Spencer

The defendant was convicted of the crime of drawing and uttering a bank check with the intent thereby to defraud Watson, Pond & Riddle, a corporation.

The prosecution was had under section 476a of the Penal Code, which section reads as follows:

Briefly the facts of the case are these: The defendant represented to Watson, Pond & Riddle that he had $20,000 on deposit in the National Bank of Commerce of Seattle, Washington ; that he expected to have there in a few days $75,000 more; that he was also the owner of rent producing properties in Seattle, and was related to some of the officials of said bank. On the strength of these pretenses, Watson, Pond & Riddle, on April 28, 1910, as a matter of accommodation, gave the defendant its cheek for $725, and took in exchange therefor his sight draft on said bank for a like amount. When this draft was presented—which was done as soon as practicable—payment was refused on account of lack of funds.

The evidence tends to sustain the theory of the prosecution that the defendant had put in operation a scheme by means of which he sought first to work his way into the good graces of certain San Francisco business men by a number of fair…