The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-05-08
BOGUS CHECKS IN STOCK EXCHANGE |S CAUSE 1T CRASH
Postal Authorities Appealed To Following Discovery
 Which Precipitates Raid

NEW YORK, May 7.-The New York stock exchange has called upon postal authorities. New York police and private detectives to ferret out the perpetrators of an amazing con- spiracy to boost prices of stocks which was revealed Monday when a flood of fake orders accompanied by spurious checks hit brokerage offices.
 The dull Monday market opened unusually strong, which caused a hurried investigation. The probe disclosed that brokers had received, in the morning mail. forged checks for sl5,0OO accompanied by spurious orders for purchase of high priced stocks. The fraudulent orders which were executed immediately. caused the firm tone in the trading. but as soon as the plot was disclosed prices broke and many market leaders fell to lows that had mot been touched for months.
 Vigorous efforts to trace the coh- spirators during the day were futile At the close of the market, Seymour l.. Cromwell president of the New York stock exchange. issued the fol- lowing statement:
 Perpetrators Sought.
 q which developed this morning in sending of various orders to pur- chase stock together with checks to members of various security markets, the stock exchange has communicated the facts to the postoffice authorities and. to the police department of New York and will make every effort to cooperate with these agencies in finding out the origin of the fraud"
 Also enlisted in the probe is the protective department of the Amer ican Bankers association.
 The reaction which followed the exposure of the plot caused United States Steel to go below par for the first time this year. The break in prices was reflected not only on the New York stock exchange but also on the curb, bond. grain and cotton markets
 Belief grew in the street as the false checks were traced that the conspirators were acting in unison. The letters carrying the bogus orders all appear to have been written on the same kind of water marked paper.
 The letters were mailed on Satur- day afternoon from various towns, including, Harrisburg. York. Allen town. Bethlehem. Reading Pa, Am sterdam, Schnectady and Utica. New York; North Adams, Pittsfield. Mass. and other places. All were timed to arrive in Monday mornings mail before the opening of the market. Most of the names mentioned as supposed clients in the letters for whom stocks were to be bought, were those of companies representing bak- ing, grocery and produce trades.
 O o o
 Play For "CIean-Jp."
 According to the Wall street theory of the plot. the conspirators hoped to accomplish their clean-up in the first hour or two of Mondays trading. They knew that the frauds were sure to be discovered as soon as the checks reached the banks. Operators say the profits on the conspiracy might have reached a million dollars had all the bogus orders been executed on schedule.
 More than forty local brokerage houses received the false orders.
 Bears" in New York were not long in taking advantage of the sit- nation after word had been sent out over financial tickers that the spurl- ous checks had been discovered The situation played right into their hands and they pounded prices at every turn.