bearing the word 'seventy' on the one check to that part bearing the
word 'thousand' on the other. So the composite check read to pay to
the holder 'seventy thousand' dollars. As the cutting was made through
both checks in exactly the same place, the edges fitted perfectly.
They were glued together and the check readily passed the bank
cashier. The man was caught and made restitution without publicity,
but the case gave bankers a shock. Other somewhat similar cases are
known, but none involving such a large amount.

"A famous case was the celebrated Seaver fraud. He bought a draft for
$12 from the Bank of Woodland (Cal.), and, although it was written on
chemical 'safety' paper and perforated in two places with a check
punch, he raised it to $12,000, and it was passed successfully and
paid.

"But however successful they may be for a time, it is the fatal hoodoo
of this 'most gentlemanly' way of making a living without earning it
that a forgery is always discovered and the forger generally caught.
That is because the forged check remains in existence and must be paid
by some one, and sooner or later there will be an outcry. The best the
raiser can hope for is to escape before the crime is discovered.

"Once the false check is passed and he has the money, his first idea
is as to where he shall hide. Another fatality attaching to his
peculiar business is that the same place that he thinks of flying to
is the place that suggests itself to the mind of the thief-chaser. In
other words, knowing their man, the man-hunters can guess well where
to find him.

"If a forger wants to bury himself, he thinks of South America,