Interesting "Wanted" letter from Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, dated November 23, 1897, calling to the attention of banks, bankers, and chiefs of police, one W.H. Geer, wanted for forgery.  According to the letter, Geer uses multiple aliases, expanding as follows:

Merchants have suffered mostly from Geer's swindles, but he has occasionally successfully defrauded a bank. He pretends to be a traveling salesman, claiming to represent among others the National Cash Register Co., Dayton, Ohio; Grove Manufacturing Co., Evansville, Ind.; Bartholemew & Co., Paint Manufacturers, Michigan City, Ind., and R.D. Lewis & Co., Akron, Ohio.  His usual course is to win the confidence of a hotel keeper or merchant, then open in their presence a letter purporting to be from the firm he claims to represent, taking from it a check which the letter states is sent him for expenses.  Geer then requests his victim to cash the check, and when refused asks to be identified at the bank and in this way usually obtains the currency.

Geer is Billy Geer, who played six seasons of major league ball between 1874 and 1885, batting .214 lifetime.  Geer, who signed with the Unions of Morrisania in 1868, was a featured soloist in the Manhattan College Choir between 1870 and 1873. Unfortunately Geer was arrested with a teammate in New Haven and charged with stealing several items from the Tecumseh Hotel in Toronto, including a policeman's revolver. He was arrested in 1887 after passing some forged checks at New York hotels, and went on the run, using aliases and passing forged checks until he was finally convicted in 1892. He continued in this way, in and out of jails around the country, using assumed names, until his passing in 1928

The letter is in VG condition with some wear at the folds, a small stain at the bottom left corner, and a minor tear at the center fold along the right edge. The piece is quite delicate due to the folds and the printing on lighter stock, but remains a fascinating piece, a late nineteenth-century reminder that not all professional athletes are good guys.