The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-01
NO TRACE OF MCGUIRE
1t Is Believed the Forger Hit
the Trail for the Coast.
HE HAD A GOOD START
Probable That He Will Take Passage
on a Ship for Foreign Parts-He
Had One Narrow Escape
From Detection.

| Great Falls, Feb. 2S.-Nothing of i'm
portance has developed in the fogeries
committed by Charles Mcclure on Sat
urday night He had a start which was
sufficient for a wise man to get entire
| ly beyond the reach of local authorities
but 1t is not known as vet whether he
possessed that wisdom. 1t appears that
he took advantage of the absence from
the office of the iron works of every one
except himself and tore from the back
of the official check-book as many stubs
as he required. Then he took the check
| punch and punched out the amounts
| that he thought would about fit his case.
After that it was a matter of only
| few minutes in the quiet of his room to
| fill out the check blanks and peddle
| them out
| He had one narrow escape from de-
lection. 1t was at the store of j. E.
Kenkel, where he bought a pair of new
shoes and paid for them with a check
of about SIS. There was in the store
another employe of the iron works
named Winn. Mcclure spoke to him
as he was making the purchase and
that rather convinced the salesman that
the check was all right VIM, owever,
happened to hear the amount for which
the check was written, and that set him
to wondering whether the company was
paying that amount Of salary to a man
who was doing nothing more important
that to sweep out the office and to build
the fires in the morning. Unfortunate
ly. he confined his thoughts to himself
and said nothing of them to the pro-
prietor Of the store or to the president
of the company, L. S. Woodbury., and so
the fellow escaped. Mr.. Woodbury., by
the way, had such great confidence in
Mcguire that when he did not show up
at the house on Sunday afternoon he
became anxious. and the next morning
he went early to the house of Chief
Guerin and told the latter that he
feared Mcclure had committed suicide
The police have discovered that but
one ticket was sold on Sunday mornxr
ing. A man appeared just before the
train bound for the East had arrived
and asked for a ticket to Anaconda
When told that the next train was
bound in the other direction, he hest
tated for "a time and then said he want
ed ticket for Anaconda anyway. Winn
also saw Mcguire in town on First ave-
nue. south early on Sunday morning, so
that 1t is more than proba BILE that he
went south when he left town. 1t is
hLoWil Lldl d. young man with new
shoes, which hurt him, was on the stub
train Sunday morning, and this is fur
Their evidence that he took that direc-
ton. However. he still mad time to
reach the coast before the police could
stop him, and as he had been a sailor
it would prove no very difficult matter
to find passage on a coaster or a ship
bound for some port across the Pacific
The checks themselves were likely to
a hill hn
were not first-class, there were two sig
natures to each check and MCGUIRE was |
careful to make these so different in
character that the stranger would
swear they We're written by different
persons. Then Mcclure had lived here
some nine months, and during that time |
he had frequently cashed checks for
the office and was recognized as an en- |
ploye in the office, and that added to
the ease with which his game worked. |
The amount which he obtained in goods |
and money approNimates $500.