Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-04-06

Washington, D.. c., April 2.--The
country seems to be afflicted just now
with a plague of bad checks. Although
somewhat worse than usual this Is
nothing new In fact, the methods are
singularly old. The wonder Is that
they still work.
The president of bank in small
middle western town recently was in
terrupted in the perusal of his morn
ings mail by the sudden entrance into
his office of tall, well dressed man
who slapped him Familiarity on the
shoulder and called him, Bill"
Don't you remember me?" he de-
handed. Met you over at Smiths
the other night" The banker could
not remember over having seen the
man before, but there had been sew
eral people at the Smiths that night
with bank accounts. The man went
on to explain that he was in q hurry
to catch a train and it had just oc-
Cured to him to stop in and ask
BILLS" bank to cash check for him.
He cody extracted checkbook from
his vest pocket and wrote out & check
for hundred and fifty dollars. AL
though the mans signature suggested
nothing to the banker, the check was
on well known bank, it all seemed
perfectly regular, SO the banker
cashed it.
Now a large number Of Chicago de-
tectivcs are searching for this same
tall, we'll dressed stranger, who has
successfully worked this fimsy story
in nearly every state in the union and
SO far as records show, has never been
inside a police station. The thing is
ridiculously simple. The man merely
trades upon the name of the bankers
most influential acquaintance-som
one whose friend the banker would net
care to offend. The rest is easy. OF
course. he must rely a great deal on
his ability as an actor, and still more
on the characteristic American care
lessness which has no patience with
small suspicious. For instance, it
would have been comparatively easy
for the banker to have called Smith
on the telephone and made few
pertinent inquiries concerning the al
lered friend, but he did not do it. What
is more, if what the detectives say is
true, forty.eight other bankers didn't
do it either. The American Bankers
association figures that this particular
sinwdler averages about five hundred
dollars month from this and other
ingenious stories.
1t is a curious fact that the older
and more unlikely story, the more
credence is usually placed in it. Swim
dies that were we'll known when our
grandfathers were boys still flourish
and make large annual dent in bank
ing profits. Americans, as rule, are
slow to suspect people. We do not
bite coins to see if they are spurious;
we do not weigh the lamb chops, and
some of us do not always count our
change. But with large army of
crooks constantly perpetrating bank
frauds of one kind or another, GER
tain amount of healthy suspicion
seems permissible, even advisable.
The bankers are doing their best to
warn their own employees, but every
once in while some cashier or pay
ing teller finds he was mistaken.
Not long ago, a stranger entered a
bank in a new lumber town after bank
ing hours on Saturday afternoon. He
asked to see the cashier, to whom he
presented a letter stating that he had
thirty-four hundred dollars on deposit
in a certain city bank about hundred
miles from there The letter bore the
of the bank and was signed
by it's cashier The man explained
that he needed fifteen hundred dollars
to place as an option on