Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-04-04


; modern commerce. 1t is no isolated frau
= committed by an ordint ry gang of forger
for the sake of 4 few hundred pounds
is as elabOratea conspiracy as was ever con
certed at New York to gain the command o
n railway or the bullion market, and mus
evidently have been carried out by men o
considerable acquaintance with Commercial
affairs, and commanding large capital
The manner in which the plot was laid indi
Gates the possession of very complete infor
, nation respecting the management of bust
ness in the city The object was to get
forged bills discounted Now, the bank O
England exercises very great caution in ad
mitting new customers to the privilege o
obtaining discount. Any person who
desires to open discount account, must
be introduced by one of the directors, and
consequently, very careful inquiries are
made into his respectability and solyency
1t is highly improbable that the conleder-
ate ola gang of fforgers would be able to pro-
duce sufficiently satisfactorily recommends
tions to induce the bank to grant him dis
count accommodation. But the bank has a
branch in Burlington Gardens, which does
an entirely different kind of business from
the parent establishment in the city. Ii Is
intended for the convenience of gentlemen
/
might find it incOnyenient to journey to the
city in order to transact their occasional
business. 1t Is mot, therefore, ordinarily
concerned with the large bill transactions
of city commerce, and in consequence is less
bound by strict regulations in dealing with
any business of that nature which might
accidentally be brought to it. The conspira-
tors must have been aware Of this. and they
laid their plans for approaching the bank
of England by this weaker portion of its
defences.
The person, accordingly, who Is now
being sought by the police, commenced by
| opening a deposit account of the ordinary
| character with the western branch Of the
bank. For this purpose he would need
only an introduction by some customer,
and the only evidence Of solvency the bank
would require Of him would be the deposit
of a sufficient cash balance. This was, of
course, forthcoming. and constituted part
Of the capital with which the scheme was
carried on. of course, all the money thus
invested would, it was expected. ultimate
! ly be recovered but the gang must have
been well supplied with funds in order to
afford to keep a large sum of money in
vested, as it were, in the speculation.
The manager of the plot was in no hurry,
and took care To gain good footing before
| he ventured on his ultimate enterprise.
| lie behaved for some time just like an or
binary customer of good resources. lie
/ drew upon his balance and renewed It,
but kept il always at good figure After
a while he deposited SOme bills. They
We're good and genuine bills. Still he was
careful not TO be hasty, and he continued
/ his transactions with the bank until he
! had acquired the reputation ola person en-
| gagged in legitimate commerce and thor
oughly Trustworthy. At length the mo-
| ment came for the presentation Of forged
| bills. They were discounted without he,i
/ tatiOn. and the authors Of the fraud had, TO
/ all appearance. succeeded i'm safely pocket
| ing about ElOO. 600 Some Of the money.
| il appears. was invested in United States
/ bonds, so that 10 the last they might avoid
/ the appearance of dong anything unusual
/ They are said 10 be Americans. and
what more natural than that they
| should desire bonds of their own
country All these arrangements were
masterpieces of ingenuity and patience.
/ But the bills themselves must have required
/ the greatest amount Of labor. In the first
/ place many of the large firms upon whom
| the bills purp0rted to be drawn are in the
| habit of using peculiar kind of paper,
/ with certain water marks and printed
matter All this would have to be initiated,
[ and. a. the bills were drawn on more than
one firm. there must have been several such
/ limitations There remained the drawing
/ of the bills and the afhxing OF the signatures
and each bill must have required n series Of
/ feat> in successful forging. Some bills were
/ backed by several acceptors, 80 that there
might easily be as many a half a dozen
| signatures on a single bill. Yet the bills
We're - perfect that not one of them was
| questioned on the ground of the acceptance
| not appearing genuine. The plot had to
l all appearance. a success which IT, cOnsum-
mate skill and patience deserved. The
money was obtained. The bills were drawn
I at three month";, date. no further Inquiry
was likely to be made about them until
| they fell due. and the fOrger> would have
/ ample time for placing themselves far be-
| yond all risk of capture. But 1t l. rarely
| that these c0n~piracleS are not marred by
/ some utterly gratuit0u> oversight, and the
| execution of this scheme was marred by the
/ inevitable flaw. The men who had eXertet
| q skill. foresight, and perseverance sufficient
| 10 insure the unhesitating acceptance VI
/ forged bills could not escape one trivial
I hlunder. which revealed the whole plot.
| They presented two bills in which the date
I ofacceptance had been omitted. The whcle
| calendar was at their disposal they knew
perfectly well that q single slip in the usual
] iormalitie~ would be fatal, and vet they fell
/ into the folly of marring their whole scheme
| for lack of date Inquiry was, of course,
| made of the firm whose acceptance was thus
undated it was discovered that the hi4
was not genuine, and the whole series were
then found To be iorgeries. How much
| further the plot might have been carried it
j. impossible to >ay.
Thus conspiracy, which must have re-
| quired months of work. the most patient
| ingenuity, sustained management, and the
| expenditure of large capital. has suddenly
| collapsed for lack of nail and the whole
| labor is lost Ii Is difficult TO know whether
to feel more surprise at the misdirected
| energy required for such a scheme, or at
the evidence it affords Of the dangers to
which our elaborate system of commercial
| finance Is necessarily exposed. Considering
/ the millions which change hands day hy
| dav by the mere process Of indOrsng bits of
paper, it Is only wonderful that more for
/ geries are not attempted. But it requires
| qualities quite out of the common 70 carry
| out plot of this magnitude and elabora-
/ ton. 1t was. in the first place, a specula-
| tiOn of the highest rashness These men
| staked large sums of money on the chance
of their being able to pass off successfully
| a complicated series of tOrgerieS. The same
amount of money invested in legitimate
| enterprise. and applied with similar ener-
| ", could not have failed to yield an abun-
| dant return. What Is the perverSity which
| drives men of these talents and emporium
| ities into career in which they risk every
| thing on the mere chance that not n single
element in their plan will fail them? lt is
not the work of an ordinary thief who might
| forge to obtain the immediate necessities of
/ life 1t is more like the desperation of
| gamblcrs-the class who have been dispersed
over Europe by the closing of the gaming
/ tables on the Rhine, who find pleasure in
| stalking everything they have on mere
chance. The prompt discovery, however,
will hardly fail to act as severe cheek on
similar conspiracies.
LET Her DRvE-In The Journal of last
week you alluded to a Western clergyman
who preached from the text, Let her
drive Brooklyn claims the honor of
originating the sermon from that passage.
We had preacher who was young, tonguey
and eccentric. He was wonderfully popular
for while, and no place conld hold the
! people when he preached. His mode of
talking up collections was novel. Before
the plate was started on its rounds it was
brought into the pulpit. 1t was the
pastor practice to come to his feet, take
out his wallet, lay bill on the plate, and
do it with an air which said Il would
like to see the man who would do less than
that The boys said the bill was taken
back in the vestry. One hot Sunday night
the pastor came into his pulpit dressed in
white-white coat, vest and pants, with
red necktie fastened to his collar. After
the preliminary exercises he rose, threw his
coat back, put his thumbs in the armholes
of his vest, and gazed steadily at his congre-
CATION for a minute or two amid profound
silence. "Let her drive said the pastor
He waited a moment and then repeated,
Let her drive Lowering his voice he
said ''You will find the text in Acts
27:I5." At the close of the service plain
looking man addressed another saving
'Can you tell me who this man is that
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