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Show CHECKS CASHED ARE SENT BACK Salt Lake, Jan. 28. Merchants of Salt Lake to the number of forty are repenting of having cashed each a check for a greater or less amount, purporting to have been issued by the Pacific Coast Construction company of Portland, Ore. The checks aggregate $2G3S.40. They are said to have been issued by a man known by the name of J. H. Keil when not traveling under some one of many alleged aliases. The office furnishings of the quarters quar-ters occupied by Keil were attached yesterday by the Utah Liquor company. com-pany. Keil is said to have purchased $20 worth of liquor of the company Saturday night, paying for it with a check for $S0 and receiving the difference dif-ference in change. Accordingly, Constable Con-stable George Tinges appeared at the office yesterday morning as a representative repre-sentative of the" liquor company Kelt's stenographer has not seen him since Saturday night The checks attributed to Keil, alias J. H. Morgan, alias Charles DeVIne, alias A. W. Lewis, are said to have been cashed by Keil Saturday afternoon after-noon and evening at saloons, clothing stores restaurants, grocery stores and other business places. According to the stenographer employed by Keil In the offices which he opened in rooms 310 and 311 of the Boston building a week ago, the checks were drawn in the office by herself, at Kell's direction, direc-tion, on Saturday and signed by him. They were made out to represent a monthly pay roll to forty employees-of employees-of the company. So far as can be learned by those interested in the case, no such- company exists as the one In the name of which Keil operated. oper-ated. Established Credit. A check for $1000 deposited by Keil with the Merchants' bank Friday afternoon aft-ernoon proved to be valueless. It was drawn upon the Citizen's' bank of Portland. When he made the deposit Keil asked that a telegram be sent by the cashier of the local bank to ascertain as-certain if tho check was good. His roquost was carried out with negative result It is believed that Keil wished wish-ed to use the deposit to establish his credit in cashing the checks with the various merchants, but that he did not wish to run the risk of having the bank cash any of his bogus checks and, therefore,' insisted that the telegram tele-gram of inquiry be sent. The answer ans-wer to the effect that neither Keil nor any such company as he posed as a representative or" had any account with the Portland bank came Saturday Satur-day morning, in time to prevent payment pay-ment of any of the checks that Keil had Issued against the Merchants' bank. Cashier A. H. Peabody said yesterday that the bank was out just GO cents, the price of the telegrams. tele-grams. In the' meantime, forty checks are either in the safes of various merchants or on their way back to them after being marked "No funds." The checks issued by Keil were elaborately ela-borately prepared In the regulation emploj'ment pay check style used by construction companies. They were made payable at the Merchants' bank of Salt Lake, the Utah National bank of Ogdon or the Citizens' bank of Portland. Printed on the best quality qual-ity of paper, they were engraved In the most approved style. A cut of a steam shovel graced one corner of each check and debit and credit columns col-umns were provided for taking care of board bills charged against employees, em-ployees, when they should bo guaranteed guar-anteed by the company. No feature, It Is said, had been overlooked in the effort to give the checks a genuine appearance. According to the stenographer steno-grapher employed by Keil, a regular pay roll was made out by herself under un-der the direction of Keil, tho checks being drawn to the supposed employes on the pay roll. In her story told to Deputy Sheriff B. H. Seager. who is Investigating the case, the stenographer told of answering answer-ing tho calls of several merchants, who rang up the office at different times on Saturday afternoon and asked ask-ed if Keil were connected with tho company. Her innocent answers In the affirmative quiotod the suspicions of the Inquisitive ones for tho nonce and the business of the allogod swindler swind-ler went on swimmingly. The young woman, who was engaged as stenographer steno-grapher by Keil soon after he opened his office, is believed to be ipnocent i of any knowledge of fraudulent intentions in-tentions on the part of her employer. i . no |
