Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-01-27
MONEY ORDER FRAUDS, FoReER.
les, AND EMBELLISHMENTS
(By Henry A. Castle, in Harper's
Weekly

Iioho dSSIeSdIluS nearly 9l,UUU,UUU,UUU
per annum. This almost inconceiv-
able sum is received and paid out by
the postmasters of the country in
amounts averaging less than eight dol
lars for each transaction. Innumer-
able mistakes necessarily occur in the
performance of these operations.
And human nature being weak, temp
tations strong, and opportunities nu-
merous, wide field is offered for the
exercise of criminal propensities. For
geries, false representations, thefts,
and many other varieties of fraud are
constantly perpetrated defalcations
and entertainments of money order
funds by postmasters are of daily &C.
currence. 1t is believed that no other
function undertaken by the national
government opens so wide an avenue
for pecuniary risks and losses.
Stealing money order blanks from
postoffices, filling them out and col
lecting them rapidly before detec-
ton, have been successfully tried by
many adopts. Some years ago the
assistant postmaster of town in
South Dakota, a man greatly respect
ed in the community, obtained a short
leave of absence and failed to return.
hSpOTtS SOOu GAME III IudJ HumeTOuS
money orders of large denominations,
purporting to be issued at that office,
had been paid along line of travel
reaching Chicago and eastward. No
such orders had been regularly issued,
but an examination disclosed that the
absconding assistant had removed
blank orders from the book, properly
filled them out for the maximum sum
lAI he 1xrfnn
marked identification waived"
stopped off at towns en- route, and col
lected in all about $500 without ques-
ton. Inspectors sought the culprit in
vain. All trace of him vanished, until,
many months later, his remains were
identified in the victim of an accident
in Kansas-and that "jacketed case"
was closed forever. His methods have
been frequently followed by others,
with less success in eluding pursuit.
Much more recently swindler at
Lima, Ohio, was captured by inspect
ors after an extended night vigil near
his home. He had fieeced merchants
of Terre Haute New Albany, Fort
Wayne, South Bend, Elkhart, Shakes
peare, and other Indiana cities by
means of money orders which he
IdlScu llOul IuCll alOuhlo W
sums much larger. This mans pecu-
liar game was to buy orders for twen-
ty-five or thirty cents, or similar
small amount, and so raise the figures
as to make the orders read for $50,
SIS, or 500. He was clever at this
work of changing the amounts of the
orders, using some chemical solutions
to erase the original figures and give
space for the fraudulent ones that he
would put in their place.
He would not attempt, as a rule, to
cash these money orders at the post
offices, but would call at stores, sa-
looms, or shops, where he would make
some small purchase and then tender
the orders in payment. This was al
ways done after the post Office had
closed for the day, and the persons
getting the orders could not have them
ext mined until next day. This al
lowed him time to get out of town and
pass on to fresh victims in new pas
lures. Very often he resorted to the
sympathy dodge in order to get the
fraudulent orders cashed, telling
pitious tale of distress, such as that
some member of his family was dying
or dead, that the money order had
been sent to him to pay his way home,
and that it was important that he get
IN the bedside of the dying or dead