The copper era and Morenci leader., 1918-03-29
.SMOOTHE FORGER
 ARRESTED FRIDAY
DESERTER REACHES CLIFTON WITH STRING OF PHONEY CHECKS FOLLOWING FROM SAN FRANCISCO.

Sheriff Slaughter. on Friday of last week placed under arrest Karl Lark ings, alias w. P. Weller, who is want ed in several places for passing phoney checks. His operations ex- tending from San Francisco to Cliff ton.
 The man reached here on the day mentioned from Bisbee, engaging the services of an automobile man in that city to bring him to Clifton in his car, giving him in payment a check for $50. After arriving in Clifton he induced the gentleman to carry him to Metcalf, claiming that E. L. Gay, manager of the A. c. store at that place, was due him $4O0. They went to Metcalf but he stated that he could not collect from MT. Gay, but in the meantime the Bisbee man re- ceived wire stating that the check was bogus, so he notified MT. Slaugh- ter, who took him in charge. Bisbee officers were notified, and last Satur- day evening Chief of Police Kempton, who is brother of Deputy Sheriff Kempton, one of the Powers-Sisson victims, came to Clifton and took the forger back to Bisbee Sunday, making the trip in the same car which
 
 ! Mr. Slaughter stated that it was his opinion from conversation with Vel Ter that he was practicing this game to evade servce in the navy, from which he is alleged to have been a deserter
 Had Smoothe Line of Dope.
 Concerning the operations of the man arrested last Mondays Bisbee Re view contained the following:
 Karl Larkins, alias W. P. Weller, Is no stacker when it comes to the passing of string of bad checks ac- cording to his own statement to the local officers yesterday. He left IA of them from the 18th of March until he was arrested in Clifton last Friday night. They were strung from San Francisco to Metcalf via Bisbee. They range in amounts from $15 to $350.
 He had matters arranged in very smooth manner to carry out his pro- gram. He had forged letter from the paymaster of the navy yard at Mare Island which stated that Karl Larkins had assigned $50 per month from his pay to the Bank of Italy in San Francisco and that no checks had . been drawn on the account which was started three years ago. The letter was dater March 18th He had a memorandum written in a check book on that bank to about the same effect and he was also rigged out in San francisco and Los Angeles in a naval officers uniform. He stopped in the Alexandria hotel in Los Angeles and passed them two checks amounting to S125. With checks in San Francis. co and Los Angeles he would pur- chase diamonds and would then go to a pawn shop and pawn the diamonds and secure money. He has a watch and small diamond in soak here that he purchased in Los Angeles on bad checks.
 He was brought here Sunday night by Officer Kempton and yesterday was taken before Judge High and waived his preliminary examination and was held to answer to the super. for court in the sum of $500. He will enter plea of guilty before that court according to the statements that he made yesterday. Yesterday morn. ing the officers here received a circu lar from the Mare Island navy yard stating that he was deserter and that they would pay a reward of $50 for his delivery to that place.
 He was in the 22nd infantry when 1t was stationed at Naco and was later with the same regiment at Douglas His time expired there and he went to San Francisco and was there some time and then enlisted in the navy It was his plan to work east and then join the army under an assumed name, but the sheriffs office here blocked his little game and he will now become a boarder at the resort on the Gila river near Florence,