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Practical Instruction for Detectives

<h2 class="pnc mf">CHAPTER IV</h2> FORGERIES Although not generally known it is a fact that banks, business concerns, and the public in general probably suffer a greater loss through the operations of forgers and bogus check operators than through any other form of crimes perpetrated against them. There are confined today in the penal institutions of this country, thousands of persons convicted and found guilty of these offenses, and yet I would venture to state that not over forty per cent of this class of criminal is ever apprehended. There is hardly a morning anywhere but what one may pick up a newspaper and read an account of how some clever forger succeeded in victimizing a bank, hotel or merchant. With this large number of forgers at large and free to operate when, and practically wherever they please, we have additional proof that there are today by no means sufficient trained detectives to run them down. The methods most commonly practiced by forgers, both professional and amateur, are quite well known, yet I believe it will be well for me to dwell at some length on the subject. In a general way I might state that the methods of all forgers are much the same; at any rate such has been my experience with this class of criminal. Their aim in most cases, before presenting for payment a check to which a signature has been forged,[42] or an endorsement, is to ascertain if the firm or person against whom the check is to be drawn has deposits sufficient to cover the check. After satisfying himself on this point the forger proceeds to fill in the check and to affix thereto a signature or an endorsement purported to be genuine. After having selected the person whose signature or endorsement is to be forged, the forger must next be familiar with the handwriting of that person. It is comparatively an easy matter for anyone so inclined to secure an original, facsimile or tracing of the average business or professional man’s signature. After providing himself thus the forger sets about writing a check that will be so near like the genuine that it will not be likely to be questioned when presented at the bank. The forger usually makes it a point to present his check at a time when the cashier or paying teller is busiest, and when the forgery will most likely pass unnoticed. In my experience I have found that employers very often are careless in leaving their private check books, and sometimes signed checks, lying around the office where a dishonest employee or other person may have easy access to same. Very often cancelled checks fall into the hands of forgers who promptly take advantage of the handwritings for their ulterior purposes. There are dozens of ways by which a forger may secure them. Workmen who receive their salaries from their employers in the form of checks often are tempted to make use of the signature to forge others and have them cashed. Under this class of criminal we have also to contend with what are known as bogus check operators, who, when writing and passing checks, use fictitious names of banks and persons; also the worthless check opera[43]tor, who, after gaining the confidence of his employer, or of some bank, writes and has cashed a check in excess of funds he may have on deposit. The detective must not confuse forged checks with bogus checks. The former is a check upon which is written what purports to be the genuine signature or endorsement of some person and which signature or endorsement was not written by, nor authorized by that person. The latter is one upon which is written the name of some bank which does not exist, or which may be drawn on a bank which does exist but at which bank the drawer of the check has no account. There are also many other forms of checks passed which come under the classification of bogus checks. Thousands of hotel keepers and merchants are victimized yearly through cashing forged, bogus and worthless checks presented by oily tongued swindlers who tell plausible stories as to how they happen to be out of funds, etc. In order to be successful in handling forgery cases it is essential that the detective be a good judge of human nature and of handwriting. The more technical knowledge he may have of handwriting the better. If the detective is called upon to investigate, for instance, a case wherein a bank has been defrauded through the operations of a forger, he should endeavor first to see the forged check. A record should be made as to the kind of blank form the check was drawn on, whether or not same was drawn upon an ordinary counter check form, if the form was taken from a private printed check book, or from a pocket check book. Record should be made of the date, the number, on what bank drawn on, in whose favor drawn, the amount, how signed, and how endorsed. Such records should include whether or not the check or any part[44] of it was filled in with pen and ink, with pencil, or with a typewriter. For the detective’s future reference a tracing should be made of all handwritings on the check, especially of any known to have been written by the forger. By far the best plan is to have both sides of the check photographed. Until such time as it may be needed as evidence in court, a forged check should never be taken away from a bank, carried in the pocket, or handled any more than may be absolutely necessary. The reasons are that in taking such a check from a bank it may become lost, and by carrying it or handling it the writings may become effaced. No chances should be taken in losing or destroying the most important evidence with which to prosecute the forger in case he is apprehended. The detective should place his initials or some other mark upon the original check so that he can positively identify it later if called upon to do so. At the bank the detective should secure as thorough a description as possible of the person for whom the check was cashed, also should make note of any statements made by the forger as to where he came from, what firm he claimed to represent, or by whom employed, etc. Hotel registers should be examined closely for any registration in handwriting identical with that in the forged check. In order to establish the identity of the forger if not known, or to learn the direction in which he may have gone, the detective may proceed along the lines outlined with regard to burglary cases. I have handled hundreds of forgery cases and will say that I never found the forger a criminal difficult to apprehend. There are two good reasons why this should be so; the first is that the forger, as a rule,[45] must present himself in person at the bank or other place to secure the money on his check, and by so doing enables the detective to secure a good description of him, how he was dressed, etc.; the second reason is that the forger when filling in his check, or by endorsing it, must necessarily leave behind one of the very best clues for the detection of any criminal, that being his handwriting. In fully ninety per cent of forgery cases I have handled I have found that the person whose signature was forged could tell, after being questioned, who was responsible for the forgery, and I will show you that the process is very simple and easy. I have in mind a good many cases each of which I cleared up in less than half an hour after arriving upon the ground. My plan was to first secure the best description obtainable of the forger, then a specimen of his handwriting, after which I would see or call upon the person whose signature was forged. To that person I would submit the description and the handwriting, and, as previously stated, ninety per cent of them were able to tell very quickly which employee, relative, friend, acquaintance, or enemy was responsible. After the detective has learned the identity of a forger but cannot locate him, he should keep in touch, under some good pretext, with the forger’s parents, wife, sweetheart, sister, brother or other relative or friend. The forger will communicate with his sweetheart, friends or relatives sooner or later; it is human nature and I have never seen it fail. When the detective has succeeded in causing the arrest of a forger, or of a suspected forger, he should endeavor to secure a confession from him. I have secured many confessions from forgers by saying to them in a friendly way that the best way for them to prove that they had nothing[46] to do with the forgery with which they were charged, was to write a specimen of the forged check. It is really surprising how many professional forgers will allow themselves to be led into this simple ruse. While the forger’s mind is laboring under the strain of being under arrest, and seeing possible conviction ahead, he is eager to take advantage of what he thinks is an opportunity to prove that he did not write the forgery and will rely upon his ability to disguise his handwriting sufficiently to mislead the detective. Another reason why he will comply with such a request is that he will fear his refusal to give a specimen of his handwriting will be taken as an evidence of guilt. As a matter of fact I have found no persons in my experience who could successfully disguise their handwriting with their minds under any kind of strain. The forger can therefore be easily led into hanging himself with his own rope, as it were. After securing such handwriting the detective should take out his facsimile, or photographic copy of the forged check, and if he finds the handwritings identical, he should point out the similarities to the forger. There should be no difficulty experienced in securing a full confession, and in addition the detective will have in his possession the handwriting of the forger, which, I neglected to state, should be secured in the presence of one or two reliable witnesses, so that the confession and handwritings can be substantiated in court if necessary. It goes without saying that efforts should be made by the detective to secure such handwritings and the confession as soon after the forger’s arrest as possible. Should the forger or suspect have an opportunity to confer with an attorney before this is done, the chances are that no handwritings or confession will be secured. [47] Great care must be exercised by the detective when it is left to him to have warrants issued for criminals of this class. It often happens that one person will forge a signature or endorsement to a check, then delegate a confederate or other person to present the check for payment. Under these circumstances the presenter of such a check could hardly be convicted of forgery, but he could be convicted of passing the forged check and of obtaining money thereon. The point to be borne in mind by the detective in such cases is, that in order to convict a person of forgery, it is necessary to prove the handwriting, or produce one or more witnesses who actually saw the signature or endorsement being written. Warrants should be issued accordingly; the best kind of warrant to be gotten out in such cases being one in which the offender is charged with passing the forged check and with obtaining the money. I have known quite a few clever forgers, who with the aid of good attorneys, succeeded in beating their cases simply because the warrants for their arrest were not properly gotten out, and which resulted in improper indictments being returned against them. I have known dozens of bungling detectives and officers to swear out warrants charging persons with forgery when, as a matter of fact, the forgery could not be proven, but a charge of passing a forged check and obtaining money thereon could have been made and proven. In the cases I have in mind the offenders went scott free simply because the wrong charge was brought against them, and because they were given advantage of the law itself to escape punishment. As a whole I consider the forger one of the most dangerous of criminals to be at large, but as stated, one of the easiest to apprehend when proper methods[48] are applied. I believe I will do well to recount here what I considered, when it was first submitted to me, my most difficult forgery case, but which in the end proved quite easy to unravel and clear up. One day it was discovered by a bank in a small town in the West that during the preceding seven months it cashed for some unknown person eleven checks to which were forged the signature and endorsements of one of the bank’s customers. These forgeries were discovered when the customer came into the town from his ranch to have his pass book balanced. Upon being handed his cancelled checks he discovered the forgeries. In this particular case no person connected with the bank could recall in the slightest degree for whom, nor for what kind of person they cashed the checks. From the fact that the customer called at the bank so rarely they did not know him by sight. Inasmuch as this customer lived far out from the city on a ranch, he could throw no light on who forged his signature to obtain the money from the bank, which, as I recall it, amounted to several hundred dollars. In looking over the forgeries and the dates upon which they were paid, I found that they had been presented at the bank and were paid, on an average, of one every three weeks. Outside of the forger’s handwriting, there was absolutely no clue upon which to work. After giving the case several hours’ thought, I came to the conclusion that the case, to my way of thinking at that time, could be cleared up along only one line, that being that I find the person through his handwriting. The town in question was a county seat of about five thousand population. I had concluded also that the culprit, from the fact of his forgeries covering a[49] period of seven months, must be a resident, or at least an habitue of the town. I found myself figuring how long it would take to enable me to see a specimen of the handwriting of every man in the town. This being my plan I started to work along the line of least resistance, going first to the court house, where I secured permission to look over any and all kinds of records, in the hope of finding somewhere in the town a specimen of handwriting identical with that of the forger in the case. Near the close of the second day my search was rewarded through my finding upon the payrolls of a contractor a signature, every letter of which was identical with the same letter in the forgeries, the forger being at that time in the employ of the contractor. The same characteristics and peculiarities being evident in both handwritings, I lost no time in effecting arrangements for having the suspect brought before the town marshal and me. We handed the man pen and ink and check forms, and upon his signifying his willingness to write for us specimens of any checks we desired, we of course had him write copies of the forgeries. His handwriting proved to be identical to the smallest detail, with the handwriting in the forgeries, and upon being shown both writings he made a confession on the spot. Later he pleaded guilty to the charge of forgery and was sentenced to serve two years in state prison. A favorite method of offenders in defrauding banks, and which scheme is worked somewhere every business day of the year, is to visit a bank and open an account by depositing a bogus or worthless check, and which transaction is usually handled by the receiving teller. As a rule a pass book will be given to the offender in the regular way, but no money will be paid out by the bank until it ascertains if the check is good, and which,[50] by ordinary methods, usually requires two days’ time, and longer if the check be drawn on a far distant bank. On the day following the opening of the account the offender will visit the bank and on this occasion approaches the paying teller. Of course, he is not known to the paying teller, but he produces his pass book and shows the paying teller that he has on deposit say one hundred dollars. He asks to withdraw fifty. Hundreds of paying tellers have been caught off their guard with this game by neglecting to look up the party’s account, and in an unguarded moment take it for granted that the party’s account is O. K. Stolen pass books are an extensive source of loss to banks. Throughout the country thousands of foreigners have savings accounts in banks. With most of them it is customary to keep the bank books in their trunks or rooms where they can easily be stolen by one of their countrymen, who takes the book to the bank, impersonates the owner and obtains the cash. To illustrate the importance that the detective must give to the small details when making an investigation, I was once called upon to investigate a forgery that had been perpetrated upon a bank in a town of about twenty thousand population. In this case a middle aged woman presented a check and obtained eighty dollars thereon, the check later proving to be a forgery. I questioned the paying teller for an hour, but he seemed unable to assist me and could say nothing about the woman except that she was of middle age and pleasant appearing. This, however, was very vague, as there were in the town probably five hundred women who were pleasant appearing and of middle age. I persisted in having the paying teller revert his mind to the occasion of the woman’s visit to the bank, and he finally recalled that the woman wore a pin[51] bearing the emblem of a secret society of some kind—he could not recall which. I immediately set to work, and later in the day submitted to the paying teller a dozen or more lodge emblems, when he selected the emblem of the Order of the Eastern Star as being identical with what the woman wore. The foregoing consumed one day, and the next morning I set about ascertaining what member of the Order of the Eastern Star in that town or vicinity would have been likely to pass the forged check. From the secretary of the order I obtained a list of the members, then decided to take the secretary into my confidence and asked him who of the members he thought would have been most likely to commit this crime. His suspicions rested upon a woman who lived in a village just outside of the town, and from all he told me I became convinced she was the woman wanted. The next morning, accompanied by the paying teller, I called at the woman’s home under a pretext, and when the paying teller promptly identified her as being the woman for whom he cashed the check. Many large sums of money have been obtained through forgery. The most remarkable case ever brought to my attention was one that involved $30,000.00. A man forty years of age had been made the business agent of a wealthy lady who was some eighty years old. This man was also named in the lady’s will to be the executor of her estate after her death. It happened, however, that this man died first and among his papers and effects was found a note for $30,000.00 purporting to have been signed by the woman in favor of this man. When claim was made upon her for the amount of this note she promptly denied having ever signed such a note, and pronounced the note a forgery, and so the note was[52] never paid. In this particular case it occurred to me that the man no doubt believed that the woman for whom he was business agent would, in all probability, die first, and when it would have been an easy matter for him, as executor, to have taken possession of the amount of the note. Because of the prominence of all parties concerned in this case, it was never given publicity. Raised checks are an extensive source of loss and annoyance to banks and individuals. Many checks, after being written, mailed or sent, fall into the hands of persons who make a practice of “raising” the amounts for which the checks were originally intended and written, and then pass or have them cashed. For instance, a check written for ten dollars will be raised to one hundred dollars, or to whatever amount the raiser may believe it can be passed without arousing the suspicions of the bank, merchant or individual upon whom it is to be passed. I have seen many raised checks, the favorite method of the latter day check raiser being to remove from the check with chemicals the figures and wording of the amounts, and then to insert a greater amount. The original signature of the drawer of the check is of course left intact. It often requires the aid of a magnifying glass to discover the erasure or removal of the original writing. When necessary the name of the payee is also removed and another name inserted. <hr class="chap" /> [53] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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