The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-11-07
CHECK KITING.
One PennileSS Man Had the Use Of
$4,000 for Three Years.
A System Of Cute swindlinE New
York state Bankers Have Combined
A raFuat r.
From the New York Press.

bankers of New York are about to sdobt
severe methods for the better protection
of their institutions in this state against
the men who foat worthless paper. Dur
ing the recent money panic the schemes
Of raising money in New York on checks
payable on out-of-town banks were many
and ingenious. but the big bankers OF the
metropolis are now planning to put a
stop to the tricks Of the check sharps in
short order.
The State Bankers Association, at its
last meeting in Albany, decided that there
was demand for subordinate associa-
tions throughout the state to look after
local affairs. These groups" as they
were called, are composed of banks with
in convenient distances. So eight
groups" were formed, the New York
City, or No. Z group, comprising all the
banks in Winchester, Putnam, Rockland
and Duchess counties. The New York
group met a few days ago and discussed
the best methods of protecting the banks
from the great army of frauds now at
work in the vicinity of this city, and
for obtaining uniform statements from
I customers.
A committee on protection against
crime appointed, with r. L. Edwards W.
A. Nash, president of the Commercial Ex-
change Bank, and ". H. Perkins, Jr.,
president of the National Bank of Ameri-
ca, as its chief members. These gentle
men will at once study ways and means
of putting stop to the scores of swindles
at present in practice and in devising a
plan to prevent check kiting.
During the discussion at the meeting of
Group No. Z" the local association, it
was brought out that a man formerly
well known in Wall street, had recently
tricked a Jew Yorker out of large sum
by one of the tricks worked almost every
| day of late by men who md themselves
in tight places financially. This man had
a country residence at Malone, n. Y. He
! had a small account at the Malone bank
He transacted all his business in this
| city, of course. He went to a Wall street
| broker with whom he had speculated and
/ gave him a $4,000 order He paid for it
/ in check down en- the bank in Molone.
/ The broker deposited it and was given
/ credit by the bank, which sent the check
! to its correspondent to collect. 1t hap
/ pened as is often the case, that the New
! York bank did not have a correspondent
! at Malone. The check was sent to anoth-
| er town, the nearest enc in which the
New Y ork bank had a correspondent.
! That bank in turn sent the cheek to its
! correspondent at the nearest point to
Malone 1t took six days for the check to
reach the Malone bank en- which it was
| drawn. The man who drew the check had
| figured out the time to almost the hour
| that the New York bank would be nett
fed, and he had $4,000 deposited on the
afternoon of the NTH day in this city,
and the draft waived to the Malone bank
| SO, il will be seen that he had the use of
the $4,000 for the i've days. He was for
tunate for a few months in his specula-
ton, and the next check he drew on the
Malone bank was for SIS, 900. This time he
failed to get the money to deposit in time,
and he found that the Malone bank had
notified New York that the check was no
good. He hustled around to raise the
funds, but could not, and quietly left
town. His friends have since come to his
rescue, and in a paragraph in a society
column last Sunday appeared his name as
a guest of Mr.. and Mrs. So-and-So at
Lenox. He win soon be back in Wall
street and up to his old tricks, for he has
the reputation of knowing just how long
1t will take a check or draft to reach any
great army of men who are playing the
same sort of tricks on the banks. With
out a dollar of capital they float thou
sands of dollars worth of checks and Sc
| cure the use of the money for months at
a time. As was the case in Brooklyn the
other day, it was discovered that 2 check
for SIG 900 had been successfully ''kited
for three years without discovery.
The New York bankers are going to end
all that sort of business. But it is not
alone the CHECK kiter" the bankers are
after. There is a perfect swarm OF
swindlers operating through the banks
one of this class used to be prominent in
legal circles. He got mixed up in a sean
dial and was disbarred. For two years
past he has been living on the proceeds
q Of check swindles. There are half a hun.
bred judgments against him on checks
which proved worthless, of course. But
:, this man is so well posted on the law thai
a criminal proceeding is of little avail
Z one of his latest victims was a prominent
hotel keeper. He put up at his house ant
2 for several days was a most desirable
2 | guest. At the end of that time he drew
a check on Tarrytown bank in paymen
. for his board. II was accepted by tht
J | hotel man.
S At the end Of the week another checl
s was drawn on the Tarrytown bank by tn,
S | swndler 1t was for $500. A plausibl,
story and the urgent need of funds madt
| the hotel man soften, for had not thi
| other check drawn on the same bank gonD
through all right? After getting the $50
the swindler quietly vacated. The fol
lowing morning the hotel man got tn,
first check back from the TarrytowI
, bank marked mo funds"
Five days later the $500 check came bacl
with the same Endorsement. The swim
dler was hunted up,and he simply smilet
at the hotel mans fury. who, it turn
, out was powerless to have him arrested
: His story was, and it proved correct OIL
investigation, that the day after tn,
- check was drawn there was sufficien
money to meet IT at the Tarrytowi
bank He had drawn a check on an
other bank in another section of the stat
and deposited 1t to his account He salt
he didn't know but that the checks givel
' the hotel man had been met, and he drew
cut his balance.
Y Now, by the closer associations tina
will exist between the banks in the diff
, ferent groups, this trick viii not be
u success in thu future, Each bank viii
d agree to notify New York banks when
swindler's paper or suspicious paper put
in an appearance, and stops will b
taken to get some of the boldest of tn
l. fake" check aoaters behind prison bars
D. MoNTANA's PAINT MINE.
a Four Colors in Which the Indians USE
j. 70 Dress Themselves for War.
p From the Townsend Messenger.
II II Is not generally known that we hav
q ]