River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-10-23
THE FORGER,S BRIDE.
Recalling the Wedding of William Rim.
gold Cooper in Neutrality-suspicious.
Bridal Trip TO Prison.
philadalnhia Tlmas

Philadelphia Times.
The recent arrest, in England, Of VIM.
Ringold Cooper reviyes the memory of
the social as well as political success
in this city of the daring. INSCRIPTIONS
forger and scoundrel. During the winter
of 1866 there appeared in Washington
handsome, dashing young man, who
represented himself to be the son OF an
English nobleman. He made great
parade of his aristocrstic lineage, and
asserted that, impelled by love of ad-
ventures, he had come to this country
and had done valiant service for the
union by deeds of daring in the navy.
, Mr.. Welles was then secretary Of the
navy, and was terribly imposed upon.
Cooper trumped up a plausible reason
Tor desiring clerkship IN the navy de-
partment, and obtained it without any
trouble. This situation enabled him to
study the handwriting, as we'll as the
business of paymasters. The gentle
man was too elegant for work, and
passed his time driving fast horses and
counting the girls. OF course, | don't
know how many affairs he had on hand
at the same time, but / know OF one
other than that OF Miss Mothershead,
Mr.. Defrees' niece, not daughter, as has
been published, whom he married. A
retired army officer had an only daugh-
| ter, who was charming musician. Mr..
Cooper devoted himself to her. He
had stylish team, and the young lady
shared his rides. The couple became
engaged, and when Mr.. Cooper was
laid up with smallpox the romantic
/ young lady wrote the tenderest notes to
him and daily sent delicacies made by
| her own fair hands. She believed him
to be immensely wealthy and lis
tened with delight to his Claude Mel
MOTTO descriptions of the home and
! estates of his ancestors in England.
The girl was really refined, well educat-
| ed, and of good lineage, but he always
4 impressed her with the idea of her in
| ferlority to him, and that it was great
| condescension on his part to notice her.
She, like so many American girls, tame
ly submitted, and did not evince the
/ slightest spuEk until he deserted her
and married Miss Mothershead, whom
he supposed to be wealthy. His forger-
les were discovered several days before
his marriage, and it seemed cruel to
allow the ceremony to proceed when
the detectives were outside of Mr.. De-
frees house, and followed him and the
bride to the train, taking passage with
them and not losing sight of him for
one instant At Havre de Grace the
arrest was made. Cooper begged the
| detectives not to let the arrest be known
until he reached Philadelphia and
! placed his bride in an hotel. To this
they agreed. He returned to the poor,
unsuspecting girl, sat beside her, and
entertained her most agreeably all OF
the evening. The party proceeded to
the Continental hotel, Philadelphia.
where Cooper engaged room, escorted
his bride to it, and then, with the prom
Use OF returning soon, left her. She
never saw him again. Vainly did she
watch and wait during the long hours
of the night. In the morning her uncle,
Mr.. Defrees, arrived and told the dread
full truth to the frightened, horror-strick-
en- girl. He brought her back to his
home, which she had left ONLY the Gay
before SO bright and happy. Before
leaving this lady will add that Mr..
Defrees quickly obtained divorce for
his much-loved niece, and Miss Mothers
head returned to Indiana. In few
years she again married, and, / believe,
has been SO happy that, except for the
frequent turning up of re scoundrel
who so cruelty deceived her, she would
have forgotten this dreadful episode of
her youth.
When Cooper left his bride in her
chamber at the Continental the detec-
tiyes were waiting to conduct him TO
prison. His trial and conviction soon
followed. 1t became known that he
was the son of humble parents in Della
ware. His mother was widow, and
testified that he was always bad and
unprincipled, and used to invent false
hoods to suit his every purpose. She
had known nothing about him during
or after the war. Cooper received the
mild sentence of five years in the
Moyam ensing prison. He served out
his term, and has led the life of a
| forger ever since. He deceived men
with the same facility that he did
women.
The generals daughter, whom Cooper
Tilted, of course felt much chagrined
when she heard that Cooper had mar
ried another, but the news of his dis
grace so quickly followed thai she felt
thankful for her escape from worse
humiliation. She Immediately dis
patched her father to the navy depart
ment to beg the secretary to give him
an order for the delivery of her letters
souvenirs which might be found among
Cooper's papers, which, of course, had
been seized. | was present when the
general came in with the package. The
young lady sprang from the sofa to re-
| ceive them, when her mother cried out:
Don't touch them, they may be in
fected with smallpox. General, take
them to the kitchen and put them in
the range" but the daughter
would inspect the bundle first.
Every letter was folded and
briefed like business document. Each
letter was numbered, and his comments
upon the contents of the letters were
recorded on the backs. One read:
Dear little -, how she loves mew
! Some ofthe reflections were not so com.
plimentary, and the young lady finally
] yielded to her mothers command that
the general should consign the package
to the fire, nor was she satisfied for sew
eral days that the entire family might
not be infected with smallpox by the
handling of the tender missives which
had been sent daily to beguile the tedi-
UNI of the invalid's sick-room.
Cooper was as successful in California
and England as he was in Washington.
1t seems strange that no one ever recog-
nized him as the ex-convict. He had
many disgraceful transactions when he
was with the feet on the Mississippi dur
ing the war, and yet he came direct
from them to Washington, where he
was in daily danger of being confronted
with the officers whom he had defraud-
ed. In San Francisco he was Away
exposed to recognition, for he does not
appear to have adopted aliases, and in
England he has been equally bold. OBJ
enreizer, IN Dickens No Thoroughfare'
says the world is SO small and narrow
that we are always running across the
same people, but this has not been the
case with Cooper, for he does not APP
pear to have ever been recognized until
he was detected in one of his clever for
geries, aud then he has been identified
as the most successful forger among the
Coopers.
A Pair of Sweet Voices.