Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-09-14
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2o3,4s2 $1,Oeo,s72
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$272


A similar examination was made on the 18th
OF August 1853, exhibiting similar result. The
excessin favor OF the Auditor, consisted in both
instances, of extra notes on nine banks-seldom
exceeding two sheets ($3o9 on any one bank,
and in some cases, smaller amount.
Having thus given formal correction to GER
tain Measurements more particularly affecting the
Auditors department, am glad to feel safe in
adding that the extent to which the forgery of the
-n~-~-7vf t1v-0 State stock Banks had attain.
ed, is probably much less than was at first antci
pated, and perhaps vastly less than it was intend
ed soon to carry it. Developments which have
fallen within my immediate knowledge during the
progress of recent investigations, justify the opin-
ION that not more than $4,000 Of the genuine
impressions of the Ohio State Stock Bank notes
have eyer reached the hands of the forgers, and
that two-thirds of that amount have never gone
into circulation, and still without the necessa-
~ filing up. Other developments bearing on
the subject afford sufficient reason for believing
that the forgeries, as far as they have gone, are
not limited to the notes of seven banks, as was
recently supposed, but extend to at least eleven,
It not to the entire thirteen.
It's not proper in the present communication
20 enter into detailed statement of the circum-
stances which led to the arrest of the wretched
man now in custody. It is sufficient to state,
that his guilt is not matter of suspicion, but has
been reduced to certainty by developments which
will come before the public in due time. His
position as bank note printer in the Office of the
engraver, who was employed to prepare and fur
nish the bills of the Ohio State Stock Banks,
gave him every desirable facility for committing
the fraud. To enable him to print the notes in
such quantities as might be required by the sew
eral banks, it was necessary that the bank note
plate should be placed from time to time in his
possession by the engraver and whilst thus in his
possession for legitimate purposes, he also printed
from it the notes which have since received the
forged signatures of the officers of the banks and
ofthe State Register
The foregoing statement, it is hoped, will serve
to dispel the mystery in which, the bank note for
geries have stood before the public. It is hoped
also that it will afford assurance that the si-
lence heretofore maintained by the undersigned,
has had its origin neither in an Indifference to
public sentiment NORM an inability to have re-
PEELED at any moment the various inuendoes which
have been directed at this Office.
Very respectfully,
WM. D. MORGAN, Auditor.
r. 8. Since the foregoing was written, I am
at liberty to add that a large amount of bank
bills, printed on genuine plates, and not yet filled
up with signatures, have been captured by officer
DefIaven, of the Cincinnati police. These bills
consist of some six thousand dollars on the Ohio
State Stock Banks and some four thousand dollars
on the Commercial Bank of Kentucky. The
same officer has also cuptured the genuine plate
Of the State Bank of Indiana, (four note, 10, 5,
andl) All these notes, as well as the plate al.
luded to, were abstracted from the establishment
in which the prisoner Lamb has been employed
during the last eleven years preceding his arrest
W.-D. M.
COLUMBUS, August Is, 1853.
The undersigned representatives of the Free
Banks of Ohio, having met in Convention at Co.
lunbus, to investigate the subject of frauds per-
petrated upon the circulation of the Banks which
we respectively represent, do hereby state that
from all the facts that have come to our knowl
edge, and from what we have no doubt is true il
the premises, the Auditor of State and all tn,
Clerks and Registers in his employ; are entirel,
exempt from all blame in the premises, and tina
theofice of the Auditor of State is in no wise &C
countable or censurable, in any degree, for sal
frauds; and we take great pleasure in bearin.
testimony, by our signatures, to our confidence
and regard for the late Register, John M. Arm
strong. and of our high opinion of his worth as
an officer
And we further bear testimony that VIM. Z
Morgan, Esq, Auditor of State, by his zeal an
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