2 Alleged Student Forgers Have Court Hearing Today

Thomas R. Bergin '54 and Murdocke Whitney '54, arrested on Wednesday, November 14 for allegedly passing a bad check, will have a hearing before the East Cambridge District Court at 9 a.m. today, to determine whether they will be tried on a charge of forgery and grand larceny, or of petty larceny.

If the court decides that the students should be tried on the charge of felony, they must come before the grand jury for indictment. After their arraignment on Thursday, November 15, Bergin and Whitney pleaded innocent to the charges of forgery and passing bad checks.

The students supposedly passed at least $1,000 in bad checks. The police believe that the two had been forging checks for almost a year, using stolen bursar's cards. They also charge that the pair has passed more than 16 phony checks.

Cashier Suspects

On Wednesday, November 14, Bergin and Whitney tried to cash a check at the Stop and Shop Market on Memorial Drive When a cashier refused them, they reportedly left the market in great haste. The cashier, suspicious, telephoned the police, who apprehended the men at another market.

The men were, released on Thursday, November 15, after $2,000 in ball had been posted for each. Bergin's father, an undertaker in Watertown, Connecticut, put up the ball.

At his arrest, Whitney told police that he had left college because he had run out of money, and wanted to be able to return. Bergin, an Eliot House resident, claimed that he wanted enough money to buy a car and have "big weekends."