Columbus Democrat. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-18??, 1877-10-19

Ior money, and had filled ont a
requisition signed in blank, and sent
i on. So he asked the clerk 10 hold
It over until be heard from him. In
day or two Spalding came tearing
back to Washington, saying that
something was wrong. He then
asked 20 see the requisition, and al-
ter a long examination pronounced
il a forgery, but so expertly done
and faithfully worked out in all its
details as to almost defy detection.
Then the next thing e.--s@Athe
-,.uuay. Elorss eks detectives
were on the hunt, bdt Cooper was
not even suspected.
One day it was discovered that
other forged requisitions bad gone
through the Department and had
actually been paid, and the search
became livelier than ever. In q
couple Of days a dispatch came from
a banking-house in Philadelphia:
Treasury draft, No. -, for
s100, 900, payable to order Of Pay
master R. W. Allen, Norfolk Navy
Yard, has been presented at this
bank for collection. This is a sim
gular course for such a draft to
take. Is it all right?"
The Secretary at once telegraphed
Allen, asking what he meant by
such an irregular proceeding. Al
len replied that he knew nothing
of such a draft. Then the detec.
tives started for Philadelphia, and
with the bank officer, and
the result was the instantaneous
that the draft had been
sent to the bank by Cooper.
In the meantime Cooper was in
ignorance of what had been
going on He had been engaged to
a daughter OF J. d. Defrees, the
Printer, and the very
day of this discovery was his we'd
ding day. The papers err in saying
that che was fifteen years Older
than he. On the contrary, she was
not yet seventeen, and one Of the
loveliest girls in Washington
While the detectives were making
their discovery in Philadelphia, the
wedding was going on in great
style. The couple were married in
the morning and took the noon
train for Philadelphia, where
Cooper intended to stop, draw bis
S100, 900 and then, with his bride,
fly tho country. OF course she was
innocent OF the whole thing, and
for days and days after the crash
her life was despPired Of. The de-
tectives al once C6ncIu1ed not only
to arrest their man but to do it be-
fore the ink on the marriage certi6-
cate was dry, for reasons which at
once suggested themselves al proper
and right both to Mr Dcfrees and
his daughter
Accordingly they posted them.
selves on Cooper's oOvements, and
when the train Stopped at a small
station on the outskirts of Phila-
delphia, they boarded it and ar
rested the culprit. Ills young wife
was sent to a hOtC her father
for. c was taken
to the Navy Yard IN irons, from
whence, after trial and conviction,
he was sent for a term of five years
(not six) to the Eastern PeniIen-
tiary. / have never heard Of him
since until read Of his doings here.
He served bis full term in the peBi-
tentiary. His young wife, when
she recovered from the shock, had
her marriage promptly annulled,
on the score of fraud and nOn-cOn~
The papers are, there
fore, wrong IN saying that his pres
cnt wife is a daughter of Defrees.
When the Coopers left this city 1t
appears that they represented chat
they were going to Lake Tahoe.
They went, however, to San Jose,
as will be seen from the following
extract from the San Jose ARGUS"
at is understood that these for.
geries were committed by Cooper,
who, in company with his wife, left
San Francisco, stating that he was
going to Lake Tahoe. II that was
ever his intention, he changed his
mind, for about that time he made
bis appearance 10 San Jose, accom-
panied by his wife, four fine horses,
a coupe, a carriage, hostler, sew
oral dogs, numerous cases of cham.
payne, aud a lady who was regis
tered at the hotel as Mrs. MesseF.
The party put up at the hotel, and
in a day or two Mr.. Messer, the hus-
band Of the lady last referred
to, put in an appearance,
and they started in on a season Of
extravaganza that made our staid
people open their eyes. Champagne
was their ordinary drink, and
money was scattered with a pro-
fuseness that would soon have ex-
hausted the purse of FOrtunatus.
1t was harvest time for the hotel
walters and the stable boys, Nearly
every evening they might have
been seen on the road behind a
four.in-hand Of blooded horses, ex-
hibiting themselves to the commu-
nifty in all their brilliancy. Cooper
was tolerable handsome man, OF
about 80 years of age. His wife ap-
parently was somewhere in the
neighborhood of 45, and, as VIC uns
derstand, held considerable in real
estate located 10 Kentucky. Messer
was still older than Cooper, and was
presented as tho latter's private sec
rotary. After a brilliant season Of
about two weeks, the party disap-
4