Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-10-25
The HQSki1l Letter ''s1 Rs:sa
ARE You A GOOD RISK?

GOOD RISK?
Cole, l"for the first procedure is to
study the application which the accused
man filled out with his pen before be-
ing employed in position OF response
bility.
And I'm not speaking only of book
keepers, bank tellers and other men
for we are called upon to bond office
boys, salesgirls, railroad conductors
restaurant cashiers, and others re-
quired to handle money without any
tall feats Of penmanship::
I'm looking over our files OF busl-
ness criminals, comprising examples
from every kind of trade everywhere,
1 come across few specimens of poor
handwriting-not more than one to
every 15 that are above the average
of excellence. In other words, about
SO per cent Of the defaulters IN our
files have been first-class penmen
And I have examined thousands OF ap-
plications of men who afterward went
wrong"
Richard NJ. McKenna of the detec-
tive division Of the New York police
department, who has made special
| study of handwriting in connection
with criminal investigation, supports
Mr.. Coles interesting observation. ;.
From my study Of the handwrlt-
ing Of crooks" he says, Il believe that
vanity and the desire to deceive have a
great deal to do with the cultivation
Of a certain type Of very fine penman-
shin. The normal man in forming his
handwriting has the ideal OF writing
freely, legibly and speedily, but the
man with the makings Of crook ), IN n
him has the ideal Of showing OIL ms :
clevemess, winning admiration, anu
! concealing his own true character WIN
a false appearance OF highly or i:al-
mented perfection. That's the feeling
II seem to read in crook handwriting,
and l believe / could distinguish II
eight times out Of ten"
! Environment and Crime
| The environment in which FISK IS
! located is also an important consld-
Grafton to the bonding companies.
Movie cashiers rarely embezzle, but
rood deal Of money has been lost on
neople associated with musical come
| dies. There is something about a
musical eomedy-probably its gay
carefree atmosphere Of wine, wonlan
and song-that seems to pave the way
! to easy embezzlement. ;.
! It is also interesting to note tnat III
the new. rich sections of the southwest,
particularly in Texas and Oklahoma,
where fortunes are often made tand
LOST in a night, there is much more
embezzlement than in the northeastern
states, where money making is hard
and slow business.
The files of the large bonding COM
panies mcontain many strange ana 70.
mantle stories of the rise and fall OF
embezzlers. Some day, perhaps, the
| movies will realize the screen posi-
bilities of such material and buy the
movie rights to bonding company s
files, thereby turning poor risks into
good ones. What could be more movie
esque, for instance. t. this, meio-
drama with happy CHUNG, related BY
Mr.. Joyce Of the National Surety COM
pany? =,
One day a young teller in small
middle western bank missed four 81 600
bills from his cage. He searched al!
| over the place, took everything out OF
| the safe, checked and rechecked his
| figures, but the $4,000 had completely
disappeared. After worrying about the
matter for couple Of days, he went
to the president of the bank and told
! him of the loss, asking for little time
| in which to find the missing money.
The president scoffed Indignantly at
| the young mans story and reminded
him that when $4,000 vanished into the
air, the loss could usually be explained.
EITHER you will make it good said
the president, "or you will go to the
penitentiary"
This terrible threat was not carried
out, however. The teller was merely
discharged, but the stain on his char
acter made it difficult for him to get
work in the vicinity. No other bank
or business firm would employ him,
and he was compelled to do manual
labor.
(Ten years later the bank decided
to remodel its interior. Behind a
cage the missing $1,000 bills were
found. 1t was the teliers opportunity
for righteous retribution, and he took
advantage of it. Having lost his job
and reputation through the dilapidated
condition Of the banks interior, he
brought suit for defamation of charac-
ter and received a great deal more
than the missing four thousand dol
lars. Thus, as Mr.. D. w. Griffith
would say, was manly virture rewarded.
For movie comedy material there is
the case of young clerk in middle
western bank, who was dispatched to
the railroad station with $500 requested
Iby wealthy depositor who was pass
ing through the town. 1t was breezy
March day. and as the clerk waited
for the train he strobe briskly up and
down the platform, whistling and toss
/ ing the bills into the air. Suddenly
they were caught in the wind and
swept down the railroad track A hog
foraging hungrily along the track
shifted the money and swallowed it.
The poor clerk went in search Of the
man who owned the hog and bought
lit. Then he had it butchered, hoping
that its stomach would contain frag-
ments of the money that would be re-
deemable at the treasury department.
But the hog had masticated too effic-
iently. The $500 was ruined, and the
surety company had to make good the
banks loss.
Glasgow Dairymen
Set Price Scale and