the signature to the bank, and explains that the check was accidently
torn. The teller can put the pieces together, and as they will fit
exactly, the chances are that he will think that the pieces are parts
of the same check, and becomes a victim of the swindle. The trick, of
course, suggests its own remedy.

It is a well-known fact that there are banks in the country that have
paid thousands of dollars on raised checks, and decided that it was
cheaper for them to pocket the loss than to have the facts become
known.

The New York Court of Appeals holds that the maker of a check is
obliged to use all due diligence in protecting it, and the omission to
use the most effectual protection against alterations is regarded as
an evidence of neglect.

Here are a few points about raising checks and drafts that should be
carefully noted: To successfully raise a check or draft requires so
much less skill or art than to accomplish a forgery that it has of
late become alarmingly prevalent. Often where a check or draft is
printed on ordinary paper the original figures are removed by some
chemical process so skilfully that no alteration can be detected, even
with a strong magnifying glass.

It is not uncommon, when filling up checks or drafts, to take another
pen, and with red ink write the amount across the face of the paper,
and again make the figures in and through the signature. All these
precautions may make tampering with the amount more difficult for a
clumsy novice, but it only imposes a few moments' more work upon the
accomplished manipulator. He takes his strong solution of chloride of