The Minister's Daughter and the $300 Check

Mrs. Winifred Daniels, better known in this vicinity as Winifred Moter, the adopted daughter of Rev. R. C. Moter, of this city, was arrested by Officer Bennett on last Saturday afternoon, at the instance of the Spokane police department. She was taken to Spokane the same day by the officer and incarcerated in the city jail.

The charge against the young woman is that of forgery. It is alleged that she had passed several checks on Spokane merchants recently for various sums for materials purchased, and received the difference between the amount of the purchase and the amount of the check in cash. The check that caused her undoing was one for the sum of $25 that she attempted to pass on the Hoyt flower store in Spokane. The clerk was suspicious of the check and said that he would telephone the Old National Bank, on which the check was drawn, and ascertain whether or not it was good. This was not to the young woman's liking and she attempted to get possession of the check, which bore the signature of her husband, Amos G. Daniels. The clerk refused to surrender the check and the woman left the store.

Shortly after she sent a messenger boy to the store for the check. The boy told the clerk and detectives, who had been called, where he was to deliver the check. The officers followed, but when they reached the place the woman had gone.

On Friday last she passed a check for $300 on a millinery house in the Temple Court building, and it was on this charge that she was arrested. She had purchased $60 worth of headgear at the place and received the balance of the face of the check in money.

Rev. Moter, the foster parent of the alleged forger, went to Spokane to see her on Monday. He announces that he will furnish bail for her and fight the case to a finish, as he believes that she is innocent, but is under the influence of another party who controls her actions.

Winifred Moter, as she is best known in this city, has spent most of her life in Newport. She was adopted by Rev. Moter and his wife when a babe but 11 months old. Her foster parents gave her a good education and surrounded her with every comfort that a child could wish. At the age of about 15 she was married to John McClung, the son of a rancher residing south of Newport. Two children were born to the couple. One of these, a girl, has always made its home with Rev. Moter, while the other is cared for by Mr. McClung's parents.

Last winter she obtained a divorce from her husband, and since that time has been attended by a number of different young men in this section. She states that she was married to Amos G. Daniels, a construction boss residing at Cheney, at Plummer, Idaho, this year. She claimed that she had never lived with him as his wife and that she did not like him.

Her second marriage was performed without the knowledge of her parents or intimate friends in this place. Her husband is reported to be a money maker, but a hard drinker, and it is alleged that she left him on account of his habits.

The accused had a preliminary hearing on Monday and bail was fixed at $1000. A further hearing will occur on Friday of this week.

Rev. Moter and wife have the sympathy of the entire community in their present troubles. They have done everything possible for the well being of their foster child, and still insist that she would not do a wrong act like this unless she was under the control of other persons. She has received a large amount of notoriety of an unfavorable character, which is very hard for her foster parents to bear.