The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-22

ton, supports Mr.. Coles ints,o.,
ing observation. ~
From my study of the bana,v...
ing OF crooks" he says. u baIis",
that vanity and the desire 10 ~. !.
ceiVe have a great deal to do NJ,
the cultivation of a certain tvna - =
very fine penmanship. The nor
man in forming his Handwriting I-' ~
the ideal of writing freely. la9i ~
and speedily. but the man win ~
markings of a crook in him has - -
ideal of showing off his cIevnr-,.-ells
winning admiration, and concesl,-1
his own true character with a fsIss
appearance of highly ornamest.S
perfection. That's the fealine
seem to read in crook handvriti,l l
and l believe l could disdnguirb :
eight times out of ten"
Environment and Crfue
The environment in which a -.
is located is also an important -
sideration to the bonding comma
les. Movie cashiers rarely embe-
zie, but a good deal of money ~.
been lost on people associated N.Y.
musical comedies. There is som.
thing about musical comedy
probably its gay. carefrea atmos
phere of wine, woman and song
that seems TO pave the way to essr
embeZZlement.
1t is also interesting to note n,
in the new, rich sections of n,
southwest, particularly in Ter,
and Oklahoma, where fortunes a.,
often made (and lOs) in a nigb,
there is much more embezzlensr,
than in the northeastern stat,
where money-making is a hard an
slow business.
The files Of the large bondi,y
companies contain many strapgs
and romantic stories of the rise an
fall of embeZzlers. Some day. no.
haps, the movies will realize n.
screen possibilities of such mat>
rial and buy the movie rights to
bonding company's files, therein
turning poor risks into good ones
What could be more TloViesque. n,
instance, than this melodrama wiz
a happy ending, related by Nr
Joyce of the National Surety con-
pany?
One day young teller in a sinai
middle western bank missed fOr
$1,000 bills from his cage. Re
searched all over the place, tOot
everything out of the safe, cheek
ed and rechecked his figures, bat.
the four thousand dollars had con-
pIeteIy disappeared. After Worry-
ing about the matter for a couple O,
days. he went to the preSidenS Of
the bank and told him Of the loss,
asking for a little time in Bhia ,
to find the missing money
The president scOffed Indignantly
at the young mans story and n
minded him that when four thoGs-
and dollars vanished into the at
the loss could usually be explained
Either you will make it good, saa
the president, cor you will go to The
penitentiary!"
This terrible threat was not ar
ried out, however. The teller was
merely discharged. but the stain On
his character made it diffiCHlt for
him to get work in the vicinity Ne
other bank or business firm would
employ him, and he was cOmpels
to do manual labor.
Ten years later the bank deelaUt
to remodel its interior. Behind j
loose panel in the wall Of the tell
er's cage the missing $1,000 bIsl
were found. It was the teller's oF
portunity for righteous retributiOl
and he took advantage of it. Ha7-
ing lost his job and Teputauoi
through the dilapidated conditin
of the banks interior. he brOuga
suit for defamation of character an
received a great deal more than ths
missing four thousand dOllc=-
Thus. as D. W. Griffith would sl,
was manly virtue rewarded.
For movie comedy material hgs
is the case of a young clerk, al0l
in middle western bank, who Fas
dispatched to the railroad stain
with $500 requested by a WeaiIl3
depositOr who was passing throaSl
the town. 1t was a breezy haTa
day, and as the clerk waited for theI
train he strobe briskly up and DOVE
the platform, whistling and tossLAsI
the bills into the air. Suddenly NE
were caught in the wind and swept
down the railroad track. A neg
foraging hungrily along the Taa
shifted the money and swallowed
The poor clerk went in search o.
the man who owned the hog ana
bought it. Then he had it butcher
ed, hoping that its stomach Woul
contain fragments Of the mons
that would be redeemable al 1s
Treasury department But the nos
had masticated too efficiently. Il.I
$500 was ruined, and the sure1
company had TO make Sood u'
banks loss.