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8 OXFORD PUBLIC LEDGER, FRIDAY NOVEMBER 3, 1911, SCHEMES OP "'CHECK WORKER. He is the Busiest of all '"Grafters' And Is the Hardest to Keep Tract of. Chicago Tribune. The check workers are the bus iest of all the "grafters" and the hardest to keep track of. They are at It the -whole year round and cause the police a lot of bother be muse they vary their methods so much. Nearly all other classes of crimi nals have certain little peculiarities about their work by which they be come known, but these fellows get up a new scheme every day. Some of them are really men of genius who could make a good living with their brains and tongues in almost any other line if they only cared to I do so. They all have degenerate tendencies, say the detectives.which drive them to the commission of crime. The most of them would not reform if they could. The most interesting of this Class, perhaps, are not really "check "workers" at all. They are the ones -who make it their business to get genuine signatures to bona fide checks, unknown to the signers.Thej are the modern development of the sow almost extinct class of swind lers who used to drive through the country getting responsible' farmers to sign machinery contracts, lightn ing rod agreements, or anything, in fact, which might be torn in two and become a promissory note which could be negotiated at a hank. Now and then a modification of this old game still corps up in the backwoods district, and, in spite of the. fact that every farmer, nowadays, takes a paper of some kind, in which these frauds are exposed, victims are always found to illustrate the grafter's axiom that a new sucker is born every minute. The modern idea is different.Not long since a new game wag sprung The chief actor in the little finan cial comedy drove up to the house of a prosperous farmer. He was dressed in a suit of sober black and represented himself to be a circuit minister of the gospel He requested shelter for the night and was hospitably received. He proved a good talker, and the two sat up till bedtime engaged in pleasant cor venation. Just about retiring time a couple hurriedly drove up and ask cd the farmer where a minister could be found to marry them and, of course, the circuit rider got the job. The farmer was an Interested spec tator of the happy affair, and at the conclusion of the solemn words that made the supposed elopers man and wife, was benevolently, delighted to sign his name as witness to an elab orate marriage certificate, which the minister fished up from his little black grip as a present to the bride and groom.In the morning the signature appeared at a bank in the neighboring town at the foot of a check for a large amount and was cashed without question. Nearly all the papers in the coun try printed the incident at the time, but none of them had the story of how the trick was done. That did not become known until later. The certificate of marriage was printed on heavy cardboard, and wherever names or dates were to be written in the cardboard was cut aw$r with a beveled edge, and the writing was done on smooth paper pasted; on the back of the certificate and show ing through the beveled holes. The jffect was ornamental, and nothing wrong about it could possibly. be suspected- Between the two sheets of pasteboard, however, a blank check had been inserted, to that its f&gnautre line came right under the opening left for one of the witness -es, and in consequence the farmer was actually signing a check .on his own bank when he goodnaturedly "witnessed" the fake marriage.. Of a similar nature was a more elaborate operation performed .in Washington. A pretty and extremely vivacious young woman appeared one day with a handsome morocco- bound and gold-mounted album slunj in an alligator carrying case. The outfit was just about the neatest trifle, and both made a decided im pression. She had the autograph mania, and wouldn't the dear Sena tor lust favor her with his name there below his portrait or below the place where she was going to Insert his portrait when he gave it to her? In nine cases out of ten the "'dear Senator" would, no mat ter what his usual sentiments re garding the autograph hunters, and if she didn't already have his pho- togarph he gave her one. The name was signed throrigh an opening in the card, just as in the marriage certif icate.and in every cas a check was signed. Not one of these checks were offered for pay ment until the persuasive young wo man had secured all that could be bandied in safety, when they were cashed on the same day at the va rious banks. As the amounts were in no case large not much stir was made about the matter and, then, Senators didn't like to 'squeal" when they are gulled- Extraordinary pains are takeni bj forgers and checkworkers to secure the bona fide signatures of wealthy men. Besides letters so worded that they have some chance of reaching past the inconvenient pri vate secretary, and of being answer ed by the great man himself, every ruse that ingenuity can devise is tried. A successful plan in one case was to present a petition relating to a sewer ini the big man's own sec tion, and a score of other name3, given in good faith, were secured before the big man was approached. He was caught where there was nc pen and ink handy and signed the petiUon with a nard blunt pencii that was given him,unwittingly sign ing, at the same time, a check hrough the transfer paper beneath. A goodly sum was secured on his trick. As a rule, however, the) signature is all that is wanted. If one of the 'goodthing gents"can secure a real check written by one of his intend ed victims it is an occasion for re joicing for then all the little pecu- iarities that distinguish a check signature from a name signed else where are there to be copied. One successful check worker had a meth od which could not be discovered fo a long time. The signature on the checks he presented were so ap parently geniune that even the men on whom the swindles were perpetrated could not swear that hey were forgeries except from the fact that they could not remember having signed such checks. It was at last discovered that the fellow first secured a signature, had a zinc etching made from it, took a matrix of the zinc engraving, and into this matrix cast a hard rubber composition which retained just enough of is elasticity not to show any traces of embossing on the paper receiving the imprint from it. A metal "but" would have shown its impression on the back, but with the composition "'stamp" he was able to produce duplicates of a signature that experts could not tell from the original. All these schemes s&em to have sprung up to tafce tne place or "clean" forgeries, which are in their decline, and of check raising, which is practically a lost art. So many precautions have been thrown a- round checks by people who deal largely in them that it is now al most impossible to make, for in stance, an $80 check out of an $8 one Tinted and engraved paper that would show instantly the effects of acids or mechanical erasures began the work that the check perforators completed, and after a few unsuc cessful but ingenious attempt to plug up the holes and reperforate the check raiser went out of busi ness, or rather, turned his pecu liar talents in some other direc tiom. There are many elaborate schemes such as those mentioned and it is said that there is a large printing and engraving establishment in New York which is devoted entirely to the production of counterfeit check blanks and other printed matter for criminals. The genius '"check worker" is a man who, by plausible story and glibness of tongue contrives to pass a purely worthless check. His oper? tions are much more common and the sums Involved are usually much smaller, though even in this line there are some "high rollers" who scorn to '"turn a trick" for less thai $1,000. It is the little fellow.how- ever, who keeps the detective force of any large city continually on the jump. The usual course of operation is to purchase goods after banking hours ,and present a check calling for more than the amount purchased The ruse is so often successful that it is a wonder merchants do not make an iron-clad rule against these deceptive bits of paper. Hotels and saloons seem to be particularly un fortunate in check transactions, though no line of business is free form attack. People who cannot see how others can be taken in on able and even clumsy frauds for get to take into consideration the effect of personal magnetism, which is a real factor, whether you call it hpynotism or merely persuasivenes. There is a general sameness aboul nearly all these cses, though now and then a new phase is developed. A new plan was evolved recently by a fellow who drifted into town and answered the advertisement of eve ry person who had anything to sell All were invited to call on him at the apartments he had rented for the puprose, and he proved a liber al buyer, purchasing everything that was offered to him at almost any price, and paying by check. In a couple of days before the checks had time to come back marked.N. G.he left,taking with him a cargo of portable property, and leaving be hind him scores of people who had paid dearly for the knowledge that it was easy to write checks. It is just a good piece of advice to say that it is well to be on your guard for the fellow who wants a checkashed ; they are dangerous people to . deal with in seven cases out of ten. STONEWAliL JACKSON. Miss Johnson Finds Some Criticism in Her Treatment of Great Hero in Her Novel. Nashville! Banner. Some of the soldiers who followed Stonewall Jackson in the war. be tween the sections are well pleased with the pen portrait of the great Confederate Miss Mary Johnson has drawn in her novel, "The Long Roll," and it is said also that Mrs. Jackson who still survives, does not approve the likeness. The la.t ter statement, however, is a mere rumor.iuo criticism of the book fron Mrs. Jackson having been made pub lie. Mary Johnson was born after the war between the sections and her presentation of Jackson of course, comes of the study of his life and achievements as history records them, with such description of the man and such estimates of his char acter as she could gather from those who knew him, and the per sonal incidents they related. There is no doubt that she was both In dustrious and careful in gathering material, and it also is fair to infer she was conscientious in her por trayal. But the reproduction of a real character in fiction is necessa rily difficult. Winston Churchhill had the same trouble in the picture he attempt ed of Grant and Lincoln in '".The colonial period he found general Crisis." In what he wrote of the approval, but in attempting to paint men remembered by those still alive he brought forth resentful criticism. Miss Johnson is entirely friendly to Jackson. More than that, -- she places him high in the list of the world's heroes, but the old sol diers seem to think she has exagger abed his eccentricities for the sake of lending interest to her story. That is a common and probably una voidable fault with the historical novel. The picturesque quality of a character presented in fiction must be accentuated if not exagger ated to give point and piquancy to the narrative. y s The difference between real, his tory and the historical novel is very much the same as that be- tween a photograph and an ideali zed portrait. The photograph may be more accurate but it does: -.not appeal to the imagination. The por trait may bring something the , art ist discovers that the camera, has failed to catch. We are all famil liar with the sartirical rhyme, be ginning, "I never saw a purple cow" and as cows are seen by the com mon eye, it is true, but the brown sing kine that appear in painted landscapes frequently have purple tints. The artists insist that . these colors exist in nature and the con noisseurs agree that the picture would be defective without them A farmer who saw a picture pur porting to be a portrait of a fami liar cow thus painted would likely dissent as to the accuracy or . the likeness; but a skilled artist would not for the same reason pronounc the picture faulty.! This is ventured merely as a sug gestion why some of the old sol diers who knew Jackson are not pleased with his picture presented in "The Long Roll." But then the soldiers ought to know. Their ac quaintance with him was much clos er than that of Mary Johnson., Stonewall Jackson was not a prob lematic character Oliver Crom well whom he in some respects re sembled, has been for three centur ries both loved and hated, lauded and condemned, but no one speaks ill of Jackson. At the North as well as the South is agreed he was a great soldier and a good man He was very earnest, strongly re ligious, ' direct of both thought and action plain, capable and brave. These outlines would probably meet minutia of detail required for a general acceptance, but with the character in a novel the work is necessarily difficult and no por trait so painted would likely meet general acceptance. Valuable Land for Sale Two miles from Creedmoor, good dwelling good out houses, well im proved, plenty of good water, fine tobacco farm,125 acres more or less. For further particulars apply to S. L. Moss, Creedmoor, N. C. (2t) The Bookkeeper or Stenographer who has the recommendation of the Mountain State Business College Parkersburg, W. Va-, can always se cure employment Write today for their 96 page Catalogue. (Nov 3 4tpd) The Rev- Mr Horsefield will hold services in school house in Berea next Sunday at 3; 30 P M: I . JAPANESE DENTISTS. Thty Un Natural Waapoha In As saulting Their Victim. . Japanese native dentists conduct their business In a manner which would undoubtedly cause any Euro pean practitioner to open his eyes in amazement. The victim is seated on the ground. The dentist bends over bm and forces his left hand between the patient's jaws in such a manner that the mouth cannot possibly be closed. Then he grasps the doomed tooth be tween the thumb and forefinger of the right hand and with one deft wrench removes it and throws it upon the ground. So great is the skill of these native dentists that many of them are able to remove six or seven teeth per min ute. Indeed, their skill Is hardly to be wondered at when one considers the course of preparatory training they are obliged to undergo. A number of holes are bored in a stout plank, and this J fixed firmly to the ground. In the treles are driven wooden pegs, and the would be dentist has to extract them with his fingers without dislodging the board. This process is repeated with a board of pine wood and finally with one of oak, and it is only when he has succeeded in extracting the pegs from the oak plank that the Japanese considers him self qualified to practice upon his fel low men. Pearson's Weekly. MAKING A LAWYER. It Took Patrick Henry Six Weeks to Prepare For tha Bar. Patrick Henry when he was a young married man of twenty-three was a complete failure. He had tried clerking, farming and keeping a coun try store, all with equally negative or disastrous results. "Best of all. he said cheerfully to himself, I will become a lawyer." Six weeks he allowed himself as a matter of formality to prepare for the bar. During this time be read one book. "Coke Upon Littleton, supple mented by an equally strenuous pe rusal of the "Digest of the Virginia Acts." His examiners. Wythe. Pendleton. Peyton Randolph and John Randolph, hardly knew whether to be more amazed at his Ignorance of law or bis profound knowledge of history. After no little deliberation he received his license. Mr. Henry," John Randolph ex claimed enthusiastically after his ex amination of the young neophyte, "If your industry be only half equal to your genius I augur that you will do well and become an ornament and an honor to your profession." Green Bag. Queen Bess Wardrobe. Royal annals have never recorded a more varied and extensive wardrobe than that which belonged to the "vir gin queen. Even at the age of sixty- eiSht. when she might be supposed to nave ouuiveu uer j vuuuut vouxljt, iw 99 complete official cos- tumes. 102 French gowns. 100 robes with trains and 67 without, 126 an tique dresses, 136 bodices. 125 tunics, not to mention such trifles as 96 man tles, 85 dressing gowns and 27 fans. It is possible that she had an ugly foot, for she possessed only nine pairs of shoes, which, considering her ex travagances In other articles of ap parel, must have some meaning. At her death 3,000 articles were found duly catalogued in her wardrobe which had adorned her proud person. Winter and Summer Sun. The sun is nearer to the earth In winter than It Is in summer. It is not distance that determines the amount of heat that we got from the sun, but the length of time the sun Is above the horizon and the direction in which his rays strike us. In summer, al though much farther from us, the sun Is daily above the horizon much longer than when he is nearest, at the winter solstice, and this continued action pro duces the summer heat. In addition to this is to be reckoned the fact that in summer the force of the sun's rays Is more perpendicular to the earth's surface, while In the winter they are oblique. In the case of the perpendic ular ray the heat stays, while in that of the oblique ray it "glances off," so to speak. "Oh, Had I the Wings of a Dove." The daily papers reported the other day a visit of the primate to a convict prison. The prison has been built by convict labor. Convict hands have done the carving. A convict played the organ, and it looks as if a convict selected the hymns. One of them. "Oh. Had I the Wings of a Dove. the convicts are said to have sung with great heartiness. It is easy to believe. London Truth- Importance Recognized. "Do you think that man fully appre ciates the importance of the office to which we have elected him?" said one constituent "I guess he does." replied the other. "The first thing he did was to say it ought to command a larger salary." Washington Star. Bean Ballots. Greeks and Romans of the ancient world invariably used white and black beans for voting at trials, the white bean signifying acquittal and the black one conviction. Particular Speech. "My dear, do you love me still? "I still love you. and I suppose I would love you still if I ever saw you that way." Baltimore American. History is Indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind. Gibbon. DIVORCE IN ANCIENT ROME. One Woman Had Eight Husbands In Five Years. MWe are assured by Seneca. says the historiai Inge, "that there were women in ancient Rome who counted their acres not by their years, but by the husbands they had had. Juvenal tells of one woman who had married eight husbands In five years. Divorce was granted on the slightest pretext. Many separated merely from love of change, disdaining to give any reason, like Aemillus Paulus, who told his friends that 'he knew best where his shoes pinched him.' "Rich wives were not much sought after by wise men. Their complete emancipation made them difficult to manage. Accordingly, since both rich and poor wives were objectionable, the large majority of men never married at all. In most cases a Roman bride groom knew practically nothing of his wife's character until after marriage. "Marriage for the Roman woman meant a transition from rigid seclu sion to almost unbounded liberty. She appeared as a matter of course at her husband's table whether be had com pany or not. She could go where she liked, either to the temples of lsls and Serapls or to the circus and am phitheater. She had her own troops of slaves, over whom she ruled with out interference." THEY ATE LEATHER, The Way Morgan's Pirates Prepared Their Tough Food. The infamous Captain Morgan and his piratical crew were sometimes in tight places at Panama and on one occasion were reduced to eating their leather bags. "Some persons." says one of the com pany (Exquemelin. whose narrative is reproduced in "The Buccaneers In the West Indies), "who never were out of their mothers' kitchens may ask how these pirates could eat. swallow and digest these pieces of leather, so hard and dry. unto whom 1 only answer that could they once experience what hunger or. rather, famine is they would certainly find the manner by their own necessity, as the pirates did. "For these first took the leather and sliced it in pieces. Then they beat It between two stones and rubbed it. often dipping it in the water of the river to render it by these means supple and tender. Lastly they scraped off the hair and roasted or broiled It upon the fire. And. being thus cooked, they cut It into small morsels and ate it. helping It down with frequent gulps of water, which by good fortune they had right at band." Coquet! n Made the Audience Walt. The architect Binet was a friend of the elder Coquelin. He delighted to speak, of a performance of "Cyrano de Bergerac" in which he went to praise the genial actor in his dressing room between acts. "I admire you above all," he said to the actor, "in the couplets of the 'Cadets of Gascony.' " At that moment word came to Coque lin that the curtain was rising for the next act. "Walt, waitr exclaimed Coquelin. "Leave me here alone with Binet." "My friend." he said to the architect, "it is with pleasure that 1 am now oing to repeat the passage which has Pleased you. For me your approba tion is worth more than the plaudits if the whole house." And while the audience waited he gave anew for Binet alone the "Cadets of Gascony." Cri de Paris. A Famous Walking Match. Thomas Bailey Aldrieh was one of the characters made notable in a cele brated walking match which was got up by Dickens during bs second visit to America. The match was a stretch of about six miles over the Boston tniildam toward Newton Center. In the articles of agreement the signa tures were stated to be: The Boston Bantam J. R. Osgood Massachusetts Jemmy James T. Fields Th Gadshill Gasper Charles Dickens At the dinner given by the contest ants at the Parker House, in Boston, after the fatigues of the match were over there were present besides the above: Hyperion H. W. Ixmgrfellow Hosea Blglow J, R. Lowell The- Autocrat O. W. Holmes The Bad Boy T. B. Aldrlch Remembered the Accent. "Queen Mary." said the teacher to the class in the history lesson, "loved France no much that she declared 'Calais would be found written across her heart after she was dead," Pausing a moment, the teacher look ed at a boy steadily. "Jimmy Smith." she said, "you were not listening." "Oh. yes. I was," Jimmy replied. "Well, what did Queen Mary say would be found written across her heart?' "Kelly," was little Jimmy's trium phant reply. Exchange. Economizing. "My dear, we simply have got to economize." "Mercy sakes! Haven't I been econ omizing! Instead of letting Willie have money for car fare I'm sending him in the automobile to his dancing class." Chicago Record-Herald. ' A Severe Test. He Yes, darling, when I am with you I feel Inspiredas If ' could do some -perfect thing. She Maybe you could order a luncheon that I would like without consulting me. Puck. "Good luck" results from well direct ed efforts to succeed. HORSE CHEWS , TOBACCO. Jjearned the Habit From Its Master and Loves the Weed. From the Kansas City Journal. '"Whoa ! Whoa there! Stop that hcrse!" shrieked a man at Eighth street and Grand avenue, as the animal was delibertely following an other man upon the sidewalk. The second man had in his hand a small package, and when he turned at the sound of the alarm, it was seen that the horse was intent on get ting to the package. ' "Oh, now, don't get nervous, Kit he said, soothingly, to the animal. "111 give you a chew." Then the man opened a package) of fine cut tobacco, took an ordina ry 'chaw" for himself, and divided the remaining part of a newly open ed sack with the horse. The animal took the large quid and actually seemed to smile as it munched a way on it rythmically as would SL cow on her cud- The owner of the horse, William J. McCart, a claim agent for the Illinois Central Railroad, explained that "Kit" was very fond of her "'chew", and whenever' he took one where "Kit" could see him she would follow him even up a pair of steps and into a house but that she too, was supplied. "She don't seem to want tobacco unless she catches sight of some one im the act of - taking a chew, and then she will have hers, no matter who the man may be who exposes the weed," he explained. "What got our horse into the habit, how was it acquired?" asked a dignified appearing man who was in the little coterie which was watching "Kit" enjoy her wad of fine cut. "I did it," replied McCarty, "I begun by nipping off a little every time I took a chew in the animal's presence, and handing it to her, as she always was curiously nosing a tout to see what I had. It was not iong until she would take a chew of tobacco in preference to a lump of sugar.' "'Does the animal expectorate?" asked the dignified person in all seriousness. - "Well, not so as to be noticed, replied her owner. "The horse swallows the juice from the tobac co, and finally the quid itself. And I am here to tell you that I have found the tobacco far more healthy for a horse once in a while than! sugar every day, as is given to trick horses-" Arthur McKnight, an old race horse man and official starter at most of the big race tricks in the country, chanced to be present when the tobacco chewing horse was under discussion "I was born and reared down! here in the West Bottom," said McKnight, "and I recall "Old Tim," a tobacco chewing horse that used to be on the truck in engine house No. 1, down on Union avenue. Chief Hale will remember Tim. Why, he was so f vicious after a chew if he saw any one with a plug that he would almost break his chain to get to you- And if you took a chew and passed him untoticed Tim would reward you with a kick. Yes, Tim: was a confirmed chewer, and I have known of several good race horses which had the habit. They are just like human beings; when once they get the desire for nicotine it sticks with them." '"How dreadful," sighed the minis terial looking spectator, "it is a pity that human beings could not keep their injurious habits without tempt ing innocent domestic animals.' "Tobacco at intervals is good for a horse," replied McKnight. '"It pre vents many of the ailments from which they suffer-" PREMIUMS WON AT FAIR. This Cream Separator offer ed for the best display of dairy animals and products was won by S. A. Fleming, of Hester. This White Sewing Machine offered at the County Fair by A. J. Kittrell, for the best dis play of plain and fancy sewing was won by Mrs. Elijah Jones, of Stem. L
Oxford Public Ledger (Oxford, N.C.)
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Nov. 3, 1911, edition 1
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