The Tacoma Check-Kite Who Vanished Into Thin Air
A mysterious stranger from San Francisco duped local merchants out of hundreds of dollars with worthless drafts before disappearing, leaving a trail of broken trust in the heart of downtown Tacoma.
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.
TACOMA, Feb. 21.—About a week ago one N. H. Brakenridge presented his business card as being in the red-wood timber business on Biddle street, San Francisco, to Mr. J. H. Hall, the estate agent, to whom he stated he was anxious to acquire some timber lands and trade in timber claims. On turning out satisfactory references Mr. Hall felt much elated that he had found a good customer. Lists of the proposed purchases were ordered from Seattle and on Biddle street Mr. Hall kindly liquidated the bill, some $630 then due.
Brakenridge was to come some money to pay some previous claims, $25 would do, which would be refunded on arrival of drafts from San Francisco, and Mr. Hall accommodated him again. Then succeeded in getting about $50 more out of Hall one pretext or another, and finally disappeared from Mr. Hall's sight altogether.
In the meantime Brakenridge had assiduously cultivated the acquaintance of Brown Brothers, the cigar dealers, and one day requested them to cash a check, which they accordingly did, which on presenting for payment at the Merchants National Bank, was found to be drawn, it was pronounced worthless. Brakenridge has no account there. From other merchants located as just mentioned Brakenridge managed to get about $230 from the merchants of Tacoma before making himself scarce. No complaint was made to the police until yesterday.
The suspicion is that the bogus check man is still in Tacoma and may run away.
This 1888 tale of a 'bogus check' scam mirrors modern identity theft and financial fraud, where strangers exploit trust through fabricated credentials. The story highlights how vulnerable small businesses were to sophisticated con artists even in the frontier era, a struggle that continues as digital fraud evolves.
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