Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-03-01
THE CAPTURED FORGER.
now HE AT LAST "wENT TO MEET"
RIGuTY-sEvEN INDICTMENTS.

I
THE CAPTURED FORGER.
. now HE AT LAST "wENT TO MEET
EIGuTY-sEvEN INDICTMENTS.
The New York World gives the fol
lowing account of Charles T. William
son, alias Perrin, alias Farmer, the
notorious bond forger arrested on Sat
urday, Feb. 10Th, and arraigned at the
court of general sessions before Record
er Hackott. He pleaded not guilty tc
sixty-six indictments for forgery anC
was then taken to the court Of oyel
and terminer, where he pleaded moi
guilty to seventeen similar indictments
oighty-seven in all. The minimum
penalty on conviction is five years on
each indictment, 1876 years in all. lie
was indicted on the 18th of September
1873, with Leonard Brown notorious
bond forger connected with the Roberts
and Gleason forgeries. Williamson
was then charged with offering thirty
forged 81, 900 of the New York Central
Railroad to Francis w. Holbroolx
Brown had tried to negotiate 10000 OF
Buffalo, New York & Erie r. X. bonds.
Williamson also stands indicted for at.
tempting to defraud the New York
Loan and Industrial Company oftwcn-
ty $1,000 first mortgage bonds of diff
ferent series To these indictments
until yesterday he had never pleaded,
although true bills were found against
him in September, 1873.
His arrest is believed to be very un.
welcome to some ofthe police detectives,
past and present, and in Wall street
the charge is made that it must have
been positively avoided, as Williamson,
an old hand and undisguised, has come
and gone at his will for months with.
out annoyance.
1t was during the summer of 1873
that the great bond forgery scheme
was first discovered and the series OF
arrests began. The detectives detailed
for Wall street work had noticed for
some time that known counterfciters
and go-betweens were in very friendly
relations with Wall Street frequenters
of doubtful reputation. 1t had been
intended by the combination to put at
least 81, 900, 000in forged railroad bonds
on the street, but almost at the start
the affair was discovered. Towards
the end Of August Detective Sampson
was informed that something was
wrong with some New York Central
Railroad bonds, consolidated issue, held
by Alcott & Co., 40 Bread street. A
few days before, man giving his
name as Leonard W. Brown, of 1l3
Broadway, had sold genuine Central
Pacific Railroad bond to Worster Sher.
man, Of No. o Nassau street On Au.
gust 30 he asked q loan of s25, 900 on
collateral of thirty bonds, one Of them
bearing the same number as the one
sold the day previous. The suspicious
Of Messrs. Alcott a. Co. were aroused
and the forgery was detected. Samp-
son was sent for, and Brown was ar
rested on leaving the office. He had
on his person twenty.eight bonds He
at once declared that hs was acting as
agent for G. ]. Williamson, Of 113
Broadway. Williamson was known
under an alias as IL. II. Williams, had
once been discharged from q position
as book-keeper TO Brooks Brothers, and
had generally tainted reputation.
The officers pushed their inquiries, and
found sixty-two forged bonds like those
already seized, and discovered that
about s250,000 worth had been ncgo-
tiated. A circular was issued warning
brokers against New York Central
skies, 1883 and 1887, and Buffalo, New
York 4 Eric sovcns. These latter
were most excellently engraved. Soon
after, James W. Johnston, lawyer OF
Williamsburg, was arrested with some
Of the forged bonds on his person.
Brown at the police court pleaded not
guilty and testified to receiving the
bonds from Williamson. lie was will
ing to tell all he knew, but the police
soon dropped him as knowing very
little of the principals in the affair. The
arrest of Gleason and Of Pettus out of
the State, and Roberts on Staten Island
with several minor captures, was sup
posed to have pretty eflectually broken
up the confederation Of counterfctcrs I;
but to this day the true story of the
whole company who were in IL az prin.
cipals, and how far, If at ALL the police
detectives were eimplicated, has not
been told. Implied condemnation of
the thieftakcrs and indefinite hints Of
other operations Of the gang have been
dropped from time TO time by those
already in custody, and Williamson has
the reputation of being weakened
and likely to "squcal," although TO this
some dissent, among them Detective
Sampson, who says the man knows too
much to tell it.
Williamson's history is remarkable
one. He has had many hair.brcadth
escapes from heavy punishment and
many sentences for small oficnses CON-
mlttcd in this city alone. His boldness
was peculiar. In his latest exploit he
visited the Office of Messrs. Rollins,
bankers and brokers, at the corner Of
Broad and Wall streets, in open day
light, where the Central Office detectives
are constantly found during the day.
Mr.. Rollins, the junior partner, gives
the following account of the attempt at
defrauding that firm. At the end OF
the year one of the firm dissolved part
nership and we thought that we would
take in another partner who had some
capital TO Invest in our business. We
advertised for such partner and stated
that capital would be required before
an agreement for partnership could be
entered into. About the 18th or 10Th
of last January n neatly dressed man
Of very quiet appearance entered our
Office and had an interview with my
brother, who is now in Europe, in ref.
crcnce TO the advertisement. A long
and agreeable conversation was had
with the gentleman, who gave his name
as Charles Farnham. He said his fami-
ly was well acquainted, and that he
himself was in good financial position.
He said he was anxious TO get into the
brokerage business, as. he was very
fond Of it's excitement. Our fcrmer
partner was Charles r, Pease, formerly
Of the United States Life Insurance