The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-09
CASHED FORGED CHECKS
Police Would Like to Know the
Whereabouts of P. D. Reiser,
HE HAD AN OILY TONGUE
Made Welcome and Roote His Particular
Victims-Was in Helena During the
Campaign and Is Said to Have
Had Drag on Welcome.

Those officers whose duty it is to en-
force the statutes, that the honest citi-
zen may be protected against the de-
signing, would like very much to know
the whereabouts OF one P. D. Reiser,
whose operations distinguish him as a
confidence man of some ability, since
he managed to cash forged checks
right and left around town for a. week
and place safe distance between him
self and the officers of the law before
his regulations We're discovered, and
now several people regret the current of
circumstances which caused Reiser to
drift in their direction. Reiser us cd
the name of the law firm of Welcome &
Roote as a means of introducing him.
self, and after establishing himself, en-
ployed the same names as means Of
raising money by forging them to
checks of his own manufacture which
ne had, as 1T appears, no difficulty in
inducing people to cash: but this was
not all he did. He succeeded in work.
ing Messrs. Welcome & R6ote for quite
piece of pocket money, and in at
least one other instance raised money
by collecting a debt and receipting for
the money without authority.
Just how Reiser came to select the
firm of Welcome & Roote as a vehicle
for his operations is not known 1t is
suspected by some that he may have
had some kind of drag on Mr. Well
come from the fact that he was in Hell
ena during the senatorial campaign,
though nothing definite is known on
this point. What is known is this: That
Reiser came to town soon after the leg
lslature adjourned. He represented
himself to be crackerjack stenogra-
pher, one of those 150-words- minute
n-the-typewriter boys. He had an
oily tongue and genteel manners,
coupled with the ability to make people
believe he was all he cracked himself
up to be. Soon after he came to town
he called on Mn Roote and applied for
work as stenographer The firm was
not in need of such assistance and he
was so informed, but as he appeared to
know Mr.. Welcome and told a plausi-
Bile story about having come to hard
lines through having injured one of his
hands so badly that he had not been
able Ito work for some time, Mr. Roote
gave him couple of dollars to tide
him over The next day he came back
He was in need of money to pay room
rent and Mr.. Roote gave him So more,
Still again, on the following day, his
stomach was empty and Mr.. Roote
gave him meal ticket Mr.. Welcome
happened to be in on this occasion and
he gave up So. This held him up fer a
day or two, when he again came back
This time he had made up his mind he
could not get work here and would like
to get out of town. Mr.. Welcome &C
cordingly gave him $12.50, hoping to get
rid of him, but it was too good thing
to leave and after faw DAVIS ba 10,
back with an excuse for not having
left town. For some days he continued
to alternate between Mr.. Welcome and
Mr.. Roote for small contributions till
the free horse had been ridden to death
and they at last told him to come no
more.
This was the last the firm saw of
Reiser, but it was not the last they
heard. His soft snap was cut off some
thing more than a week ago. Friday
Mr. Roote was notified that several peo-
pie had presented checks at Clark's
bank to which the firm name had been
signed. They were all in favor of
Reiser. AS the firm had given him no
checks, an investigation was made. 1t
was found that Reiser had rented a
room at the Dorothy apartment house
and had given Mrs. Granville Stuart,
the proprietress, a check for S4S to pay
{.
In another instance it was found that
Reiser had given a party of his friends
a time at the resort known as the Irish
World and had paid for it with one
of Welcome & Rooote's checks. Be
sides the wine he and his friends en-
joyed he got S22 in change. Several
other checks made their appearance at
Clark's bank and We're refused pay
ment, but the bank had failed to take
he nf thn
them and as these have not come into
the hands of the police the identity of
the victims is not known.
Attorney w. E. Carroll was also made
a victim of Reiser's desire to spend
other peoples money, but in a different
way. Reiser called at Attorney Car
rolls office in the Hennessy block one
day and wanted work. Mr.. Carroll had
no need of his assistance. but permitted
him to use the typewriter on his max
ing such request This was all Mr..
Carroll saw of the gentleman, but, like
the other law firm, it was not the last
he heard. Last Monday morning Reiser
went to Mr.. CAROLS office and found
him absent. He did not hesitate to
take a seat at Mr.. CAROLS desk and
when G. w. Phillips called to pay bill
he found Reiser attending to business
Mr.. Carroll is out, sir" said he, in
iSSppiiSC " NIL. 1 IllllipS Injury, hut
if there is anything you desire, 1 think
I can attend to it"
Il wanted to pay him $15," was Mr..
Phillips reply.
Reisers heart must have jumped with
joy. At all events he answered with
alacrity:
Il am authorized to receipt for
moneys"
Mr.. Phillips gave him the SIS and he
gave a receipt, signing Mr.. CAROLS
name, per his own. Mr. Phillips called
again yesterday and Mr. Carroll then
learned for the first time of the favor
Reiser had done for him. Reisers case
was given to the police Friday evening
but it was too late. Though the city
has been searched high and low, no
trace of him has been found and there
is a well-defined suspicion in the minds
of those concerned that he has made
himself exceedingly scarce in Butte
All the checks that came to Clark's
bank were signed by either the firm
name Of Welcome &, Roote or by one
or the other of the members of the