The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1873-07-31
NUMBER 8
i.forr ana : .UHarninr.

There died, last week. at Fort Washing
ton, a man who six-and-thirty years ago
was notorious throughout the land as the
ne man whose forgeries, up TO that pc
nod, had never in the history Of crime,
been surpassed IN magnitude Of amount,
oHskill of conception and execution. Even
FauHtleroy's we're, as compared with his,
the mersst trifes. They rose to millions,
and for several years We're carried on with
a celebrity, precision and success that were
amazing; nor IN that particular speciality
of crime has any successor reached the
aggregate Of enormity attained by him.
Benjamin Rathbun in early life remov-
ed from Chenango County to Buffalo. he
became proprietor of the Eagle Tavern,
and by cleanliness, order, and discipline
made it famous among the hotels Of the
country. Extending his business he be-
came interested IN lines of stages between
Buffalo and Albany, and started the no
ted Telegraph. Line, for SIX passengers
only" which was run at a speed higher
than had been previously attained by
coach in the United States, and made for
it a name among travellers from the West.
But hotel7keePing am, staging failed to
speculation. Lots without number at
prices without limit were bought, and
dwellings, stores aud warehouses were
erected. For the first, tune in the history
of the State q fever Of speculation broke
out which for yuniversAlity and wildness
has never been approached by any other
city IN. the Union, Rathbun was IN eV-
erything; nothing dannted him, his ex-
ample was so infectious that the grayest
and most timorous money grubbers were
drawn into the vortex, and Ia q night
made fabulous fortunes--on paper. i
= The plan of his forgeries was as inge-
nious as it was original. b To certain par
ties he would propose to buy certain
property, or build certain structures To
raise the necessary funds vita which to
initiate the enterprise, he would make his
note for five thousand dollars, payable in
m New Y York City at three. or six months,
and ask the party whose ii terests were to
be promoted to indorse the same. The
indorsement obtained he would resort to
his counting room and make from ten to
fifty notes, of the same date and amount,
payable at the same time and place, and
his clerk an expert penman, would forge
the Endorsement. To such magnitude
had these transactions grown, that a reg
ular Office was maintained IN this CITY for
the purpose of negotiating the paper, the
manager being the nephew During The
few years that the fraud was kept sup the
amount negotiated reached millions of
dollars AT length one Of the eve thou
sand dollar notes, bearing the forget en-
dorsement of the late David E. Evans.
then Agent of the Holland Land Compa-
ny at Batavia, was protested, and noiice
sent to him. - Mr.. Evans paid the note.
but on examining the back. found to his
dismay that his signature had beer. forp-
ed. True, he had indersed note Of th At
date, and for precisely that amount but
It was not this. Investigation followed,
the plot was discovered, and the whole
lniquity exposed to hight, aRathbun was
arrested, tried at Batavia convicted, SEN
fenced to hFe years IN Prison, and served
out his time, subsequently he came to
this city and opened alhotel in Broadway
near Oortlandt st., but was not very sue
eessful. : Afterward he kept for some
years the small Hotel at the corner of
Broadway and Forty-third st. OF all the
millions that had passed through his
hands, he never pat away dollar for
himself, ner could he at any time have
called himself the honest possessor. of. fifty
thousand dollars s.s- -'3Fai.9 ,-eil lIals
anhs-Peiva4s sf-t # this rem Ka5le man
was from his early manhood singularly
lrreproachablsa He was modest to q
fault, strictly temperate, never smoked or
cheweds never gambled, kept no equipage,
had mo aequRintance with ldinrsputable
people, avoided public places, INDUCED
IN no sxtraFagaRces, but devoted himself
assiduously to has business, he had lev &C.
quaintances, fewer friends, no companions.
To the past he never alluded He peali-
zedSto the full the result Of has acts and
meekly accepted the situation. Silently.
patiently, uncomplainingly he ploddsd on
his weary, cherries way, until finally, at
the ripe old age of eighty-two, himself
and his crimes almost forgotten, he gent
ly fades away
1t would seem idle to recall these incl
dents of = felony committed before most
OF our readers were born, if it were not to
point moral as old as society; that the
madness which springs from greed of
sudden gain leads naturally to crime. and
that 1t is rarely given to the acutest of
human lntellects to commit crime and
escape. The moral, we admit, is musty.
but it never ceases to be timely and in
general effective. The large majority of
business men are honest, and the exam
pie of Huch lament2ble lapses as those we
have recently seen undoubtedly is les
son to the young and warning TO the
WaVering.-Aes0 York Tribune.