The Forger Who Fooled Seattle Banks
A clever check-raiser who cut his mustache and fled to Snohomish leaves behind a tangled web of litigation between an Aberdeen bank and Seattle’s financial elite.
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.
About three years ago, a tall, rotund, and auburn-complexioned individual named W. N. White appeared in Seattle. During the real estate boom, White gained the trust of local investors and bankers. One Saturday, he presented a forged draft for over $5,000 at the First National Bank. He then crossed the block to the Puget National Bank and cashed another draft after being introduced by a prominent local businessman. White had purchased genuine, small-sum drafts and skillfully raised them to exorbitant amounts. After cashing them, he checked into the Columbia House, shaved his mustache, and fled via train. He was later arrested in Snohomish after a telegraph alert from Aberdeen, where he had also successfully raised and cashed a draft for $2,500. White was convicted and sentenced to fourteen years in prison. Now, the Aberdeen bank is suing the First National Bank to recover its losses, arguing that the seized funds in the First National’s possession were commingled with the proceeds of the original, legitimate drafts.
“White at once repaired to the Columbia house... put his money in a valise, cut off his mustache and walked down to the 4 p. m. train and left for Snohomish.”
This story reflects the fragile, boom-town nature of 1890s Washington finance, where trust was a currency often easily counterfeited. The legal battle over 'commingled' funds between the banks highlights the primitive state of financial regulations in a territory rapidly shifting toward statehood.
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