NOTED EXPERTS IN FORGERY
America has furnished some of the most noted, nervy, brainy experts in
the line of forgery that the annals of crime have known.
Authorities agree that forgery is a crime of the highest order, that
needs patience, a cool head and the skill of a genius. At the present
day it requires several persons to carry out every well laid scheme of
this kind. Most of the great forgeries of the past forty years were the
work of gangs who owned printing, engraving and lithographic plants.
According to the Pinkertons, who have been running down forgery-crooks
for the American Bankers Association for half a century, every well laid
scheme of forgery, by which banks and corporations have been robbed of
millions of dollars, was the work of at least four persons.
These consist of the following: (1) _The forger or tracer_, who is an
experienced penman and ready at all times to carry out the will of the
gang; (2) _The capitalist_, who advances money to open accounts in the
various banks where business is to be done; (3) _The middle man_ between
the forger and the capitalist; and (4) _The business manager or advance
agent of the gang_.
The bold single forger who passes one or two checks is discovered as
soon as his paper reaches the clearing house or the bank. But a gang of
forgers can work their schemes for months before they are discovered. By
that time they are able to get to the ends of the earth where they are
beyond the reach of the police, at least for a season.
[Illustration:
The roll call at midnight at a New York station house.]
[Illustration:
Men’s prison.]
[Illustration:
Women’s prison.]
Some of the brightest and brainiest men that ever lived belonged to this
class. In private life they were kind and loving and tender and would
scorn to do a mean act. And I have wondered often why such men would
commit crime and bring shame and remorse on themselves and their
relatives, if they were not partly insane.
I have tried to study them—to see wherein they differed from other
men—and that is no ordinary task. Whether I succeeded or not remains to
be seen. In some cases, after many patient interviews I was able to draw
them out of the dark and gloomy past, where I could read their character
in its true light. Although many of this class are exceedingly
interesting as conversationalists and unusually intelligent on the great
questions of the day, I find they are never willing to disclose their
true identity or explain their inner life. And they wilfully conceal the
past and refuse to come out clearly into the light of day.
Henry A. Leonard, a Wall Street messenger boy, single and alone, was
able to forge a check on the Hanover National Bank, (September, 1905)
and have it certified, by which he secured $359,000 in negotiable bonds.
It is very doubtful if a stranger could have done the same thing.
Leonard was known to the banks as a broker’s messenger boy and all the
paper he brought to the various banks was received without question.
Leonard’s plea afterwards was that he did this work to show how _easy_
the banks could be swindled. There may be much truth in the statement
that many of the Wall Street banks do business in a slipshod manner, but
whether that was a good reason why he should attempt to secure such a
large amount of valuable securities for nothing is quite another
question.
We believe that Leonard was only a simple minded boy and had no
intention of wronging any person. If he had been a crook he could have
negotiated half the bonds in an hour and left the city to parts unknown
before any one would have known it.
Another noted forger, whose doings have extended over a quarter of a
century, was Ned Stoddard. In manners Stoddard is a perfect gentleman
and his scholarship allows him to converse with anybody in the land.
With a pen in his hand he becomes a perfect genius and can reproduce any
written name he has ever seen on paper. Stoddard has performed some
wonderful feats in the line of forgery.
It was “booze” that brought about this man’s ruin. He was a typical
Yankee, tall and slender, measuring over six feet in height. A man of
more than ordinary intelligence, a good speaker, a brilliant
conversationalist who threw into his arguments two keen gray eyes that
danced with delight while he told you some interesting anecdote or fairy
tale!
Three of a Kind
One of the most startling forgeries of the last century took place in
1886. The principals in this deep laid scheme were William E. Brockway,
Luther R. Martin and Nat. Foster, a trio of the most daring crooks that
ever walked the streets of New York. They were so foxy in their
movements that the police worked upon the case two months before they
were able to trap them. One morning Detective Langan, (afterwards
Inspector, now deceased), followed Brockway from his lodging house on
West Eleventh Street to rooms on the corner of Division and Catherine
Streets where he found a complete plant for printing railroad bonds and
securities. Detective Cosgrove paid his attention to Martin who had
rented a parlor on the corner of Lexington Avenue and Thirty-fourth
Street. After his arrest and his rooms searched they found a complete
lay-out of four different plates with a numbering machine. Nat. Foster
lived in great style at the St. James Hotel on Broadway and Twenty-sixth
Street. After his arrest George W. McClusky searched his rooms and
captured $54,000 worth of forged bonds of the Morris and Essex Railroad
all ready for the market with President Samuel Sloan’s name forged on
them. The case against them was clear, all having been caught redhanded.
Brockway being an old offender, plead guilty and was sentenced to ten
years in State prison by Recorder Smythe. In the case of Martin, who was
defended by Lawyer Peter Mitchell, the jury disagreed; he was remanded
to the Tombs where he stayed two years. Then he became almost blind, and
taking a plea to a minor offence he received a suspended sentence. Nat.
Foster was also in the Tombs even longer than Martin, and, strange to
say, he also became blind and plead to a smaller offence and he also was
given a suspended sentence. How true is that old Bible passage, “The way
of the transgressor is hard.”
The King of Forgers
Charles Becker, one of the cleverest forgers of the century, was born in
Germany. He came to this country with his parents when young. He is
known all over the United States as “The King of check raisers.” It
would be impossible to mention all this man’s deeds of daring, nor do we
believe it to be necessary.
In 1872 with a number of confederates he robbed the Third National Bank
of Baltimore of something like $150,000 and then fled to Europe. They
alternated their residences between London and Paris, committing some
big forgeries in both cities. For these several of the gang were
arrested and jailed.
During the summer of 1876 Gainsborough’s painting of the Duchess of
Devonshire had just been sold in London on May 25th, for $10,000. In
those days this was said to be a high priced picture. The gang thought
that they ought to have this painting as it meant so much ready cash to
them. Accordingly, one of their number, Adam Worth, stole the picture
from the rooms of the auctioneer, where it was in storage, by cutting it
from its frame. This theft caused such a sensation in England that
Becker and Company thought it good for their health to return to the
United States, which they did. This painting remained in Chicago for
several years, but was afterwards sent to London where it was sold to J.
P. Morgan for $25,000.
In 1877 Becker and several others of his fraternity robbed the Union
Trust Company of Brooklyn, N. Y., of $64,225 by means of raised checks.
To save himself from state prison he “squealed” by turning state’s
evidence, and Becker, the brains of the gang, was discharged.
The last crime Becker committed was in 1896 in California. Here he
raised a check of twelve dollars to twenty-two thousand dollars. It was
well planned and with the money that Becker and his “pal” had on hand to
beat the case, they might have succeeded, but the other fellow was
approached by a Pinkerton gentleman and as a result, turned state’s
evidence. On the 29th of August, 1896, Becker was tried, and sentenced
to imprisonment for life.
As a forger and check manipulator Becker is a genius. With the aid of
acids he can erase any writing or figures. In checks that contain
perforated figures and lines he fills in with fresh pulp and then irons
it over in such a manner that it cannot be detected, even with a
magnifying glass.
So skilful with the pen was Becker that he could counterfeit a ten
dollar bill which so closely resembled the genuine that even experts
were deceived.
While serving a long sentence in a California prison he made such
startling revelations to the Pinkerton Detectives that one of the
superintendents called on him in the interest of the Government and the
Bankers’ Association for verification. Satisfied that he was able to do
all that he claimed, a favorable report was made to the Association, and
a movement for his release was soon afoot. He was pardoned October,
1903.
Becker is not only a wonderfully clever forger, but has amazing
audacity. While in prison he counterfeited several bills of large
denomination and would have caused them to be circulated had he found an
agent with sufficient nerve. He approached several keepers on the
subject but found none with the required courage.
He circulated several counterfeit bills of large denomination among the
German farmers in Pennsylvania among whom his knowledge of German and
the Fatherland gave him wide influence and many easy victims. He bought
a number of horses and cows and paid in counterfeit bills; then he
shipped the stock to Philadelphia and disposed of it.
In February, 1888, he purchased a fine residence on one of the most
fashionable streets of Baltimore and paid for it with a draft on a New
Orleans bank which had been raised from $180 to $18,000. Before the
fraud was discovered he had sold the property for $16,000 cash and left
the city.
In March, 1899, he purchased a farm in Talbot County, Maryland,
tendering as payment therefor a draft on a Philadelphia bank upon which
he had raised the figures from $120 to $12,000. The farm was valued at
$8,000. Hence he received $4,000 in change besides the $7,500 he was
paid for the farm the second day after it was deeded to him.
He is smooth, oily and ingratiating—well-nigh as slick in speech as he
is with his pen. His manner is more that of a Frenchman than a German.
He talks rapidly, and his gestures are almost Jew-like. He once remarked
that if he had been born dumb he would have been able to make himself
fully understood by his gestures. He cuts the air, shrugs his shoulders,
shakes his head, and assumes all the airs of a tragedian in order to
convince his hearers of his honesty and earnestness.
His home training could not have been better, scion of high-class German
parents who seriously sought to imbue him with a love for God, and due
regard for the property and rights of his fellow beings. He was sent to
the best school in Germany and graduated at the head of his class. He
was then, by his own choice, apprenticed to an engraver and early
developed marvelous skill at the trade. He was obliged to leave Germany
because of his attempt to too closely imitate “the coin of the realm.”
Another noted American crook is R—— R——, now living a straight life. The
annals of crime do not furnish another like him.
When he began crime he was a man of fine physique, good address, suave
in manner, well educated and an accomplished writer for the press. What
led him to become a crook is not known.
R—— first came into prominence in 1882. At that time he played a bold
game to fleece several Yale College professors by means of bogus checks
which he desired cashed. He introduced himself to them as an Irish
nobleman named Lord Rossa, who wished to found a college in the United
States and sought their advice in the matter. He was not only a perfect
gentleman in manners but he was so scholarly that he readily threw them
off their guard. But the scheme fell through when they would not cash
his checks.
After this R—— went abroad, visiting Allahabad, Cairo and Paris and left
a trail of gigantic swindles in his path. In India he is said to have
swindled a prince out of a thousand guineas. Then he visited Cairo,
where he was able to swindle the Khedive of Egypt out of $5,000. He came
directly to Paris dressed like a Persian prince who could converse in
the Arabian language; he had with him several body servants and a cook.
The latter was secured to prove that he was a Persian of royal blood. In
Paris he had great success and was able to get acquainted with Sadi
Carnot, then President of France. After this he swindled several French
bankers out of $50,000 and decamped.
At one time he claimed that he was born in England, but this he denies,
asserting that he was born in Ohio and that his right name is Powers,
and that he was a school mate and an intimate friend of the late
President McKinley.
That he is a man of brilliant parts and an able writer cannot be denied.
A number of years since he was on the editorial staff of a Philadelphia
paper, often acting as its Washington correspondent. During the reign of
terror created by the Klu-Klux Klahn in North and South Carolina, R——
was sent to those states and faithfully reported for the paper the
status of affairs eventuating from the lawlessness of this well known
society which was organized to bulldoze the negroes and prevent their
voting, and to drive the carpet-baggers from the South, thereby securing
the domination of a political organization south of Mason and Dixon’s
line.
Periodical sprees are the cause of all his trouble. He runs short of
money and then utters worthless checks to fill his empty purse. In
April, 1901, he was sent to Sing Sing for four years for uttering
worthless checks. But for the clemency of Professor Hadley, of Yale
College, he would have been sent to Wethersfield Prison on the
termination of his sentence in New York.
It is his determination to devote the remainder of his life to
journalism and to never again collide with the law to such an extent as
to be deemed worthy of arrest and imprisonment.
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