difference between draw/cash

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According to my understanding by using dictionaries, DRAW/CASH are the same, but how come?:

-"To Miss Marie Devine. There is nothing to show where the check was drawn. It was cashed at the Credit Lyonnais at Montpellier less than three weeks ago. The sum was fifty pounds."
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If they were the same, Holmes would not have said the check's last drawing place was unknown. Then what's the difference between the two verbs? The check was drawn at an unknown place, but cashed at a bank?

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No, they are not the same. In regard to banking matters, draw refers to the source of the funds. Cash in banking matters refers to turning the check into bills and/or coins. For example:

The check was drawn on the First National Bank. I cashed it at a local branch of the Continental Bank.

The check was from the First National Bank, the source of the funds. It wash cashed at the Continental Bank, the place where the check was turned into cash, turned into bills and coins.

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Slightly different meanings of 'draw' are being used here. To draw money from an account is to withdraw it from that account (you go to the bank and ask for banknotes, these are given to you and your account balance is reduced by that amount).

I will draw £500 from my bank account.

A check (or 'cheque' in British English), once it has been written by the account holder, is said to be 'drawn' on his or her bank.

I have a cheque from WBYeats, drawn on HSBC.

To 'cash' a cheque is to take or send it to a bank and obtain its value, by getting physical cash (banknotes) or adding the amount to another account.

I took a cheque from WBYeats, drawn on HSBC, for £500, to my bank and cashed it.

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I have to add that to talk of a cheque being 'drawn on' a bank is very old fashioned indeed. Modern people mostly don't say it.

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Thank you~

According to context, Holmes etc. are looking for that lady, whose check has been drawn at an unknown place. Does it mean the bank unknown or the place where she signs the check is unknown or both(=ambiguous)?

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More context:

Quote:

“There is one correspondent who is a sure draw, Watson. That is the bank. Single ladies must live, and their passbooks are compressed diaries. She banks at Silvester's. I have glanced over her account. The last check but one paid her bill at Lausanne, but it was a large one and probably left her with cash in hand. Only one check has been drawn since.”

“To whom, and where?”

“To Miss Marie Devine. There is nothing to show where the check was drawn. It was cashed at the Credit Lyonnais at Montpellier less than three weeks ago. The sum was fifty pounds.”

This is from "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax", a Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes is looking at a list of Lady Carfax's bank transactions. It seems that in this context to 'draw' a cheque ('check') is to write it. The bank record does not show where she wrote the cheque.

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@contrex,

Quote:The bank record does not show where she wrote the cheque.

If so, it's strange. I don't know much about banking, but in the banking business, has it ever been possible to show where a person has written a check? Isn't check-writing a private act that doesn't concern the bank? You do not need to inform the bank every time you write a check, do you?

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@WBYeats,

WBYeats wrote:

has it ever been possible to show where a person has written a check?

Yes, and in some countries it is required. On cheques issued in most European countries it is required to put the place the cheque was written as well as the date. e.g. "Paris, le 10/06/2014". I suspect that this may have been the case in Britain as well at one time.

Quote:

Isn't check-writing a private act that doesn't concern the bank? You do not need to inform the bank every time you write a check, do you?

Think about this for a minute. A cheque has no value until it is presented for payment by the payee. The issuing bank will necessarily know that you have written a cheque after it has been presented to the payee's bank, cashed, and returned to them.

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@contrex,

Thank you~

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difference between draw/cash

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