Occasionally he has a note, for a small amount to begin with, always first-class, two-name paper, and he never objects—­usually insists—­in paying a trifle more than the regular discount.  At first the bank officials closely examine the paper offered, and of course find that the endorsers are men of high standing, and then their confidence in the “cattle king” is unbounded.  Gradually the notes increase in amount, from a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars, and from fifteen hundred to two or three thousand.  The notes are promptly paid at maturity.  After the confidence of the bank people has been completely gained, the swindler makes a strike for his greatest effort.  He comes in the bank in a hurry, presents a sixty-day note, endorsed by first-class men, for a larger amount than he has ever before requested, and it generally happens that he gets the money without the slightest difficulty.  Then he has a sudden call to attend to important business elsewhere.  When the note or notes mature, it is discovered to be a clever forgery.  This has been done time and again, and it is rare that the forger has been apprehended.

The forgery of checks is a common offense.  It takes more than one man to successfully perform this operation.  The forger himself is known as the “scratcher,” or the expert penman of the party.  The “middle man” is the fellow who conducts the business negotiations, ostensibly as a merchant, and the “layer-down” is the man who presents the check to the bank and secures the cash.  The middle man must have a pleasing address, and be thoroughly posted on the commercial news of the day, and it is requisite that the layer-down be well dressed, quick witted, and possessed of an unlimited amount of polite assurance, a cheek that never pales and an eye that never droops.  In selecting a person to fill this important position, the forger prefers to have a man who has, at some time or other, been convicted of crime, so that in case of discovery, and the turning of state’s evidence by the layer-down (who is always the man caught) his evidence will not have weight with a jury.  The latest mode is for the forger to imitate a private check by the photo-lithographic method, after having obtained a signed check.

The signature, after being photographed, is carefully traced over with ink, and the body of the check is filled up for whatever amount is desired.  The maker of the check is requested to identify the person who holds it, and as a general thing he does not wait to see the money paid.  The moment his back is turned, the layer-down palms the small check and presents the large one.  This way of obtaining money is without the assistance of a middle man.  Private marks on a check are no safeguards at all, although a great many merchants believe they can prevent forgery by making certain dots, or seeming slips of the pen, which are known only to the paying teller and themselves.  This precaution becomes useless when the forger uses