more amused
than he appeared to be. Repeating
over and over that lie was willing t.
be id he haw-hawed till the WALL
fairly echoed. 1t was some time be
fore he recovered his gravity sufficient
ly to explain what had occurred. HI
was SO greatly struck with the ridicul
Gus nature of the trick that had bcel
played upon him that he seemed to re
gard it as more than equivalent for tn
money he had lost
'Another man who used to have al
account here, when ever he drew an,
money, always asked for small bills
twos and threes,' and he kept up til
practice years and years after 50 bill
ceased to be issued. He kept som
Government bonds here, and cam
around at regular intervals to reques
us to cut off them there cowpens' TO
him.
"You have read, perhaps, of tn
countryman who bought a draft t
pay a note which was about due at som
bank in distant city. put the pape
in his pocket imagined it to be re
ceipt, and only learned of his mistak
when he received notice that his not
was about to be protested. l have
known just such cases myself. Blu
people may joke as they like abou
the country folks; 1 had much rattle
do business with them than with som
Of the smart city men who imagin
that they know everything and seem
to think cashier is wofully ignorar
if he says he doesn't know them.
"Often in answer to a request ft
Identification. l have been greete
with the set phrase. Young man, l di
business with this bank before yo
were born 1t is amusing to see VIII
q ridiculous passion such a man wi
sometimes get into when he is tol
the fact may be exactly as he states i
but the bank does not know him nov
1t is to be expected that people who al
unfamiliar with banking rules an
methods will give good deal of al
noyance. but there are others like Il
man I have described, who do Il
q same thing in order to impress
= with the sense of their Importance.
IAN amusing thing took place
20 our bank only few days ago.
laboring man had been given chez
;. by a we'll known contractor. al
. came in to get his money. told hi
i he must be identified. The man stal
e ed. not having the faintest idea VIII
the word meant
= 'Do you mean vaccinatedP" he as
= ed.
= No. no. I replied after turnil
- away to laugh. Bring somebody he
y that knows you are the person nam
in the check. We can't pay money
people we don't know"
THE man departed and returned
about fifteen minutes accompanied
:. his wife, He seemed greatly surpris
:, when told him that her identificati
,, of him would not be sufficient, and
- must bring somebody who was knoV
to the people in the bank. After h
:, wasted half hour making explar
:, tions the maker of the check happen