The daily tribune., 1905-03-18
A SMOOTH roRcER.
Utters Check tor 500 and FeSges ]
Q. HacDonala's Signature.

One Of the suoothess forssriss ever
committed ia Florence hes 3sss BEEN
brooshs 70 light and Malcolm n.
Currier. the man rho dia the work,
10 probably hopdreds Of niles away
from here. although by the time this
story 10 Published the fellow may be
landed in Jail in one Of the eastern or
southern cities
Currisr, before leav ng Florence
vas employed stepographer at the
Office Of the Union mill Of the Gnited
States Rsductiou and Refining com.
pany and Wa taken into confidence
with other employs Of the office.
Last Wednesday evening he quit work
. little later than usual and As 1t
happened Manager MscDoGald Was
detained 1t the mill office till nearly
six O'Clock, Currier and Mr.. Mao
Donald left the office together but the
forger, giving some reason for SO do.
ing. said he had some business which
required his attention in the mill.
Nothing Wa. thought OF this and
Mr.. Macdonald drove tc Florence.
1t is supposed that the alleged forger
watched the manager until he WAS
we'll on his way home and out Of
sight, then re-en .ered tho office tore
out . pIRe Of checks from .he back
Of the u. 8. r. g. r. company's check
book. filled out = check tor $50 in his
own favor and forged the signature of
J. Q. Macdonald.
This is not all this .ellow did
while in the office. Having access to
the vaults containing tia company's $
cash, he opened the cash drawer and
appropriated a sum amounting to $50
in cash, thus supposipg he SAs stick
ing the company for tl70. But ~
il turned out business man of
this city got stuck for the amount
of the check, $50, which he cashed.
This business man is Thomss Tor
at Mr.. Torpey's saloon and had
not paid his account for more than
two months. Wednesday evening
he appeared in the saloon and re-
marked that the boys had just re-
oeived their pay at the mill and that
he wanted to settle up; that he had
owed the money so long that he wa,
almost ashamed TO buy any more good,
until he had paid for those he had
already purchased. And accordingly
Ourrier told Mr.. Torpey to take the
amount Of his bill out Of the $9t
forged check.
When the Office employees reported
for work Thursday morning they
noticed that the vault had been tam
pered with and Mr.. Macdonald, who
was over to Colorado Springs was in
formed OF the occurrence and also to- Id
him that Currier had not reported
for work. He arrived in Florence at
$50 Thursday evening and immedi.
ateiy commenced an nvestisation. II
was then found that the blank
checks were missing from the
check book and at the same time the
whereabouts Of Currier was not
known.
The First National bank was COM
inundated with and it proved that the
check had been handed in for credit
to Mr.. Torpeys account, he having
cashed the same in good faith. Bet
Mr.. Torpey had to pay the $50.
Currier, while in the city also
proved himself to be dead beat az
there are unpaid bills left behind
amounting to more than 800. After
| cashIpg the check it is supposed that
he left that night. The game was
we'll planned - on the afternoon OF
"wednesday, Currier sent his wife ont
Of town saying she was going &C
Pueblo on . visit.
As soon ~ the forgery was detect.
ed Marshal Tabor Sas advised aud
ordered by Mr.. Macdonald to i'm.
mediately offer = reward of afO(
for arrest of the forger and thief.
Ever since the wires have seen kept
| l~k <aln