The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1913-08-14
Expert Has Little Difficulty in
Stealing Fortune.
Operator Finds 1t Easy to Alter Fine
Writing, but Difficult With Gale
graphy of Ignorant-"Man-
uaI" Used by Crooks.

Chicago.-A Chicago crook sat in a
room just off La Sale street four
years ago studying check. 1t was
made out for $27, and was certified by
the state bank on which it was drawn.
The crooks speciality was check rails
ing. He was preparing to steal for
tune with the little piece of paper.
The president of cement construc-
ton company had written the check.
He had taken what he thought proper
business precautions. He wrote
"twenty-seven," drew a horizontal line
through two short vertical lines, and
added "and O0-100" before the word
dollars" on the check.
The long horizontal line through the
two short vertical lines, often termed
hickey" is frequent device
against the INSCRIPTIONS. The man in
the back room just off La Sale street
made three movements with his pen
and the hickey" became eth. Then
he wrote "ous," the word and com
uleting thousands" Three ciphers
were added to the figures in the line
above The certified check was then
deposited in trust and savings bank,
and withdrawal of $4,000 was i'm
mediately made against it.
A veteran thief catcher in Chicago
recently, in recounting this incident
added that there exists among pro-
fessional check raisers what amounts
to manual
Write me a check" he urged Wis
itor.
A check for 5000 was written. 1t
was passed over to the detective.
Within two minutes, without an eras-
ure being made, it called for $500.
"By the manual the figure two is
always potential of 'five,'" he explain
ed. "The aim is always to avoid the
interlining or the extending of words.
Check raisers know all the characters
which lend themselves to changes that
cannot be detected. The capital IT,
as most of us write it, can, for in
stance, be changed to the capital F.
without the slightest trouble.
Here are few of the changes that
can be made almost as fast as writ
ten:
lone to eight
n 1.-TWO to five
y, "'Ten' to fifty
-Four to forty
Twenty to seventy
Now, the figure T. for instance,
may be readily formed into any other
figure save so and 49,
1.-The word hundred may be formed
easily from the ripping scroll that
many write after sum. Almost any
movement of lines that have any regu-
larity may be formed into words.
''The hardest check to raise or alter
is the one written by nearly Hitter
ate person" the expert continues.
"The gracefully flowing hand is the
easiest changed.
There is, in. fact, no comparison
between raising checks with genu-
inc signature and forging the sigma
ture itself so far as the ease of exc
cution is concerned.
''Of course, banks and business
house, many of them, at least, pro-
tect themselves nowadays with de-
vices that brand limitation of the
check indelibly into the very texture
of the paper. In this field, too, many
devices at first thought absolute safe
guards were soon outwitted, by the
crooks.
Filling Perforated Checks.
take a machine that perforated
the paper with the exact amount for
which the check was drawn. Really
all that was needed was common
little punch and a bottle of invisible
glue. Every crook knows where to