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A NOVEL FORGERY
Mr. Barnes was wondering whether he would soon have a case which wouldrequire special mental effort in its solution. "Something that will makeme think," was the way he phrased it to himself. The same idea hadoccupied him for some time. Not that he had been idle, but his "cases"had all been of such a nature that with a little supervision it had beensafe to intrust them entirely to his subordinates. Nothing had occurredto compel his personal investigation. On this morning, however, fate hadsomething peculiarly attractive for him. His office-boy announced avisitor, who, when shown into the detective's sanctum, introducedhimself thus:
"I am Stephen West, cashier of the Fulton National Bank. Is this Mr.Barnes?"
"Yes, sir," replied the detective. "Is your business important?"
"It is very important to me," said Mr. West. "I am interested to theextent of forty thousand dollars."
"Forty thousand dollars! Forgery?" Receiving an assenting nod, Mr.Barnes arose and closed the door of the office after instructing the boyto prevent his being disturbed. Returning to his seat, he said: "Nowthen, Mr. West, tell me the story. All of it, as far as you know it.Omit no detail, however unimportant it may seem to you."
"Very good. My bank has been swindled out of forty thousand dollars inthe most mysterious manner. We have received four checks, each for tenthousand dollars. These were signed with the name John Wood, one of ourbest customers. In making up his monthly balance these checks were sentto his house in the usual order of business. To-day Mr. Wood came to thebank, and declared them to be forgeries."
"Were these checks paid by you personally?"
"Oh, no. We received them through the Clearing-House. They had beendeposited at the Harlem National Bank, and reached us in the routineway. They were taken on four different days."
"Who was the depositor at the Harlem Bank?"
"There is a mystery there. His name is Carl Grasse. Inquiry at theHarlem Bank shows that he has been a depositor for about a year. He hada seemingly flourishing business, a beer-garden and concert place.Recently he sold out and returned to his home in Germany. Before doingso he drew out his deposits and closed his account."
"How is it that you did not yourself detect the forgeries? I supposedyou bank people were so expert nowadays that the cashing of a worthlesscheck would be impossible."
"Here are the forged checks, and here is one cashed by us since theaccounting, which is genuine. Compare them, and perhaps you will admitthat anyone might have been deceived."
Mr. Barnes examined the checks very closely, using a lens to assist hiseyes. Presently he laid them down without comment, and said:
"What do you wish me to do, Mr. West?"
"To me it seems like a hopeless task, but at least I should like to havethe forger arrested. I will gladly pay five hundred dollars as areward."
Mr. Barnes took up the checks again, examined them most carefully withthe lens, and once more laid them down. He strummed on his desk a momentand then said suddenly:
"Mr. West, suppose that I not only arrest the guilty man, but recoverthe forty thousand dollars?"
"You don't mean to say----" began Mr. West, rather astonished.
"I said 'suppose,'" interrupted Mr. Barnes.
"Why, in that case," said Mr. West, "I would gladly give a thousandmore."
"The terms suit me," said the detective. "I'll do my best. Leave thesechecks with me, and I'll report to you as promptly as possible. Onemoment," as Mr. West was about to depart; "I will make a memorandum ofsomething you must do yourself." He wrote a few lines on a sheet ofpaper and handed it to Mr. West, saying, "Let me have those to-day, ifpossible."
One week later Mr. West received the following note:
"STEPHEN WEST, Esq.:--
"Dear Sir--I have completed my investigation of your case. Please call at my office at four o'clock. If convenient, you may as well bring with you a check for fifteen hundred dollars, made payable to
"JOHN BARNES."
"Great heavens!" ejaculated the cashier upon reading the above, "hetells me to bring fifteen hundred dollars. That means he has recoveredthe money. Thank God!" He dropped into his chair, overcome at the suddenrelease from the suspense of the previous week, and a few tears trickleddown his cheek as he thought of his wife and little one who would notnow be obliged to give up their pretty little home to make good hisloss.
Promptly at four he was ushered into the presence of Mr. Barnes.Impatient to have his hopes confirmed, he exclaimed at once:
"Am I right? You have succeeded?"
"Most thoroughly," said the detective. "I have discovered the thief, andhave him in prison. I also have his written confession."
"But the forty thousand dollars?"
"All safe and sound. Your bank does not lose a dollar--except thereward." Mr. Barnes added the last after a pause and with a twinkle ofhis eye.
"Oh, Mr. Barnes, that is a trifle compared to what I expected. But tellme, how was this trick played on us? Who did it?"
"Suppose I give you a detailed account of my work in solving the riddle?I am just in the humor for telling it, and besides you will be moreappreciative."
"That is just what I should most desire."
"Very well," began Mr. Barnes. "We will go back to the moment when,after scrutinizing the checks, I asked what you would give for therecovery of the money. I asked that because a suspicion had entered mymind, and I knew that if it should prove to be correct, the arrest ofthe criminal and the recovery of the money would be simultaneous. I willnot explain now why that should be a necessary sequence, as you will seethat I was right. But I will tell you what made me entertain thesuspicion. In the first place, as you know, of course, John Wood uses aprivate special check. The forgeries were upon blanks which had beenstolen from his check-book. Thus the thief seemingly had access to it.Next, as is commonly done nowadays, the amount of the check was not onlywritten, but also punched out, with the additional precaution ofpunching a dollar mark before and after the figures. It would seemtherefore almost impossible that any alterations had been made after thecheck was originally drawn. Such things have been done, the holes beingfilled up with paper pulp, and new ones punched afterwards. But in thiscase nothing of the sort had been attempted, nor indeed was any suchprocedure necessary, for the checks were not raised from genuine ones,but had been declared by Wood to be forgeries outright. That is, hedenied the signatures."
"Certainly. They were declared to be spurious."
"Exactly. Now that was all that I knew when you were here last exceptthat the signatures seemed to be very similar. It was possible that theywere tracings. The plain deduction from this was that the forger wassome one in John Wood's establishment; some one who could have access tothe checkbook, to the punch, and also have a chance to copy thesignature, if it was copied."
"All that is quite clear, but how to proceed?"
"I instructed you to send me a list of all the checks which had beenpaid out on John Wood's account, giving their dates, numbers, andamounts. I also asked you to procure for me from the Harlem NationalBank a similar list of checks paid on order of Carl Grasse. These twolists you sent to me, and they have been very useful. As soon as youleft me, and whilst awaiting your lists, I tried some experiments withthe forged checks. First I argued that if the signatures were traced,having been made, as it were, from a model, it would follow necessarilythat they would exactly coincide if superimposed the one upon the other.Now whilst a man from habit will write his name very similarly athousand times, I doubt if in a million times he would, or could,exactly reproduce his signature. The test of placing one over the otherand examining with transmitted light satisfied me that they were nottracings. I compared each check with each of the others, and with thegenuine one which you also left with me. No two were exact counterpartsof one another. Still this did not completely prove that they were nottracings, fo
r an artistic criminal might have gone so far as to traceeach check from a different model, thus avoiding identity whilstpreserving similarity."
"Mr. Barnes," said Mr. West, admiringly, "you delight me with your carein reasoning out your point."
"Mr. West, in speculating upon circumstantial evidence the most thoroughcare must be used, if one would avoid arresting the innocent. Nothing,to my mind, is stronger proof against a criminal than a complete chainof circumstantial evidence, but again, nothing is so misleading if atany stage a mistake, an omission, or a misconstruction be allowed tooccur. In this case, then, as I was starting out to prove what wasmerely a suspicion, I determined to be most careful, for indeed Idislike following up suspicion at any time. A suspicion is aprejudgment, and may prove a hindrance to correct reasoning. Notentirely satisfied, therefore, I took the next step. A tracing can bemade in either of two ways: with a lead-pencil, or with a stylus ofglass or agate. The former leaves a deposit of the lead, whilst thelatter makes an indentation upon the paper. In the first case the forgerwill attempt to remove the lead with an erasing rubber, but will notsucceed thoroughly, because some of it will be covered by the ink, andbecause of the danger of injuring the surface of the paper. In thelatter instance, if he be a very thoughtful man, he might undertake toremove the indentation by rubbing the opposite side with the end of hisknife or with an ivory paper-cutter. In either case a careful scrutinywith a strong glass would show the burnishing upon the reverse side. Icould find nothing of the sort. Taking one of the checks I applied asolution to remove the ink. A thorough examination disclosed that therewas no sign either of the graphite, or of the indentation from thestylus. In fact, I became satisfied that the signatures had not beentraced."
"But what did that prove? They might have been imitations made by aclever penman."
"They might have been, but I doubted it; and since you ask, I will givemy reasons. In the first place, the signatures were accepted at yourbank not once, but four times. It would be a remarkably clever man todeceive experts so well. However, I did not abandon this possibilityuntil further developments showed conclusively to my mind that it wouldbe a waste of time to follow up that line of research. Had it beennecessary to do so, I should have discovered who in the place had theopportunity to do the work, and by examining their past I should havereceived a hint as to which of these was most likely to be my man. Forany man who could have the ability to commit such a clever forgery musthave acquired it as a sequence of special skill and aptitude with hispen of which his friends would be cognizant. Once I looked up such aman, and found that as a boy he had forged his parents' names to excusesfor absences from school. Later he turned to higher things. In thisinstance I was satisfied that the only person having the access tomaterials, the knowledge of the financial condition of the concern, andthe ability to write the checks, was Mr. John Wood himself."
"John Wood!" exclaimed the cashier. "Impossible! Why, that would meanthat----"
"Nothing is impossible, Mr. West. I know what you would say. That itinvolved his having an accomplice in this Carl Grasse? Well, that iswhat I suspected, and that is why I asked for an additional reward forthe recovery of the funds. If I could prove that John Wood made thechecks himself, they ceased to be forgeries in one sense, and the bankcould rightfully charge the amounts against his account. But let me tellyou why I abandoned your theory that an expert penman was at work.Observe that though you would have honored a check for forty thousanddollars drawn by John Wood, yet the forgeries were four in number. Thatshowed that the man was not afraid of arousing your suspicion. The onlyman who could feel absolutely sure upon that point was John Wood. Butthere is another pretty point. These checks being spurious, and yetbeing numbered, could arouse your suspicion in two ways. If the numbersupon them greatly varied from those upon genuine checks coming in at thesame time, the fraud would have been detected quickly. On the otherhand, he could not give you correct numbers without being either incollusion with his bookkeeper or else duplicating the numbering of otherchecks. That the latter course was pursued, exempted the bookkeeper. Allthe numbers on the forged checks were duplicates of those on genuineones."
"But, Mr. Barnes, that did not arouse our suspicion, because----"
"Just so," interrupted Mr. Barnes, "but let me tell you why, as the_why_ is a very significant link in our chain. Your list of this man'schecks helped me there. About a year ago Carl Grasse appeared upon thescene in Harlem, buying out a beer-garden, and starting an account inthe Harlem National Bank. Now observe that prior to that time, from thefirst check sent to you by Wood, the strictest regularity as tonumbering obtained. There is not a break or a skip anywhere. But inFebruary, the month after Carl Grasse moved to Harlem, there is aduplication in Wood's checks. Two have the same numbering, but both arefor trifling amounts, sixteen dollars in one instance and forty in theother. You possibly passed it over. Next month, I find two duplications,and from then on this apparent mistake happens no less than ten times."
"Mr. Barnes, the bookkeepers did notice this, and we spoke to Mr. Wood,but he said it was simply a clerical error of his own due to haste inbusiness hours."
"Exactly, but he was paving the way for his big coup. He was disarmingyou of suspicion. This one fact satisfied me that I was on the righttrack, but your list gave me even better corroboration. On February 1stI find that Wood cashed a check payable to himself for ten thousand andfifty-nine dollars. On February 2d, Carl Grasse opened an account withthe Harlem Bank, depositing ten thousand dollars, paying in the amount,in cash. This might seem but a coincidence, but by looking over thebooks of the beer-garden, which is still in existence, Grasse havingsold it out, I find that on February 2d, Grasse paid his employees justfifty-nine dollars. The difference, you see, between Wood's draft andGrasse's deposit."
"It certainly seems to connect the two, when we remember that the finalforgeries were checks signed by Wood in favor of Grasse."
"Precisely, but follow this a little further. For several months thereis nothing to connect the two so far as their banking goes, but notethat during this lapse Grasse does not draw a single check in favor ofhimself, nor does he deposit any checks from others. His transactionswith his customers are strictly cash, and his checks are all to dealers,who supply him with his stock. None of these are for large amounts, andhis balance does not exceed twelve thousand dollars at any time. OnOctober 1st he deposited five thousand dollars in cash. On the daybefore that, Wood drew that amount out of your bank. On the 12th, thisis repeated by both, and on the 14th, Grasse cashes a check for twelvethousand dollars, taking cash. This goes through successfully, and theHarlem Bank is made to see that Grasse commands large amounts and useslarge amounts. This is repeated in varying amounts in November, andagain in December, the bank by this time being quite ready to pay outmoney to Grasse. On January 2d, Wood has his check account balanced. Onthe 3d, Grasse deposits Wood's check for ten thousand dollars. This goesthrough the Clearing-House, and is accepted by your bank. The HarlemBank is therefore satisfied of its authenticity. On the 5th, Grassedeposits check number two, and at the same time cashes a check for tenthousand dollars. The second spurious check goes through all right, andon the 10th and 15th, the transactions are repeated. On the 20th, Grasseexplains to the Harlem Bank that he has sold his business, and is goinghome to Germany. He closes his account, taking out his money, anddisappears from the scene. You are forty thousand dollars out by aclever swindle, with nothing to prove your suspicions save a fewcoincidences in the banking records of the two men."
"But assuredly, Mr. Barnes, enough evidence upon which to arrest Mr.Wood?"
"To arrest him, yes. But to convict him? That is another affair. Withoutconviction you do not recover your money. No, my work was by no meansfinished. I first sought to follow Grasse. I did not have far to go. Atthe Hamburg-American line I found him booked, but investigation showedthat he never sailed. The ticket which he bought has never been takenup."
"Then the accomplice is still in this country?"
"No; the accomplice is not in this country," said Mr. Barnes, dryly."Don't get ahead of the story. At this stage of the game I made somesingular discoveries. I found, for example, that Carl Grasse slept overhis saloon, but that he frequently would be absent all night. I alsolearned that when he did sleep there, he would leave about nine o'clockin the morning for that mysterious realm, 'down-town.' When he sleptelsewhere, he usually reached the saloon at eight, and still went'down-town' at nine. It was his general custom to get back about five inthe afternoon. Extending my researches in the direction of John Wood, Ilearned that he was customarily at his office at ten o'clock, seldomleaving before four. Moreover, at his apartment the janitor told me thathe frequently slept elsewhere, and that when he passed the night at thatplace, he would leave about seven in the morning. Do you follow me?"
"Do you mean that John Wood and Carl Grasse are one and the sameperson?"
"That idea entered my mind about this time. Up at the saloon I foundsome other small evidences that this was a probability. You see, a manmay disguise his personal appearance, but it is difficult for him tochange his habits with his clothing. For example, I found that Mr. Woodalways uses Carter's writing fluid, and Mr. Grasse had the samepredilection, as the empty bottles attest. Moreover, the bottles are ofthe same size in both places. Next I observe that both men used the samemake of stub pens. Again note that though Carl Grasse is a German nameand the man was keeping a beer saloon, he was never seen to drink beerhimself. John Wood has the same antipathy to malt. But most singular isthe fact that this man, who so carefully laid his plans, should haveactually bought a check-punching stamp of the same make and style offigures as that used in the Wood establishment."
"Perhaps he did that so that he could make the spurious checks up-towninstead of down-town, where he might be discovered."
"More than likely, but he should have taken it away with him. There isalways some little detail of this kind that even the most skilfuloverlooks. He probably thought that the similarity of the instrumentswould never be detected, or made to count against him. It is nothing initself, but as a link in a chain it mends a break. There was one fact,however, at wide variance with the theory of the identity of the twomen. Wood is of ordinary build, with black hair and smooth-shaven face.Grasse is described as very stout, with red hair and whiskers. Ofcourse, following the theory of impersonation, if Wood transformedhimself into a stout man, totally different clothing would be neededfor the two parts which he played. I found that Wood always dressed inthe finest broadcloth, whilst Grasse wore conspicuous plaids. Supposingthat he wore a red wig and false whiskers, I determined to find the manfrom whom he had procured them. I guessed that he would avoid anywell-known place, and I began my hunt in the costumers' shops on ThirdAvenue. I went to several without obtaining any clue, when at lastfortune favored me. I found a place where, upon their books, in lastJanuary was a record of 'red wig and whiskers' for the same customer.Moreover, they had furnished this person with a 'make-up' for a fatGerman, giving him the necessary 'pads,' as they are called, a suit ofunderwear wadded so as to increase the proportion of the body. Can youguess what I did next?"
"I think not."
"It was an inspiration. I ordered a similar outfit for myself, includingthe plaid suit. This morning they were delivered to me, and, dressed inthem, I induced the costumer to go with me to Wood's place. As soon as Iwas shown into his presence, I began to talk in a most excited, angrytone. I said 'Mr. Wood, I come for satisfaction. I am Carl Grasse, theman you have been personating up-town. I am the man whose name youforged to the back of your own checks. And this is the costumer who soldyou the disguise. Am I not right?' This last speech I addressed to thecostumer, who, to my intense satisfaction, said, 'Yes, that is thegentleman; but I did not know he was going to impersonate anybody.'"
"What happened then?" asked the cashier.
"Well," said Mr. Barnes, "I had better luck than I had expected, though,in line with my hopes. You see, my sudden appearance before him, mywords, and my rapid speech, all tended to confuse him. He suddenly heardhimself accused of forging the name of 'Carl Grasse,' and for the momentthought only of defending himself from that charge. He was utterly takenback, and stammered out, 'I did not forge anybody's name. The checks hadmy own signature, and the endorsement--that was "Carl Grasse." There isno such person.' Then suddenly seeing that he was making a mistake andincriminating himself, he exclaimed, 'Who the devil are you?'
"'I am a detective,' I answered, quickly seizing his arms and putting ona pair of manacles, 'and I arrest you for swindling the Fulton Bank,whether your offense be forgery or not.' That settled him. He wilted andbegan to cry for mercy. He even offered me money to let him escape. Idelivered him to the Central Office officials, and since then theInspector has obtained a voluntary confession from him. Are yousatisfied, Mr. West?"
"I am more than satisfied. I am amazed. Mr. Barnes, you are a genius."
"Not at all, Mr. West, I am a detective."
Final Proof; Or, The Value of Evidence Page 11