Practical Instruction for Detectives: A Complete Course in Secret Service Study

by Emmerson Wain Manning

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.

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 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 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, 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.