Expert: Charles W. Field - 5/31/2007

Question
Hello Mr. Field,
While I do not need legal advice, I would like your opinion.  In the course of some genealogical research, I came across the following excerpt from a 1910 Washington Post and I am unclear as to what it means.  Here is the brief text:   "C N Elliott the Staunton Military Academy cadet and son of N J Elliott a wealthy cotton exporter of Austin Texas who was arrested Thursday on a warrant sworn out by the teller of Augusta National Bank charging forgery of a draft for $100 was discharged at Staunton yesterday owing to failure to establish identity."   In your opinion, what happened here?  I guess I don't understand how they could fail to establish C N Elliott's identity knowing that the draft was forged.  What am I missing?
Thank you in advance,
Rich


Answer
It is a bit clumsily worded. I think that it means that CN presented the draft without having his ID with him, causing the bank teller to suspect CN of forgery, upon which he was dismissed from school, probably because of the warrant. The key in my mind is that apparently no one knew for sure that the draft was forged; the warrant was apparently issued based on the teller's word. It might have later been proven not to have been a forgery at all. We have all forgotten our wallets at one time or another.