After 40 years of prospecting, Pecos Bill had finally struck it rich. He made his way into town with a hefty bag of ore in hand. Although utterly illiterate he did recognize that carrying around a large amount of cash was risky, so he converted his holding into a checking account at the local bank. Bill duly signed each check he wrote with two Xs, and they were cashed without delay.
This had been going on for some weeks when one day the innkeeper at the hostelry where he was staying informed him that the last check had bounced. bill immediately made his way to the bank and demanded an explanation.
The head cashier scanned the offending check carefully and exclaimed,
"Well, Bill, you have three Xs here and your signature has always consisted of but two Xs. "Naturally we assumed something was wrong."
Bill looked a bit downcast. "Oh that," said he. "Well, that's my new lady friend's idea. "As I was getting up in the world she declared that I ought to get a bit of class and adopt a middle name."