New-York tribune., 1922-12-23
3 Held in First
Attempt to Fake
Express Checks
Couuterfeiier Suspects 5
Jailed; Plan to Pass Thou
sands in American Orders
Frustrated i'm Record Time
Disposed Of Only $500
Arrests in Asbury Park and
New Orleans Week After
First Paper Is Cashed

The proupt frustratlon % an ar'bi-
.leus frst attempt 20 counterieit anu
sas, Thousands Of dollars In American
rrpress travellers checks was disclosed
yesterday By sn ofieial Of the company
Admission BY the company OF the
existence Of the counterfeiting ring
which vas broken up With the arrest
81 three men early this mouth--one IN
a,bury Park. n. j., and tWo In Ne"
o,Ieaus-folloWcd revelations made ~
County Detective Charles o. Davenport
Of Asbury Park. Of bis rart in the case.
Davenport told Of having arrested
Giles NJ. Rsnney, an engrayer. az .
print shop 10 Asbury Park on Deeen-
ber 3 and Of having seized at the same
tIne thousands Of dollars In spurious
checks. The other men, Walter r. No
Ian, former Chicago pugilist. and james
watson, we're alleged 10 have had slo'-
500 IN the checks on them when taken
A New Orleans later. They had been
raced from New York, Philadelphis'
Pittsburgh. Cincinnati and Birmingham.
Disposed Of Only $500
De,pite the carefully laid plans OF
cha alleged conBpirators and the specd
,,ltb whieh Nolan and Watson oper-
sted they we're able 70 dispose OF only
1890 In checks, the company ofncial
sThis was the nrst attempt in the
fhirtv years we have issued them 70
oounterfelt our checks" said Nds OF
6eial. AAnd the rSpidity with when
We nipped the plot indicates how futile
such attempts are. The first OF the
spurious checks was put out on Novem-
ker "a II was eashed on the next day
and by the following Monday the eoun--
tfy was being eombed for the men and
All banks and agents had been in
etyueted 10 watch for bad checks. The
following Sunday morning. Deeeu Der
2, the three ringleaders we're arrested
There is q tradition In the under
world that Il is extremely dangerous 70
attsmpt 20 prey on express activities.
That springs from the old frontier days
when highwaymen we're worsted 50
often IN ancounters with our agents.
This latest brush between the express
forces and the crooks will serve further
"a verify the tradition"
Trail Struck In New York
The trail Of the counterfeiting band
Vas struck In New York on November
Is when teller in the Pacific Bank
"A Seventh Avenue anf F0rty.ninth
Street noticed stranIe check in a
merchants deposit. TIE express com
pany immediately set q corps Of oper-
atlves on the trail Of the check passers.
In the mean time Detective Daven-
port had received a mysterious tip
and rs investigation led him TO local
printing Office, where he found Ranney
comparing a spurious sample with
valid check. The matter was reported
20 the Department Of Justice and the
express company and resulted In RAN
ney's early arrest.
Nolan. also known as L. NJ, Sherman,
and Watson, whose alias Is James
Reed, bore letters when arrested IN
New Orleans purporting 60 identify
them no a. A. Anderson Corn ng, n.
y, and G. 2. Mason, Of Detroit. An
other man, known variously as Lau-
renee Jordan, James Conroy and James
Williams, eashed several bogus checks
IN New York, New Haven and Boston.
. In the latter city he was paying for a
oRleket 10 Buffalo with q check when
che ticket seller questioned him and
he snatehed the ticket and disappeared.
While the eounterfe. ts varied from
tie originals In several details they
were regarded as quite convincing, the
company announced yesterday. The
form number Of the counterfeits in the
lower ief. hand corner was 5446. while
on the genuine II Is 5i46. Names OF
four tiee-Antwerp, Edinburgh, Basle
and Gltsgow--wcre misspelled ond In
the. hundred dollar checks countries"
and New York we're misspelled. In
addition the final IS" in express"