Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-02

fhECAUTlO Nb AGAINST CHECK RAINING.
~ MONG the crooks, said Detective Block
Nvt to STAR reporter the other day,
HSk'there is one class who seldom have
u yany evidence on them when they are
~mlcaught or anything that in any manner
will operate to their disadvantage. Conse-
quently when 1t happens that they are arrested
the prosecution has to rely wholly upon their
Identification. This class is the forger and the
! man who passes forged paper The former is
known as the 'scratcher' and the latter the
layer down. The crooks Of this class are in.
variabiy after money, and when they succeed
in getting hold of money they usually turn it
over to a confederate. Even il they are caught
with it in their possession it IL n difficult mat
ter to identify it if the crook himself
cannot be recognized. By their games. banks
| merchants and even those who do business on
a small scale, are often victmized. There are
some forgers who operate alone while others
have pal, and III many instances three men
work together. In days gone by it was not an
uncommon thing to hear of the successful pas
| snge of counteffeited or raised paper, but now
people are sharper and more safeguards are
thrown about the business of those who are
| constantly passing checks The counterfeiters
| and others who work the game are also getting
smarter and are using various sorts OF con-
! trivances such as the honest business man or
banking houses uses.
USING FRAUDULENT STAMPS.
| Some of the crooked people using porta-
| BILE stamps, with numbers and figures ar
! ranged that they stamp any number or name
| they may desire. They first procure blank
bank check where the intended victim has his
] deposit, and they stamp number on il at ran
dom and on the margin the name OF a firm is
| stamped. That gives the check a semblance of
genuneDess that the paper would not other
1 a .
| manner i'll which the check is presented. The
! man who does the laying down will enter
business place IN u manner that dlsarms sus-
picion. He appears in his shirt sleeves and bare
headed and generally has pen stuck over his
ear. All this gives him the appearance of
| clerk and he asks il the merchant will cash
! small check for his neighbor. or course it is
| after banking hours, and he explains that it
Will be great accomnOda The merchant
] naturally wants to accommodate the neighbor
| and he consents. The crook appearing IA a
| clerk leaves the store and returns again i'll
] few minutes with the check. In some cases
| two stores in the same neighborhood have
| been victimized within few minutes. This
| game has been worked successfully in this city
| and also i'll Baltimore and Philadelphia, as
| we'll as i'll many cities in the south.
| GETTING SOME ONE TO voUcH FOR HIM.
| There Is another mode which is frequently
| resOrted to, but il ID worked principally by
young men. The operator, stranger in the
city, knocks about and makes the acquaint-
! anco of some yonnS man aud remains in his
company long enough to learn OF some mer-
| chant with whom his newly made friend Is ac-
quainted He succeeds OF course in gaining
hts new friends confidence and then he asks
| The latter to go with him TO make some pur-
] chases. He presents forged draft in payment
| for the goods, and II its genuineness is ques-
| toned he gets his friend to vouch for him. and
! singularly enough the friend can usually be
| made tool OF in that way. The draft is ac-
| cordingiy accepted and the purchaser receives
! the change, getting both the goods and large
| enough sum OF money to See him through until
| he can turn another trick in some other city.
GETTING REPUTATION FIRST.
''There are other professional forgers who
work under the pretense of wanting to mail
money to a friend. and who, by SO represent
ing. obtain genuine check from some bust
| ness house, paying the amount therefor. He
| obtains the check after banking hours, as al
| ready stated. by pretending that he wants to
mail it to q friend or relative. 1t is only to lay
the groundwork for securing large sum Of
| money from another merchant. Having once
] obtained the check the crook is not obliged to
mail it anywhere, and he goes to his intended
| victim and makes few purchases. Then he
! presents the check in manner to arouse
| suspicion as to the genuiueness OF the paper
| writing. telephone investigation follows,
! favorable reply il received and the check Is
| taken in payment for the goods. This as a
| rule, makes him solid with the firm whom he
| intends to pay another visit before many days.
| To carry out his original plan the scratcher'
then obtains blank check and makes it out
| for good sum. not SO large, however, that it
| will not be cashed. He commits the forgery in
good style and the apparently good check is
presented. The former check gave him the
stamp OF honesty and OF course the victim
bites the bait and gives up his money. When
he discovers that he has been duped it is too
late, for the 'scratcher' has skipped aud is
probably in another city preparing to repeat
! the same game.
BANK sNEAKs.
"There are other thieves, known as bank
sneaks, who also do scratching sometimes.
! although some of them never do anything out
side of sneak jobs. They work during banking
hours and pick out some Of the banks deposit
tors to work upon. In this game three men
| usually work There is the man who is to get
| the money, who is called the finger and the
| man who picks out the victim, who is called the
| wire Then the man who does the watching
known as the mark Saturday afternoon
| about the close OF the banking day is the time
generally selected and the three men take
their positions. The stall locates in front of
the bank to warn his pals of the approach of
an officer, while the finger works his way In
the crowd of depositors as though he
was waiting for his turn. The wire
picks out as the mark man
| with a good-sized roll of greenbacks. The
| office - given to the finger who begins
| upon the victim by dropping two or three
| one-dollar notes on the hoor. Before dong
! that, however, he secures what looks like q
bank book and deposit slip to give him the
air of bona-fide depositor. After dropping
! the money he waits for the mark to get his
roll in his hand ready to take his turn and de-
| posit ii. Then he politely steps aside and calls
| the marks attention to the money, telling
him that he has droppedit, and strange to say
| the latter will invariably place his money on
| the counter while he stoops to pick up what is
on the floor While he is in a STOPPING posi-
| ton the finger either takes the whole pile or
he weeds it; which Is, taking enough OF the
notes from beneath to get good sum and still
leave the balance looking like the original pile
| SO that the theft il not discovered until the
money is counted by the teller. BY that time
| the three rascals have disappeared in a cab
This class Of crooks seldom remain in q CITY
more than one day. They arrive in the morn
| ing, take O trick in the afternoon and jump.
AMATEUR FORaERs.
"There il the amateur forgsr, who, a. rule,
never succeeds in getting any large sums of
money, but who does manage to bring disgrace
upon himself aud his family il no has one,
majority Of this class Of forgers are young men
whose fathers often come to their rescue and
settle the deficiency without taking the case
into court Often, even after an indictment ia
found, the matter 10 settled and the case nolIe
nrasaad N cnahiara ~la h.