The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-01
INGENIOUS RANK FRAUD.
Several Cases ia Which Tricky Wen
Nere Trimmed Ip.

tpAAA the Boston 4 EIkeltl-
one Of the most remarkable banking
swindles ever carried out was the great
Nagliano case some six or seven years
ago The fraud was managed with con-
siderable ability by a clerk. who used his
position as principal foreign correspOn-
uent Pm the Office Of a merchant and for
elgh banker 10 forge letters of advice and
biAs' winch he pretended had come from
abroad His plan was to place the forged
DHis before his employer, together with
genuine bills, and so obtain ''acceptauce"
IN proper form. The ingenuity of the
sMlliule consisted IN this, tnat though the
sisudtuIes were fraudulenuy obtained,
they We're genuine enough in themselves,
ana were duly honored by the bank. When
the fraud which involved a sum of $751;
oD was eventually discovered, the ac-
Sused pleaded guilty; and, after a trial
lastlnB SIX days, was sentenced to penal
serVitude for ten years.
In another celebrated case, which Gre
ateo great amount of excitement at the
time, the chief cashier Of a London bank
so grossly abused his position as to carry
on LOT some months a series Of frauds by
Whlch ne obtained from the Bank OF Eng
ldnu, ana appropriated to his own use,
many thousands of pounds The bank in
WMch ne was employed, like all London
banks, Kept an account with the Bank of
england, and his procedure was to sign
vouchers Tor large sums, which were ac-
cOrQlngiy placed to the debit Of his bank
IN the Bank of England pass book, in
winch he himself wrote up the figures as
lney ought to have appeared, being thus
day.
The real pass-book was taken to and
from the Bank of England by the
Walk-clerk in the usual manner, but
when brought TO the cashier each after
noon he quietly concealed it, and sub
stltuted his own sham book for the puT-
pose OF tiding over the daily investigation
in the bank parlor The unavoidable day
of reckoning came. when the auditors
wrote directly to the Bank of England for
d sigIed ceruhcate OF the amount of the
cash balance. and SO at once found out
lhe discrepancy. The cashier had fed,
Dul was brought TO trial and transported.
A curious case occurred not long ago,
IN Paris, showing that. after all, the re-
cent wonderful inventions Of science are
not unmiXed blessing An accomplished
sWindier managed to obtain considera-
Dle sum or money, not by the risky pro-
cess OF putting pen to paper but by GO
ing 10 the telephone exchange and ring
ing up merchant, with whose affairs
ne mad spent some time and trouble in
making himself acquainted, and then
counterfeiting the voice of a bank man
ager VINO was made to urge excellent
reasons why the merchant should at once
attaCh ms signature 10 a particular bill
which would come into his hands that
very day. Time being precious, no per-
sonai interview or spondence inter-
fered TO spoil the well laid plan of this
rascal, who escaped with his haul and
was never captured
Inc manager of a branch of a large
DNiih Hei4 ~ Drought 10 MS knowledge
that certain bill for 5000, which he had
discounted for customer, Mr.. b, was
III all probability, a forgery. He consid-
ered IL Els duty to at once call on Mr.
B, and tell him his suspicious think
ing that, of course, the after would wish
10 make arrangements for the bill to be
taken from the bank and placed in the
hands OF the police. But to the manag-
er-s surprise, Mr.. b Recommended quite
afraid # ne raised the "a alarm that he
would lose his money, besides being in
Volved in all the trouble and worry of
criminal proceedings against the offender
NO" he said, I'VE had better wait till
the bill is due. l have heard it said that
forged bill is the best security you can
hold II is sure to be taken up
In other words, no forger OF this kind
would ever allow his handiwork to be-
come the subject of inquiry, and would
take very good care that the bill at ma
turity was duly paid. And so II proved in
this case, for the bill, being treated as
genuine one, was presented in the usual
way, was promptly honored, and 1t need
not be added was the last transaction be-
tween Mr.. b and the skillful penman
who was given to understand that if any
more of his paper was offered he would
probably find himself treading in the foot
steps of others who had come to grief in
endeavoring to gain fortune by attempt
ing to swindle the confiding banker.