Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1915-12-18
CHECK FORGER REAPS HARVEST.
Several Worthless Checks Passed on
Hurley Merchants Lssi Sat-
urday Afternoon.


tor the past two years employed by
VIM. Sherman, came to Hurley
last Saturday on the afternoon train
aud before returning on the even
ing train had f1eeced number OF
Hurley merchants out of more than
two hundred dollars. Smith s meth
cd of fieecinC was the old game of
check forging and by taking adj
vantage of the trust imposed in him
by his Hurley friends got away
with it. He worked without fear
or compunction and at eight thirty
calmly boarded the south bound
train and has not since been seen
or heard from.
Upon arriving at Hurley Smith
had or his person a check for SCI
presented him and signed by Vim.
Sherman of Powell, evidently for
services rendered as an employe.
No doubt Smith was imbued with
the Christmas spirit and also well
aware of the fact that twenty-one
simoleons would not go very far in
properly doing justice to Christmas
shopping. He therefore took along
with him a number of blank Iron
Exchange bank checks and imme-
diately set out to stretch his TWEEN
ty-one plunks to a more substan-
tial size. The exact place at which
he began his crooked game is not
known, but shortly after arriving
here he presented a check for S97
at Slender's s tailor shop in payment
for a suit of clothes which he had
ordered some time ago. This
check, as were all the others pass
ed here with the exception of the
one for S21 90, was signed by him
with VIM. Sherman name, paya-
BILE to himself. Mr.. Slender de-
Quoted the price of the suit from
the amount of the check and gave
him the balance in cash. Smith
followed this up by cashing check
for $4,000 at Steve Costello's sa-
loon. The check for S21.00, and
which was good, he cashed at the
Turf Exchange saloon. The pass
ing of these checks took some time
and it was getting near train time,
but Smith was still $4,000 shy of
what he thought was a sufficient
amount and on the way to the de-
pot stopped at Voigt & Christen-
sen S and cashed a check for that
amount. He said he was gong
back to Powell, but it was learned
since that he did not stop there and
kept on going. 1t was not until
Monday afternoon that it was
learned that the checks passed by
Smith, with one exception, were
worthless. Mr.. Slender was the
first to be made aware of the fact,
which he learned when the check
taken by him was presented at the
bank, Mr.. Miller, the cashier, de-
tecting the forged signature.
The reason that these Hurley
people were so easily duped by this
man Smith was because he was so
we'll known by them, with the ex-
ception of Steve Costello, to whom
the fellow was stranger. While
in the employ of Mr.. Sherman at
Powell Smith has driven many OF
these Hurley people from the sta
tion to the resorts at the lakes, and
in that way they became we'll ac-
quainted with him. He has made
several visits to Hurley before and
had checks cashed and had gained
the confidence of those with whom
he was acquainted, As soon as the
forgeries were discovered the au-
thorities got busy in an attempt tc
/ locate Smith but so far they have
not been successful.
Made Many MilliOnaires.
/ D p Mcdonald. a former well