Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1909-10-08
FRAUD BY TELEGRAPH
Bold SwindIes Perpetrated by
Use of the Wire.
THE WAY A BANK WAS FOOLED
A Lot Of Nerve and Little Telegram
That Was Properly Delivered by One
of the Company's Messenger Boys
Made a Winning Combination.

/
will accept as gospel truth the contents
of Il telegram when 1t comes from the
hands Of messenger boy. They buy
and sell, pay out large sums Of money.
start on long journeys and do countless
other things upon the suggestion of the
little yellow or white paper slips with
their condensed messages without i'll
the least questioning their authenticity.
This Is an interesting fact, upon which
| hinges an enormous amount OF the
countrys business, and it is also fact
upon which hinge some Of the clever
est and boldest frauds in criminal rec
ords.
A lot of nerve and a little telegram
was combination that made possible
smooth swindle on q Des MONIES
bank. A we'll dressed man, apparently
a business man of large affairs, called
at the paying teller's window with
draft or check on an Omaha bank and
asked If the Omaha bank had tele-
graphed notice that the draft was
good He got "no" for an answer and
| then informed the teller that such
telegram might be expected at any
moment. Soon afterward the telegram
arrived, delivered by q messenger boy,
appearing to have come from the Oma-
ha bank and authorizing the Des
Moines bank to pay the draft. When
the stranger appeared again he was
given the $500. When the Des Moines
bank people took up the matter by
wire with the Omaha bank it found
that the latter institution had not sent
the telegram, and then it was discov-
cred that the whole transaction was
| fraud.
But how could the swindlers send
telegram from Omaha bearing the
banks name? They did it in this
manner: An accomplish Of the Des
Moines man stepped to a telephone
booth in Omaha and called the tele-
graph Office 'This Is the - bank"
he said. "Send q messenger at once
|
Then this accomplice hurried to the
entrance of the Omaha bank to meet
the messenger and there handed him
the message for Des Moines. The
telegraph company had no reason to
believe otherwise than that the bank
had actually signed the message. and
it transmitted it. The Des Moines
bank also accepted the telegram as
genuine because it bore every mark
of genuineness, and it paid out the
money to the swindlers, who timed
their fraud so that they got out of
reach of the law on trains that left
Immediately after their game had been
worked.
In two smaller western towns sim
liar game was worked. only for seven
or eight times the amount. An alleged
horse buyer appeared in one of the
towns and made purchase Of carload
of fine animals to be delivered and
paid for at q later day. preceding
which lie made the acquaintance Of the
officers OF ore Of the banks. On the
day fixed fer the delivery of the horses
the alleged buyer deposited in the
bank draft for large amount drawn
on bank in another town a hundred
miles away. At tie same time the
bank received n telegram purporting
to come from the distant bank author
| izing the payment Of this draft. The
bank believed the telegram. paid out
the money and then discovered that
the telegram was fraudulent. 1t had
not been sent by the second bank. but
by confederate of the alleged horse
buyer. Later developments disclosed
that this accOmplice had called up the
telegraph Office in the distant town by
telephone. This is -, cashier OF the
- bank" he said. please send this
telegram for me-" Then he gave the
message authorizing the first bank 10
pay the bogus draft. and this message
the telegraph company sent without
suspecting that it was fraudulent
Some years ago an eastern man was
induced to invest in worthless mining
stock on the basis of fraudulent tele-
gram purporting to come from an ex-
pert he had sent out to investigate the
mining property, but which was in
reality sent in manner similar to the
above BIZ a confederate. This eastern
mans faith in kilograms cost him some
! thing more than $4,000.
| 90 ND wit
ing side comes from across the water.
with Il London man Of rather conyiyial
habits as the victim. This man was
forgetful and used to leave at home his
! Office and safe keys. He also had a
practice Of leaving the city surrepti-
tiously for day now and then for a
conyiyiaI time with friends, all I'M
known to his wife. One day this bust
ness man went OH one Of his periodical
| iaUnts. and Il rogue who knew his
aaEi,S ventUred 10 send this telegram
20 his wife: please send my keys
Love. Freddy" In due course of time
the keys were delivered at the office
door, and The rogue was there to re-
cciyc them. He ransacked the whole
Office at his leisure. safe and all. Late
that night the business man came home
and was leased by his wife for his for
getfulness. This was news TO him.
but he kept his counsel. The next
morning lie discovered that his office
had been robbed.-B. X. Mann in Pitts
burg Dispatch.
The affections are like lightning. You
cannot tell where they will strike until
they have fallen.--L acordaire.
fAi II