DARING BANK FRAUD. £300 Obtained.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 189, 29 January 1887, Page 3

DARING BANK FRAUD. £300 Obtained.

A long time has elapsed since there waa chronicled such a daring and successful bant fraud in Melbourne as one we have to record {says the Melbourne " Telegraph") as having been committed on the National Bank, at the corner of Webb and Smith streets, Fitzroy, on Wednesday morning last. This branch of the National Bank— which has become celebrated in connection with criminal ofiences lately— is far more pretentious than many suburban banks, and the manager of it is Mr Davis, who, is assisted by several clerks. Amongst the bank's clients are Messrs Boyd and .Head, of the well-known Shamrock Brewery, at the extreme end of Simpson's Road, near the Hawthorn Bridge, and it was by one of the cheques of this firm that the fraud in question was committed, and the sum of £300 in note coolly pocketed by a youngish man, at present at large, who seems to have " bluffed " the bank officials with whom he dealt with amazing impudence. Some features of the case are most peculiar. Between 10 and 11 o'clook on Wednesday morning Mr Davis, the manager, had occasion to be absent from the bank, and it is suspected that hie absence was noted. Whilst he was away a strange man entered the bank, and inquired whether a Mr Harrison kept an account there, and a second stranger then entered and pretended to write out a pay slip, but did not transact any business There are circumstances which were recollected after the fraud, but did not at the time attract that attention which in these days of banking frauds it might be expected they would. fcJoon after a youngish man, whose deaciiption has been supplied, entered and presented to the ledger keeper (Mr Taylor) a cheque for £308, bearing the signature of Mr Hammond, the chief clerk of Messrs Boyd and Head. Mr Taylor was dubious, and did not like the appearance of the cheque, so he consulted Mr Bagley, who was relieving in the absence of the regular accountant, who had left. The man who presented the cheque was actually kept in the bank about half an hour, the officials thinking the manager would return, and whilst he was there the man behaved with complete nonchalance. He produced a card bearing the name of Mr Joseph Cohen, formerly a pawnbroker in Elizabeth-street, and said he was employed by Mr Cohon. He also threatened to report the delay to Mr Boyd, and ultimately, only about ten minutes before the manager returned, the officials decided to pay the money, the fellow took it in £20 and £10 notes, and walked out composedly. It did not strike either of the officials to use the telephone and make inquiry about the cheque, but the moment Mr Davis returned he eet the telephone to work, and his suspicions were confirmed by Boyd and Head repudiating a cheque for that amount. The detective police were immediately communicated * with, and it was ascertained that Boyd and Head had given a cheque for £3 8s to a man in payment for some bottles, and had received a receipt signed in some name liko McFarren. The cheque, w hich had been made payable to a number, had been cleverly altered in the writing in the body and the figures to make it £308. The man does not appear to have been previously known at Boyd and Head's, but the police are following up a clue, and at least one arresc may take place at any hour. The bank, of course, is responsible for the Loss of money.