South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-01-14
FORGERY THEORY
IN BOND CASE
NOW EXPLODED
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statement voluntarily" he said.
land until we are ready with such
a statement, 1 shall give no inter
views"
Intention I'm Doubt.
There was much speculation on
the streets Monday morning. as TO
the position which will be taken by
the ~Studebaker corporation follow
ing the declaration on the part Of
representatives Of the insurance
company hat suit 10 recover would
bring prompt exposure of the whole
affair.
COnsummation OF the Studebaker
Corporations threat to institute suit
against the First National Bank, De-
trOit, and the American Foreign *
Marine ms. Co. 10 recover the val
ue OF the S250,O0e worth OF missing
Liberty Bonds. will be welcomed by
the insurance company. according
10 information obtained last night
from one OF the men working on the
case. If suit is instituted, insurance
representatives state, IL viii force
all cards to the table. and in defense
Of their case. they will show what
became OF the bonds, and the mys-
terry. which they assert is no longer
a mystery, will be solved.
A clean cut issue appears TO have
been joined as between the parties
TO the affair: the government. the
Detroit bank. and the insurance
company insisting hat the Liberty
bonds were delivered by the post Of
fee to the corporation. and the Of
ficials denying it. If the bonds were
received by the corporation. the Ii
ability OF the government, the post
office. the bank and the insurance
company ceases; otherwise the gov
eminent is stung for $50 and the
bank, or insurance company, for
$780, 600.
THE place to settle it now. so far
as we are concerned" says an Off
cial concerned with the insurance
company, is in court. 1t is pointed
out that until suit is started. the in
surance company has no business to
NEEDLE further in the affair, except
to protect its evidence, but if dis
closure is necessary to defend it's in
t%erest, arrest of any person or per-
sons implicated, will be demanded.
Call IL Inside job"
John y. Hunter, local postal in
spector, believes the affair to be
what is known as an inside Job"
that is. a case of the package being
mislaid Cor stolen) by an employe or
official Of the corporation, who had
access to the bonds, or registered
package at the time pr after it's ar
rival.
ITO say that the loss took place
while the package was in the hands
of the post office department is fool
ish," declared the inspector. we
have a receipt for the package. If
the receipt is a forgery-althOugh
the handwriting expert who eXamin-
ed the samples says it is not-the
only man who would have had IN
motive for the forgery is Harvey
Larkins, the mail carrier. And
Larkins had no motive.
Surprising, as the Studebaker
corporation insists might be the
case, that the package was stolen
from his WACO while he left it
stand in the street on some Of his
other deliveries. The receipt was
attached TO the envelope, and the
thief would naturally take the re-
ceipt too. since it is the only record
Larkin had OF the mail. Then Lar
kin would have no record that he
was supposed to deliver the pack
age, he would not know that he had
to account for an extra package,
and so would not forge a receipt TO
protect himself
IF the receipt form were left be-
hind by the hypothetical thief, Lar
kin would have to remember the
exact way in which the envelope
was ADDRESSED in order TO have the
receipt signed by the boy, or to
forge the signature himself, a thing
which is extremely improbable.
since he delivers mail to the offices
there which is addressed to different
men and departments. No, 1 think
the package was delivered. and
what's more I think the loss OF the
bonds was caused by their being
misplaced or by robbery which took
place after the package was receiv-
ed by Studebakers"
Envelope Clues Dropped.
Silence still prevails on the part
CT Studebaker officials. Until the
identity Of the Elizabeth K" is
discovered, further tracing of the
bond package on the part OF the
newspapers will be impossible. That
his mysterious young lady lives in
the northeastern part Of South Bend
was information furnished to The
News-Times last night, but identih-
cation. even with this additional
fact. has so far been impossible.
me large brown envelope. nine
by twelve inches in size, which Lar
kins, the mail carrier, said he
thought he delivered. but which Ed
ward snyder, the Office boy, declar-
ed was not in the delivery OF Jan.
4, has dropped out Of the case. Re-
peated questioning by authorities
brought the admission by officials of
the Detroit bank that the bonds
might have been ser in another
kind of envelope, in fact, there were
three different kinds OF envelopes
which might have been used, they
say