Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1881 — CHECK RAISERS. [ARTICLE]

CHECK RAISERS.

hevtew Voml «mt Bi wnisg lalx ft»r CwwceaHw* For»«rie«. [From tba New York Boa.] ** Check raising is getting to be one of the lost arts,” said an old detective, “and as checks are prepared nowadays they are pretty safe. There are some of the crooked men, however, who know all the tricks of removing ink. I was once curious enough to learn how it was that they could so successfully alter a check. Different forgers used different methods. One successful stock forger used equal quantities of lapit calaminaris, common salt, and rock alum, which he boiled for half an hour in white wine in a new pipkin, or he used a fine sponge shaped like a pencil, which ho dipped in equal quantities of nitre and vitnol distilled. As he passed this point over the ink it came right out Sometimes equal quantities of sulphur and powdered saltpeter, both distilled, were used. For a long time the police did not understand what use was made of a little ball that now and then was found in the possession of a prisoner. This turned out to be made of alkali and sulphur and was used for removing ink. It is hard to find an ink that will not disappear under one plan of treatment or another. I knew a check raiser who had a small laboratory. He kept bottles of acids of all sorts and a case of camel’s-hair brushes. With a small quantity of oxalic or muriatic acid, somewhat diluted, and a camel’s-hair pencil he oould paint out any number of ink spots. One or two applications, followed by the use of a blotting pad, would restore the paper to primitive purity.. It requires skill and an accurate knowledge of chemicals to use any of these plans so as not to injure the texture of the paper or discolor iu If the paper is injured it is not so easy to write upon it again, but by the use of finely-powdered pounce, rubbed in lightly with the finger and burnished with an ivory folder, the paper can be repaired. Common writing ink, however, is best removed by the use of oxygenated muriatic acid. “ But the new styles of check, with the amount cut through the paper with a die, are hard to alter. Here is a check with a revenue stamp in old gold color in the center, and broad lines of red ink are drawn close up to the amount written in. There is another broad line of red ink after the name of the payee. Up in the left-hand corner, where the amount is in figures, you will see that the figures are also cut through the paper. On the reverse side of the check, just over these figures, is pasted a pink strip which brings the cut figures out in such relief that they cannot be altered without detection. The only way to alter that check is to take out the first written word in the amount in the body of the check and the amount in the corner, and, after replacing them with the raised sum, to inlay a piece of check paper in the place of the cut figures. This inlaying process requires great care, and only one or two men in this country are able to do it. The cut figures must be carefully cut out by a sharp, razor-like tool, and cut in such a way that the edges of the opening will be beveled. Then a fresh bit of check paper must be shaped to the size of the opening and fitted in, with its edges also beveled. The edges must be held together with a paste made of flour and strained resin, and carefully pressed. Some pounce rubbed over the lines will conceal the patch, unless there is a strong light, a.id then, with the same die that the bankers use, raised figures can be inserted. The work is delicate, and is not often attempted, as it involves the risk of ruining the check for the amount for which it is good. By the way, the cutting of figures into the check had a curious origin. After a big forgery caused by a raised check, some one wrote a letter to the Sun, suggesting that the amount for which checks are drawn should be cut through the paper. The suggestion was at once adopted by a man who, we understand, made a fortune from it.”