The morning call., 1895-01-21
A HAWKSHAW FOUND.
Another Trick Of Home Bank
Managers.
THEY HIRE A DETECTIVE.
SIeuth Pratt Imposes Upon the Honest
Nottingham.
HIS SORE Arm And ABSENT SISTER.
DepOSitOrS Track Mir. Pratt Down and
Make Merry With Him to His
Great Discomfort.

The distinguished actors in the Peoples
Home Savings Bank Comedy OF Errors
are again to the front The motto which
the directors of the bank evidently cherish
as the proper guiding star to their devious
footsteps, ''The depositors be -,
has linked those unfortunates in closer
bond of union which viii most surely
result in the utter discontinue of the
present management.
On Friday last a mysterious person who
gave his name as Shepard called upon
Williams, Mccarthy, Pike and Wheeler OF
the executive committee, and Nicholas
Morcom, depositor, of III Jones' street,
and obtained, by various pretexts, speci-
men of the handwriting of each. a call
was made on Executive Committeeman
Mahoney, but Mr.. Mahoney was suspicious
of trickery and refused to accede to the
request.
When the executive committee met
Friday evening, some one casually men
toned the mysterious stranger, and then
thew all saw that they had been made
victims of treachery. The executive COM
mittee at once went to work and dis
counted the Watt-Sheehan tactics by some
clever detective work.
When interviewed yesterday, 7. II.
Mccarthy said: "From certain information
obtained by US Saturday evening, we con-
Guided to storm the premises at 1892 Fol-
som street in our quest for the willy sleuth
of the bank management. Thlther we
proceeded Saturday and essayed the lead
inc role in the investigation. | found the
premises to be laundry, and, when 1 en-
tered my mysterious caller sat In a chair
calmly ENJOYING the well-earned leisure of
a bold, bad Hawkshaw, while his wife
busted herself attending to the work of the
establishment. | introduced myself, and
found that his name was Pratt Then
committee, and we all took a hand
at 'ioshing him in the line of
the confidence work he had imposed on US.
II asked him if his sister still wanted
school TO teach; Pike asked him if he could
write with his sore hand now; Wheeler was
anxious about the Job Pratt had promised
him; Williams wanted to take his measure
for a suit of clothes right away, and Ma
honey thought 1t was about time TO 60 to
work on the shelving work that Pratt had
consulted him about. twas perfect cir
Gus, and when Wheeler got excited at meet
ing his deCeivr and called Pratt rascal
and a liar Mrs. Pratt came and grInned IN
apparent satisfaction at her husband, as
though she thought, AT last some one ap-
preciates my husband for what he really is
Pratt himself squirmed and looked at his
shoes as if he expected to see diamonds
sprout from them and wanted to grab them
as soon as they appeared. His face actu-
ally turned to a dull grayish hue, and he
asked: You don't mean to use violence,
gentlemen, do your l was simply doing
what was told to do by my employers,
and / assure you, gentleman, am just as
ashamed of this as you can possibly be-
'"Then Mahoney told him that since his
identity was fully established he was ready
to sign almost anything for his benefit.
Pratt was very uncomfortable and begged
US to desist, saying He had a family to
support, he would lose his job, he always
has been and always would bethe working
mans friend, and solemnly declared he
would never, never, never do such a coarse
thing again.
MI Pratt was unearthed from a family
grocery, next door to the laundry, yester-
dav, said: "This affair doesn't please
me at all. 1 am very sorry was induced
to enter into the matter, and, of course,
my job is thing OF the past now. You'll
let me down easy, won't you? My attempt
was failure and l don't deserve any par
ticular sympathy, but then you know my
fam
Nicholas Morcom, one of the depositors,
was seen, and said concerning the con-
templated bringing of the denunciatory
resolutions, passed by the depositors on
= Wednesday evening last, to the attention
of the Central Methodist Church congre-
cation:
"Mr. G. F. Kendall has furnished me
with a copy OF the resolutions which, as
you know, are directed against Rolla V.
Watt, who is a member of the Central
1 am a lay preacher of the church
and will give the resolutions to DIR. Ollie
tomorrow. The doctor will attend to the
rest OF the affair as he. deems best. The
usual method is for the pastor to remon-
strate with the member and endeavor to
settle the affair quietly, and if that fails it
ha II,
immortality, and a trial viii follow in
regular order"