The 'Line-Man' Forger of 1891
A young con artist dressed as a weary lineman successfully swindled several Seattle clothing stores and a saloon before vanishing into the night.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A clumsy forger but slick confidence man succeeded in passing $157 worth of forged checks and securing about $91 in cash, a good check for $28, and $68 worth of clothing Wednesday evening before taking flight. The victims included Isaac Buxbaum & Co., the T. M. Rasin Clothing Company, Davids & Co., and William Efer, a saloonkeeper at 1200 Front street. Around 6:00 p.m., a young man calling himself 'Archie Victers' entered Buxbaum’s store, claiming he was a Union Electric Company lineman who had just quit to move to San Francisco. He was dressed for the part: face and hands black with 'work,' a coil of wire in one hand, rubber gloves in the other, and carbon sticks in his pocket. He traded a forged $52 check for clothes and $32 in cash. He then hit three other businesses in rapid succession, using similar stories about broken arms or family in California. When bank clearing houses revealed the checks were forged the next day, the police were notified. Detective Cudihee believes the man is a recent arrival from San Francisco with ties to smuggling rings.
“Let some other sucker get taken in.”
This grift highlights the reliance on social trust in the late 19th century, where a pair of rubber gloves and a bit of greasepaint on the face served as sufficient 'credentialing' for a man to walk out with hundreds of dollars in today's money. While today's scams are digital, the vulnerability of local business owners remains a persistent theme in Seattle's shifting commercial landscape.
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