The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-21
CASHED BAD CHECKS
MAN GAVE WORTHLESS PAPER ON
SAVANNAH BANK.
HOW MERCHANTS LOST S575.
CONGRESS STREET MAN CAME IN
FOR SHARE OF Loss.

Worthless Check for $500 Was Given
in Hot SprinEs-A Bad Check Was
Also Given by Savannah Man to
Congress street Merchant - Cir
cumstances Point to the Same
Man as the PerpetratOr of the
Frauds In Both Cases Checks
Were Given on out of Town
Banks - writing on Both Was
Identical.
The discoveries made almost stimuli
taneously yesterday morning that the
friend of a Savannah merchant, who
is now in Hot Springs, Ark, had been
beaten out of $500 by cashing a worth
less check on a Savannah bank, and
that a well-known Congress street man
in Savannah is out of pocket S15 by
reason of his acceptance of bad
check, taken in conjunction with other
circumstances surrounding the trans
actions resulted in an investigation
which bids fair to be productive of
sensational developments.
The two merchants compared notes
and found that the writing of the Hot
Springs man and the young man who
had given the bad check were similar
enough to elicit further inquiry. The
inquiry was instituted with the result
that suspicion is cast upon a
young man well known in Sa-
vannah and prominently connected in
North Georgia, who has been in Sa-
Vannah much of late.
Convincing or Coincidental.
The circumstances. whether convinc-
ing or merely coincidental, are most
unusual. An old piece of paper, which
had been used in wrapping pair Of
shoes, plays an important part in the
game, and is. the man in Arkansas
writes, about the only clue that his
friend" las to the situation. For
clear understanding of the affair. from
both ends it is necessary to give in
chronological order the occurrences in
the two cities which seem to dove-tail
so completely.
Some time ago, a party, who
had traded with the Congress street
merchant, and had paid several
small bills, went into the store for
the ostensble purpose of settling an
account. The account amounted to
$40 He said 1t is claimed, that he did
not have quite that much in his bank
here (nauing the banlS), but said
he had a check already drawn on an
Atlanta bank. This check was for SIS.
The merchant accepted it, and re-
turned, he says, about $35 in change.
The check was sent to the Atlanta
bank for collection. and was returned
with the Endorsement. mot sufficient
funds" Then the hardware man wrote
to the address which his customer
had given him. notifying him of
of the banks action. He wait
ed a week for a reply, but none reach
ed him. Then it was he began to grow
suspicious and went to the bank which
Howard had referred to as his repos-
tory, and asked if he had an account
there. He was informed that no one
of that name had an account there, or
had had any.
Written I'm Hot Springs.
The cashier had scarcely finished
talking to the Congress street merchant
when in walked the dry goods man, let
ter in hand. The letter, which was writ
ten by d well-known Savannah business
man, who is now at Hot Springs Ark,
to a clothing man in Savannah, was
to the effect that a friend of his had
been buncoed ont OF $500 by cashing a
worthless check. The letter further
ran that the only clue which
he and his friend had to the
mans identity was a piece of paper in
which a pair of shoes had been
wrapped.
The man with the letter told his
troubles to the bank cashier. to whom
he had been referred by his Hot
Springs correspondent who disclosed
the name of the bank upon which the
check was drawn. The cashier pro-
duced the $500 check. Then the SIS
check on the Atlanta bank was COM
pared with it, with the result that all
three men agreed that the writing was
identical
Then the clothier went to the shoe
store man. He did not remember
mending the shoes, but one of
the men in the shop said he remem-
bered a man coming into the shop
to get his shoes mended. This seemed
TO complete the chain of circumstantal
evidence.
At any rate the Congress street man
has not got his $75, and the Hot Springs
man is sore over the misfortunes of
his friend who advanced $500 on the