Arizona weekly enterprise., 1882-04-22
TRAPS FOR THE URINARY.

The swindler is person who invaria- ply hourishes in all great cities, and who includes among his victims the rich and the poor alike. He heeces the million aire merchant and the poor emigrant who seeks this land to better his fort unes. For many years he prospered in this city, and it was almost impossible to bring him to justice. In nearly every case he would escape the meshes of the law either through political influence or the power of money. Of late, however, he has been hunted down, and very sel dom do we hear of daring swindlers es- caping with their booty. In order that the innocent may be upon their guard, a few of the traps laid for the unwary in this great city are exposed further on, and few instances of daring swindling are recalled to the mind of the reader.
 On May 2, 1866, man by the name of John Ross, who had been engaged in business as a broker in Wall street for about six or eight months, succeeded il obtaining $500, 900 from various bankers and brokers in the city on forged gold certificates apparently signed by the Continental Bank. Ross gathered in the whole sum in two hours and de- camped with his booty. He WAS never arrested, although detectives were im- mediately put upon his track. It was alleged at the time that the banking firm to which Ross presented the gold certificates at once forwarded them to the Continental Bank to see if they were genuine, and that the messenger returned .Aak 4Lo4 Rlo ao1h,o~ ofI o1o scrutinizing them, had pronounced them 10 be good. This statement WAS subse- quently denied by the cashier, but at any rate the banking firm sent the certificates the same day to the Com monwealth Bank, and they were passed by the Clearing House in the usual manner and the money paid to the Com monwealth Bank. The Continental as- serted subsequently, that the certificates were forgeries, and commenced an action for the recovery of the money. In this connection it may be stated that the signature of the bank teller of the Con tinental Bank, appended to the certif cates, was executed with remarkable skill, and the most experienced experts in the city at the time failed to discover any difference between the genuine sig nature and those alleged to have been forged.
 A novel case of swindling WAS discoy- cred in 1867, when a man named William Martin was arrested for defraud- ing nearly 2,000 merchants of this city out of various sums of money during the space of nine years. It appears that Martin, in 1858, commenced calling on the merchants with paper purportine to be subscription list for the avowed purpose of raising 8 fund for sick and destitute members of the Insurance Pa trol, at the same time representing that he was authorized to receive subscrip- tions for such fund, and that he was a member of the Insurance Patrol himself Beside the merchants, every hotel banking-house, shipping office, etc., hac been visited at least once or twice year by Martin and solicited to aid the sick and indigent members of the patrol When arrested there was found on the swindler a subscription list containing the names of at least 1000 merchants and other business men of this city, witt the sums subscribed by each, aggregat ing fully S10,000.
 III ULl0 year 1000 ind1N Ol tll0 1dTSt mercantile houses of this city. whose customers resided in the distant section: of the Union, particularly in the South West and Southwest, were sorely per plexed at being regularly appraised tha cases of goods received by their purchas CTS did not at all agree with the invoice accompanying them, and that in man, instances merchandise of an inferio quality had been substituted for the al ticles bought. At first it was suspecte' thot the steamship and railway compa uics were guilty of the wrong g-doing, but as the complaints did not seem to di minish the matter was put in the hands of the police, who succeeded in placing the blame upon the shoulders of the cartmen who had been intrusted witt the shipping of the goods. The latter it was discovered, after receiving the cases for shipment in good order, in stead of proceeding to the vessel ol freight depot, where they could shiE them, were accustomed to drive to cer tain fences and there open & case ol two, extract certain valuable pieces anC substitute for them goods of an inferiol quality, furnished by the keeper of tn, "fence." The first cartman arrested confessed that he alone had stolen il this manner Sl0,GO0 worth of goods il twelve months, and it was @ matter o impossibility to place any figure on tn amount of the thefts.
 Eugene Lagrave is a name very famil iar to many of our dry goods merchants whom he swindled out of $600,00 Thi sharper commenced life as a brush maker, and, after making $50, GOO in hi business, went into Wall street and lost all. He was next heard from as a loane of money on diamonds, watches, etc. from which he was forced to retire b
 thepolice Afterward he came before tn public as the possessor of forged bonds and subsequently of stolen securities
 He managed, however, to escape pun
 ishment in all these cases. We the
 find him on Broadway as a merchant
 He hired large store and fitted 1t II , in a gorgeous manner. He then wen
 to Stewards, bought bill of goods, rer rcsenting himself as a newly -establishe
 merchant who had q large Western trad [ and who would buy quantities of good:
 Fol these he paid cash. His addres:
 impudence, etc., and the fact that tn
 goods were not going out of the city, il
 spired confidence, and, when he rt
 entered the store few days after, L | ,nuld get all the goods he wanted at si months He went to all the big dr
 goods houses and obtained credit in th
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