Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1908 — Didn’t Locate the Forgers. [ARTICLE]

Didn’t Locate the Forgers.

J. A. McFarland, the grocer, went to Lafayette Tuesday evening to see a couple of young fellows under arrest there for several forgeries, and to see if they were the same fellows who successfully worked several forgeries here on Oct. sth. He decided that they were not the men. The forgeries ■ committed here were kept in the dark with the hope that the culprits might be caught. It seems that five firms were caught here for sums ranging from $9.25 to $9.75, those holding the sack being John Eger, The Home Grocery, E. S. Rhoads, J. A. McFarland and Roth Bros., all being grocerymen but the last named. In each case the checks we made payable to Ed Miller and bore the name of Geo. W. Andrus. The checks were cashed after small purchases had been made and the forgery was not detected until Mr. Andrus received the checks, the forgeries being clever enough to pass the banker. The endorsement on the backs of the checks were not all in the same hand writing, so evidently there were two parties performed the cashing of the checks. In all they procured almost SSO, and it is probable that they will never be apprehended.

The men under arrest at Lafayette had worked several towns near that cfty, some of the forged checks being for sums as high as S6O. Persons cashing checks should make sure that there is no doubt about the identity of the person holding the check or of the signature on the check. Every man with a check is deserving a bit of skepticism, unless known and if he objects to the merchant verifying it, that is sufficient proof of his guilt. Forgery is one of the easiest crimes committed and therefore every person should guard against being a victim of It