Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1909-06-28
VALUABLE PAPERS
FOUND IN THE ROAD
Or. J. NJ. Swetnam Picked Up Thirty
or Forty Thousand Dollars on Hot
Sunday Afternoon.

ernOon, one in which IT is natural to
believe somebody else will be quite
interested. He picked up in the road
within the distance of a block or so
| between $4,000 and $4,000 worth of
! securities of one kind and another,
which he is now holding pending iden-
tification by the owner.
Il Doctor and Mrs. Swetnam were driv-
ing on South Seventh street near the
| Gray crossing of the Salt river when
| the former remarked to his wife that
he saw a draft laying in the road and
he thought he had better stop and take
a look at it. Being vice president of
the Union Bank and Trust company
of this city he naturally has an in
stinct to investigate any seemingly
valuable securities that he may chance
to see kicking around in the road or
on the sidewalks
He picked up the paper and found
it was a draft for 5000 or $500. payable
to H NJ. GraysOn & Company of Bal
timOre. He did not carefully note the
exact amount of it. for before he had
time to do so he saw another one a
few feet away. and then another and
another. etc Finally the drafts began
to alternate with promissory notes. du
plicate deposit slips and order blanks
for a wholesale grocery house, filled
out and checked off, as though they
were being kept merely for reference.
The doctor kept on harvesting his
new found crop of commercial paper,
regardless of the distressingly hot aft
ernoOn sun that kept beating down
upon him Mrs. Swctnam urged him
to hurry or he would melt, but, while
the perspiration kept rolling off his
face. he answered that the picking
was too good for him to quit He had
worked the road then for about a block
when the pay streak played out and all
he could find was a few more tattered
bits of paper that might or might not
have been fragments of more drafts.
but anyhow he had got enough for
one afternoon and decided not to gath
er up these fragments. which were torn
beyond redemption anyway.
Climbing into the buggy he inspect
ed his harvest more carefully. He
found that every draft and every note
was made payable to this same firm.
The drafts were issued some in New
York, some in Chicago. some in BOs-
ton, and some as far south as Florida,
all in the month of May, this year,
and in varying amounts totaling over
$4,000
The notes were also payable to this
firm. Some are small and some are
very large ones, but altogether they
total in the neighborhood OF $4,000.
Some of them are past due and some
are not yet due.
The duplicate deposit slips indicated
deposits at various times and places
in favor of II. NJ. GraysOn & Co. Al
together it appears that the papers rep
resent a nice bunch Of money. and if
the doctor could cash them at their
face value he could afford to make up
the balance due on the bonuses for
the Buckeye railroad and the Center
street bridge. and still have enough
left for fine summer trip. But. I'M
fortunately for him, the drafts can be
duplicated in time and the collection
of the promissory notes might prove a
hard job, so he is willing to pass the
property along to the rightful owner.
providing he can identify himself.
Various lines of thought are sug
gested by this find. The first and
most natural one is that some repre-
sentative of Grayson & co. had lost
big pocket book containing the valu-
able Dapers But no pocket book was
found and the papers were scattered
along the highway as though they had
been sown. one at a time. Again. it
| would seem rather unbuSiness like for
| drafts issued all over the east, and in
such amounts, in favor Of an eastern
firm, to be carried around in the pock
| ct clear to Arizona, by any representa-
tive. or even the head of the firm him
self. II would seem like useless risk,
and especially in the case of the prom
issory notes which, in the possession of
good business man. ought right now
to be in other towns and cities under
going collection.
Another theory is that the securi-
ties have been stolen elsewhere from
the legitimate owner and that the thief.
not wishing to undertake cashing any
of them. has tired of carrying them
and thrown them away. Even in that
, event. it would have been easier and
safer to burn them, or if he wanted
them restored to the owner, it would
have been better to have left them in
bunch where some one would have
picked them up without injury. The
fact that one or two of the papers
seem to have been torn to shreds only
adds mystery and makes the losing Of
the papers look like the work of some
one mentally unbalanced.
One suspicious thing about the pa
pers is that. contrary to the usual GUS
tom of banks there is not perforation
over the figures showing the amounts.
There are two or three business col
leges and schools in Phoenix teaching
a business course and 1t is not impos-
sible that the papers are some of the
fake products Of one of these institu-
tions, lost by a schOOlbOy, though that
is almost too much for a schoOlboy to
be carrying around. even if it is stage
money. The documents are in varied
and different handwritings and thus
far appear to be good commercial pa
per- but the doctor will give them a
more careful looking over today to de
termine their genuineness.