The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-20

and the boys put up several thousand
on sugar. 1t so happened at this juno
| ture that the strangers business was
concluded in Lorraine. He was on his
way back to the metropolis, and, as
matter of accommodation. he agreed
to deliver the few thousands to Rob
erts, McCoutts & Co. He gave his re-
| ceipt for it, and emerging from the
| light blue smoke of 20-cent cigars. left
the good old town Of Lorraine.
In a few days Mr. Andrews, who had
received no word from Roberts, Nc
Coutts G. Co, wrote them a letter. The
letter came back, There was no such
| firm. He had deposited his check of
| $3.50 in his bank at Lorraine. The
check came back. 1t was a forgery
Mr.. Andrews and his friends had been
done--done brown. They sduealed and
the newspapers took it UP. The chief
of police was horriied-paralyzed. And
he was more so when it was discovered
that the swell stranger had not only
| done I'D Andrews and his crowd, but
two or three other crowds as well, all
of whom he entertained lavishly at the
| Belmont at different hours of the day
and night.
That's devilish strange muttered
the new chief of police. How the
devil could I have missed that fellow,
anyway"
1t was devlish strange. But the
strangest part of it was that on the
very night when the stranger left two
men sat in the back room of a saloon
in an obscure part of the town, and
conversed in whispers. One of these
men resennbled the chief of police-the
other the slick stranger. At the con-
clusion Of the conversation, the stran-
ger passed a wad of bills to the chief.
and the chief buttoned them in his in
side pocket. And then each went his
several ways rejoicing.
Two days went by. When Mr.. James
F. Wallace, Lorraine's successful BUSH
ness man and real estate agent, came
near kicking out of his office a shabby
frayed little man he came near max
ing a mistake The man proved to
be a near relative of Wallaces wife.
She was away at the time. Wallace
was secretly glad of it. All that the
man wanted of Mr.. Wallace was to
get a IS check cashed. Wallace shifted
suspiciously, but the amount was small
. and he cashed it. The littls man dis
} covered that Wallace's wife was to be
| away for some three weeks. He eX.
! pressed regret at this, but confided Il
| Wallace that while he was in poor
circumstances just at present, he was
} interested in Chicago estate which
was now in process of settlement, and
he fully expected to get several thous-
| and dollars in a week or two. He was
in Lorraine because he had succeeded
} in getting a small position there. He
did not bother Wallace again for a
few days, until he came back with
! a check for So signed with the name
l of a small grocery house. The other
: check had been all right, and Wal
lace cashed this check. This, too, went
through all right. The next time the
: man came in he was radiant. He had
: letter from his Chicago lawyers, in
which they said they noted his sug-
I gestion that he would have difficulty
in getting large checks cashed in a
town where he was unknown, and
they therefore had sent him by ex-
{ press five $1,000 bills, on account of
his share in the estate of his deceased
relative. He had the express pack
age and the five $1,000 bills. He now
wanted to take this money to his home
town and deposit it in his local bank,
but preferred not to carry the cash.
He therefore requested Mr.. Wallace
to give him a check to his order. Wal
lace, who like moneyed men, acquiesced
with alacrity. He put the five bills
in his safe, wrote the check, handed 1T
over, and then invited the relative of
Mrs. Wallace out to lunch. The little
man stipulated that he must be re-
leased in time for his train, which
went at o'clock. The lunch was
finished, and the little man left. In
stead of taking a train, he went to a
bank, where, by the courtesy of an
other business man of the place, he
was identified as the payee named in
the check. He thereupon received from
the bank five 81, 900 bills. Then he, too,
disappeared.
The same evening Mrs. James F.
Wallace returned to town. and James
f. told her about her relative. She
had a relative of that name, but he had
been dead for five years. The next
morning MIR. James F. Wallace sent
the five one thousand dollar bills to
the bank for deposit to his account.
The bank returned them with its
thanks. Each bill was a cleverly exc
cuted counterfeit. Mr.. James r. Wal
lace had been taken inland not he
alone, but dozen other men besides.
And on the evening that the relative
Of Mrs. Wallace disappeared, he and
another man who resembled a man
whose name was Peter F. Clancy, talk
ed earnestly together in a dark alley.
Some money passed between them.
Again the police force were up in
arms. Again the newspapers howled.
Again there was a lingering wall of
anguish from the victims.
This thing" exclaimed the Morn
ing Glory In rage, this thing must
STOP. EltHef Lne ponce department IS
woefully deficient or else the citizens
of Lorraine are a pitiful lot of sap
heads-one Of the two, or both"
A bluff, hearty man with a travel
stained appearance stepped into the
First National Bank, with the proprie
tor of the Lorraine Hotel. The bluff,
hearty man wanted to deposit to his
credit some three thousand dollars. The
hotel proprietor was rather proud of
this man-for he was John Billings, the
famous cattle king, Of Arizona. Lor-
raine was a great grain center and at
tracted by the low prices al which feed
and fodder was being offered, he had
come on 10 give an order way ahead
against the coming winter. He made
extensive purchases at several places
on credit. As the goods were not 10 be
delivered for some months TO come the
dealers leisurely and lazily looked him
up in Bradstreet's. John Billings was
all right, the agencies reported. They
reported that they could get no per-
sonal statement from Billings himself.
a. Billings was IN the Middle West. or
Eastern states, buying up grain for
the winter.
This seemed satisfactory. Billings
had some further arrangement 10
make in Lorraine. oTadully he was
introduced 10 millionaire o. two