River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-11-18
FIFTY YEARS A ROGUE.
Canter. the Celebrated FOrgcr. In a
Philadelphia Prison.
Philadelphia Times

audacious forgery, or other crime
which served to lift him above the com
mon herd of petty rogues. The East
ern penitentiary, or Cherry Hill, as il
is termed, is no exception IN the pos
session Of these envied rogues. Amopg
its resident population are double-dyed
villains whose bloodthirsty instincts
have been satiated in the life-current oil
their victims; bank robbers, who would
scorn to undertake any operation ex-
cept where the spoil promised to be
among the hundred thousands; forgers
who have SO successfully initiated the
handwriting of other people that the
bank accounts of the latter have been
depleted many thousands Of dollars.
One of the ''lions" in the collection of
roguery ut this famous prison is an
aged individual with an eye like a
hawk, who, within a few months past,
has begun to betray the symptoms of
breaking up, and no wonder. consider
! ing that he is a seXagenarian and has
passed half Il century of his career in
the practice eff the forgerer's art, and
! doing service to the state for his mis-
deeds. Twenty-Five years of his life
have drifted away behind the walls of
Sing Sing and Auburn prisons, New
York state, and he is now doing this
state long penance for implication
with the celebrated Safeguard insur-
ance frauds, in which Mailman, Hit
and others were implicated, The pris-
oner was convicted under the name of
George Ripley, but he has been known
| for years to the detectives as Jack
Canter. Long years of criminal exper-
| imentation has made him familiar with
| all the devices and tricks of the forger's
art, so that the imitation of signatures
has come with him to be second nature.
! He is one of the men whom it is safer
! to have under lock and key than to al
| low them to be at liberty
| His manners and conversation pro-
| claim him to be entitled to his preten-
sion that he received superior educa-
ton at some of the best universities
abroad. He says he is native of
South Carolina. He was educated in
the best schools of Europe and studied
medicine and surgery and took regu-
| lar degrees. Most of his knowledge
was gained in the most famous schools
of France. His father gave carte
blanche in the matter of expenses.
The great point was to give his son a
finished education His name first
appeared im criminal annals forty two
| wears ago in connection with the coun-
terfeiting of notes of the state bank of
South Carolina These were not put
into circulation at once, but were sent
over to New York and there used in
election betting They were so well
executed that they readily passed into
circulation. The forgery and coun-
terfeiting were traced to Jack, and he
was arrested and sent to the eastern
penitentiary for ten years. Some time
ago one of the inspectors recalled the
fact to the veterans attention, but at
first he protested oblivion of it. In a
moment he recollected it and told the
name Of the man for whom the work
vas executed. His memory was re-
freshed by file of a New York Grim
inal newspaper, which printed an ac-
count of the whole affair He passed
subsequent terms in New York state
prisons for forgery until his reputation
came to be as national as that of Cross,
Pettis, Brockway, and other noted
forgers. He has the whole minutiH of
the art at his fingers ends, and is aided
by his mprehensive knowledge of
chemistry.
In his last incarceration in Sing Sing
prison, New York, he was selected to
Of his skill in accounts and his superb
penmanship. He turned the latter adj
vantage to account in way that
startled the prison authorities before
long and procured his dismissal from
the easy berth he was occupying. The
discovery was made accidentally, as all
discoveries of rascality are made, that
Canter had altered the records so that
the sentences of some principal con-
victs had been remarkably cur
tailed 1t was charged that this
was done through the corrupt
work of some of the outside
friends of certain bank robbers. Canter
was next heard from in Philadelphia in
1876, when he was arrested under the
name Of George Ripley for collision in
heavy insurance frauds, involving the
alteration Of stock certificates, which
formed part of the assets of the Safe
guard Insurance company, from a low
figure to one proportionally higher. He
was arrested, convicted, and setenced
to n long term of imprisonment, which
is likely to be his last, as recently he
began to succumb to the natural de-
bility of old age He has often been
complimented by the prison officers up
on the cheerful contented spirit he
shows and his freedom from FESTIVE
ness. mo he replied to an inspector.
II cont allow myselfto worry. | have
my reading and my guitar and my
shorthand writing. keep all these
up and find diversion enough to keep
my mind from brooding. leave that
for the numbskulls. | get my cell
mate to dictate to me from the papers,
and write it all down in shorthand.
Nothing makes man break quicker
than the lack of occupation and diver
sion. I'm going to put this sentence
through / think" Notwithstanding
his cheerfulness and confidence, how
ever, it is apparent that the body is not
strong enough to execute the work the
intrepid will has set down for it. 'Ah.
that old Sammy Tilden and Sinclair
TOusey, his Secretary of State, hood
winked me nicely" he remarked on
one occasion. After | came here you
know. they sent on a commissioner to
see me to find out something about
the abuses and favoritism at Sing Sing.
| knew all about it, and they extended
promises to me which | placed full
confidence in. They took my state
ments for three days and it was long
one, and made many printed pages.
Well, they got that and ferreted out the
handwork at Sing Sing, and that was
the last of it, Here | am and here |
am likely to stay till my time is out. |
saved New York state many thousand
dollars
Several months ago there was a con-
test in New York courts over the will
of deceased judge. There was a
codicil to the will, the validity of which
was disputed. The parties interested
in proving it to be bogus sent on COM
missioner to have an interview with
Canter, who was reputed to be the man
who mad forged it. A United States
! commissioner and the executor obtain
ed a pass and visited the Eastern peni-
! Tertiary, where they saw the forger.
When they told him what they wanted
and how important it was, he repond-
ed: Gentlemen | won't get into
any trouble or criminate myself by any
thing may confess, will I?' He was
assured that not ing would be done to
injure him.
( III