The daily gazette., 1879-10-02

Walting Tor Cooper al "a 5la, ION lew
mil ont from that. city, and arrested
him on the train. Tie unfortunate
biide was nt tV a hotel aud her father
summoned by Telegraph. Cooper was
taken TO the Navy Yard In irons, aud
after speedy trial was found guilty and
senenc d 10 five years inlprisonm .nt
IN the MOyamensing penitentiary. There
he served out the full term of his sell
t,ncc, and in lS7 y regaihed his free
dom.
| IN NEW ORLEANS.
After his Liberation he went to New
Orleans, where llc obtained employment
as an agent for an insurance C ,mpany.
In this capacity lie went TO Columbus,
Miss, where lie again entered on
course Of crime. Soon after his arrival
there he formed the acquaintance OF the
Rev. seph B. Cottrill, and professed
to take Lively inter, st in religious mat
ters. lie even went SO FIR as TO an
nounce his intention to study for holy
orders. At tll's time there was residing
a. Columbus ve,y estimable widow
lady, Mrs. Green L. Hill, who was well
known and respected by everyone who
knew her. She was woman OF great
refinement and a prominent member of
the Methodist Church. Mrs. Hill, plior
i 10 Cooper's advent, had lost a son, for
whom she grieved much. She was
frequent visitor at the house of her
pastor, DR.. Cotiril, and under his roof
she first made Cooper's acquaintance.
He was very plausible young man,
apparently devoted to rel igious affairs,
and fso,n won Mrs. II l's confidence.
Their intimacy eventually resulted in
marriage OH the 3lst of August, 1871.
Thy lived for some time apparently
happy, but soon Cooper began to show
hi, true charac er and rapidly squander-
ed the property left his wife by her
former husband.
FROM BAD TO WORSE.
During this time he was in The habit of
visiting that portion OF the Bank OF
Commerce outside the counter allOt-
ted 10 customers. In tins way he man-
aged to get possession of few sheets OF
the banks letter heads and some enve-
lopes' He then visited the Post Office,
at which place he was well acquainted
and pushed the hands of the clOck some
twenty minutes ahead OF the right time.
Afterward, the POSTMASTER, not being
aware of this act, made up his mail 10
forward 10 the depot. When the mes
senger of the bank arrived with his let
ters he was Informed he was too late for
that days mail The banks letters were
placed ON IL table to be fol warded by the
next mail. G, o pei succeeded in puilo =
ing one OF these letters which was ad-
dressed to the cashier of the Mobile
Bank. Cooper FASTENED to private
room, read the cOntrnts AMI copied the
letter, Initiating The handwriting OF the
cashier of The Crlumbu, Bank upon one
OF the blank sheets he had previously
stolen. After forging The signature
thereto he placed all the checks and
bills contained in the original letter 10
this one v heh he had made. In addi-
tion 10 the contents of the original leu,
ter Cooper stated that the Bank OF
Columbus had on that day sold to Mr.
81 ,an sight draft on them-the
: Mobile Bank--for $4,000. He then
proceeded TO make this draft for S1S, 200,
. forging the signature of the Coluin bus
Bank. l. was made payable to Sloans
! order. The forged letters to the Mobile
, Bank alt o stated t iat,ts Mr.. Sloan was
stranger, IL would be unnecessary To re-
quire identification in Mobile, but fol
safety and identification Sloan's sigma
e tn-e was enclosed. This pretended sig
/, nature was put upon one corner OF INT
1 letter. Cooper then replaced the lettei
on the table in the Post Office, and IN
| course il was forwarded to Mobile. III
and rode down thirteen miles to the
main RAJ lrOad leading to Mobile. Fortu-
nately for him the train was some nOurs
behiud time. When il arrived he bought
a ticket for Mobile, and on reaching that
city found the bank closed. Next day
he presented the forged draft. The bank
officers paid him 6C0J In coin, giving
him New York drafts for the remainder,
After they had done this the bank Of
iicials became alarmed and telegraphed
to Columbus to know if the draft were
correct. The answer was that no such
draft had beeu drawn. Cooper was i'm
medlately arrested carried back 10 COL
uuibus and committed by the magistrate
for indictment by the Grand jury. He
persuaded his wife to stand by him anu
induced her to sell her property in order
to obtain bail. In tins she succeeded
and both left for New York. Mhence they
sailed for San Francisco, arriving III
March, 1915.
INsAN FRANCISCO.
Cooper saw an advertisement In a
San Francisco paper for warehouse
clerk, and applied for the situation. He
was employed by Mr.. j. Z. Treadweli at
a salary Of S65 per month. He remained
II Mr. Tread wells employ for some
time, ami then formed partnership
with Mr.. Frederick Elliott in the stock
broker business. This partnership asteu
only one year, when Cooper began TO
speculate on his own account. He had
been perfectly straight with Mr.. Treau
we'll. anu their relations continued 10 be
of a friendly nature. From time 10 time
Cooper assisted his old employer and
was very attentive to him during an at
tack of illness. When Treaiweli got
well he resolved to visit New York, and
the day before his departure Cooper
visited him to see If he could assist him
in any way Treadwell had packed ali
his papers and valuableS in large tin
box, and allowed Cooper to carry it to
Sather * Co. Is bank and deposit II there
during his absence. 1t is believed that
either during Cooper's connection with
Treadwell or during his visits he fitted IL
key to this box or that he stopped at
some locksmith's and had one fitted to
it, and then abstracted TreadwelI's bank
books aud a certificate of silver deposit
OF $4,000. Then he relocked the box
was on May ~, and Treadwell left for
the East the next day. Tieadwell had
on deposit with Luther, $4,000, and
| with the National Gold Bank and Trust
Company, $4,000. The former sum
Cooper at once began.to irausfer to the
Trust Company. The first check was
presented to Luther 81 Co. May Is, and
read, "Pay TO exchange account or bear
er $5 300" and was signed j. r. Tread
well. On May 25 TWO checks were
| drawn and collected in the same manner
for SIS 200 and So 800; July 2 one Tor S16,-
900, and on August ~ one for $4,000;
total presented, S56,000. He also uepo,-