Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-19
BRUMBY DEFIANT
As He IS HELD
FORF0RCERY
Marietta Youth Is Accused Of
Signing Name of Attorney
Alex W. Smith for 1892.

.rar any man whose name-Tve forged
TO a check go on the witness stand
nm defy him to prove the signature is
..f his own" said Benjamin w. Brum-
5y in Montgomery, Ala, today. The
Marietta forger is waiting for the ar
.tyal of Detective Hollingsworth, of the
Atlanta force, who will bring him back
-a Atlanta to stand trial.
Ben Brumby, scion Of one OF Mariet-
,q's best known and Oldest families, is
as expert with pen and a blank check
as he is with a cue, according to de-
te,tiyes. and Brumby is known in many
cities as crack pool player.
He has served several terms for for
rcgies and is wanted for others, but the
specific offense responsible for his ar
est in Montgomery is the charge of
writing the name of Alex w. Smith so
ski.lfuny on the bottom of a check for
s5q2 that the bank teller passed over
the money without d murmur. Mr..
Smith saws the work was so we'll done
he would have sworn to the signature
himself
Trailed to Montgomery.
Atlanta Pinkerton detectives trailed
R!umbv to Montgomery and landed
him. The Marietta man was in At
auta an last week, with his wife, and
#ls working under the name of Harry
: Anderson. He is said to have forged
r6r name of Theodore H Hammond to
another check, but he failed to cash
Iets because the paying teller remem-
larr1 mis- face ana associated it with
smother forgery ease. Before the teller
could call an officer, Brumby had van.
ishad through the door and lost no
l,ue u leaving town.
The Pinkerton man who arrested
Brumby in Birmingham last September
on another forgery charge says the pool
and pen expert boosted of his skill at
initiating other mems writing
It'd pick up a specimen of the vic
inns writing somewhere, Brumby told
the detective, and write the first letter
q hundred times, or until l could write
il perfectly without effort. Then I'd
begin on the next. Then Td' write two
or three letters together and finally the
whole name. Sometimes I'd work hour
after hour before I could dash off the
signature so that it would be a perfect
imitation and yet bear no trace of la
borious writing"
Say Blanks Were Stolen.
The detectives say Brumby entered
tae law offices of Smith, Hammond &
Smith and got blank and cancelled
checks from the desks of Alex W.
Smith and Theodore Hammond. With
the cancelled checks as models for sig
natures and the blank checks bearing
The name OF the owner Brumby had
only to perfect himself in the imitation
nc the writing.
our Office was entered on the night
of peoembe, s. said MI Smith. "The
ea.cNs were torn from the back Of the
BOOKS and We did not miss them. Sew
'.al cancelled checks were missing, too,
.e SIC discovered afterward.
'Ja" torger copied my writing from
's Old checks, carefully initiating
every cite aud every figure. When
'as shown the check for 1892 which he
. ashed | could not say it was not
"| n. even after careful scrutiny.
MR. H"nmouI examined the check to
which his name was forged and was
I"aeE to pronounce it genuine sigma
tige"
Teller Recognizes Him.
."oE ctshed the Smith check on
December 10, detectives say, and was
so confident that on last Monday he
Presented the Hammond check at one
Ole local national banks. But the
lie" recognized him as a forger who
"- figured in other cases and asked
ann u wait "a few moments. Brumby
..-nj wait minute. He disappeared.
'enj out to College Park and teIe-
Ioohed his wife in Atlanta TO meet him
there. They took the train for Mont
eomery.
Iae detectives got on his trail and
found him playing pool in a Montgom-
nuliard hall Requisition papers
"e.e made out today and Detective
'.lngsWorth left to bring back the
prisoner.
oFu'aoy made no attempt to deny his
'-'"nty, but insisted he had not been in
''''n'' recently and maintained inno-
''"'e Of the forgery. The detectives
Say ne mas served two terms in Mis-
''i and one in New York, all on
io' gerry charges.