New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-10-03
Tile L1TEST FRAUD.

The frauds of Morton in Philadelphia quick
II find a counterpart in New-GOrk. and, al
THOUGH the amount of money involved in this
latest case seems comparatively small to a
public familiar with gigantic robberies, the
circumstances are so peculiar that MI. Gii-
mans theft of quarter of a million will be-
come one of the celebrated crimes of the
day. If implicit confidence is ever justiiiablc
in business Transactions one would think
that it might have been so here. Mr..
Gilman was not one of the reckless and
daring operators typical of the speculative era.
He was apparently a safe and conservative
dealer in n most respectable line of business.
Everything about him, even to the weather.
beaten sign over his Office door, the old
mahogany table on which he committed his
forgeries, and the gray-haired clerk who now
stands bewildered by his flight, bore the stamp
of intense respectability His father before
him had been a respectable broker i'll the
same securities, at the same shop, so
that the wretched man who is now fugi-
tive from justice inherited a good name,
good connection, and good habits If
he gambled on Broad-st. he did it so qui-
city that nobo y found him out. If he
had any vicious eXtrayagances he managed to
conceal them. lie lived decent, sober, and
modest life, surrounded by his young family.
He was church member, and teacher of
Biblc-class. In society he was esteemed for
intelligence and gentle manners; in business he
was regarded as Il model of probity, a pattern
for young men.
Yet it is now certain that under this dec
orous exterior he had concealed, for at least
two or three years, course of systematic
fraud His pous zeal and his old-fash0ned
simplicity served as q cloak for deliberate
crime This is not apparently case in which
a fair life has been ruined under the assault
of passion and sudden great temptation. The
aggregate of his populations is made up Of
a multitude of small thefts, distributed over
a considerable stretch of time, so that
forgery with him became almost a habit.
Astonishment is expressed that no trace
can be found of all the money which
ne has raised by dishonesty; but when we see
how he raised it the mystery is explained.
Doubtless it was all frittered away, $1,000
Yesterday, $1,000 the day before. one forgery
committed to conceal another sin entailing, as
it always does, its long train of trouble and OF
aggravated temptations. We presume that
there will be found at the beginning Ct this
succession of frauds some disastrous secret
speculation from which the victim sought re-
lief in the well-knOwn way, by apprOpriating
another mans money in the honest expecta-
ton of putting it back again. 1t is the old
story, with the old result.
Probably, Mr.. Gilman was not, at first
hypocrte. If we suppose that having been
led into one crime he tried to retrieve himself
by madly tumbling into others, committing
theft after theft in the desperate attempt to
make himself an honest man, we can under
stand what fearful cares must have gnawed
all the while at his heart; we can almost
imagine that after such a long struggle
it may be a sort of relief to be found out.
The lesson of his ruin will be all the more
impressive if it prove as we suspect, that his
responsibility was not an artful pretence, but,
in weak way genuine and that his thefts
never brought him a moments satisfaction !;
on the contrary, that he looked forward to
them with dread, and committed them with
l0athing.