Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1882-07-08

Prisoner No. $50, 10 the Eastern Peu.
itentlary. Pennsylvania, chucAles 10 h,n,.
self and, laying one finger Alongside 0. bis
wrinkied nose. eloses one eye and srins
every time he thinks OF spiders and aieA
No. So9 10 4 dimi nuiivc fellow. bu, he
makes up in mental acumen what he lacks
IN height 7.sas Is known 10 The world
outs de as Jack CAnter. the fo,ger, bu,
Canser Is not his name, ''by Q juSful;:' a.
he says lie Is fond o: comparing the
Eastern PcnitentiAry. on accoun, OF its
radisting wings and intcrsecting corr,dors,
10 gigantic spiders web, and the crimi.
mails who enter Its environs TO the flies who
fall victims 70 the spiders OF the law; bu,
now he prefers 10 substitute lawyer for
flies and when he thinks OF lAwve{S il calls
up thoughts Of pardon brokers. and tha, 10
the one main reason why he sm,lca. A
well-known criminal lawyer, who is al
legged to be in the ring OF PARTON brokers',
several days ago obtained q pass To visi,
the Pentent.ary 10 interview Can,er re-
garding pardon. The visit was entirely
graiui.ous. as Can,er bad not sen, for the
lawyer. The latter. however, remarked
that he had been requested 70 call by .
Trend OF the prisoner. Canter Concluded
10 play him. q little 10 see what he was
after. The lawyer said his terms would
be $ioO down and q like sum when the
pardon was obtained. 1929 demurred 10
these figures and succeeded IN beating
down the fee. The lawyer said he had
the case OF another pris whose pum-
Der he mentioned to advocate before the
Pardon Board, and could as well attend 10
two cases as one. When the lawyer
heard how much money, invested in city
loans, CAnter had TO his credit in the
charge Of Warden Cassidy he pr,cked a,p
his ears and became still more solici.ou
TO push the case. The willy convict hav-
ing fooled the lawyer long enough dis
missed him. and then warned the other
convict, whose number be had obtained
to save his money and let the lawyer se-
verely alone. Canter Is perfectly posted
on the intricate ways OF the pardon
brokers, having read the articles published
in TnE TINES exposing their CT 0 ,ked ways.
He made up his mind long ago TO keep ont
Of their clutches, knowing fnll well tha,
most OF tue criminals Of the Pen,,ent,ary
who invest their savings In the delusive
hope OF obtaining q pardon are doomed TO
disappointment. Once the lawyer gets
their money, that 10 the last OF IT, When
they complain they are put of with prom
lses which are never realized.
No. ,S29 has been Q great rogue In his
time and has had his vita sharpened lie
Is q native South Carollnian OF q good
family. His father sent him abroad when
he came to q mans years and had HIM
educated as a physician and chemist in
| the best schools OF Paris But when be
came back to America, instead of applying
his chemical skill to honest purposes he
degraded 1t TO the arts Of the forRcr and
counterfei.er. He became one OF the
most sk:lful men in the usiness. He was
| genius. lie could make paper and inks
and chemicals for extracting the Inks
! He could engrave on copper and steel and
print sonds and notes as we'll ~ the best.
He even worked for the government and
learned the mysteries OF the fabrication of
bonds and greenbacks lie knows how
the lead transfer plate Of the famous 7-3O
bond was taken from the Treasury PRINT
ing office and lots OF other things. He is
q methodical old fellow, too, Is 7 ,s29. with
all his knavery. He has huge scrap books
in which he has kept for twenty Year,
past the history Of all the noted forgerles
and counterfeiting cases. When he was
confined in Sing Sing prison ten years ago
for forgery he was chef book keeper.
He entered into conspiracy with some o.
the prison officials by which the State
was detraudsd by means Of ''raiscd" bills
for supplies Gamer erased the real fg
ures on some with chemicals and filled in
others OF an excessive amount However,
be took the precaution 70 put secre,
mark on each OF the ''raised" bills. When
an invest gation followed Canier Indicated
the altered bills and the officials had u
make good the overcharge. lie Also exer
cised his ingenuity in altering the tims
record OF some Of the convics by which
thsy escaped serving considerable of theil
terms OF imprisonment.
lie also had q hand IN the sale OF ,
lime quarry located In the Sing Sins
Prison yard TO the State authorities, sf,c
the officers had made q good thing Of i
by developing the hmestone trade b,
means Of convlc, labor and fuel furn,sLel
by the State itself These facts and muci
more Canter furnished 70 Governor Tilden
through his Secretary Of State. sinclsl
Tousey, bu, he claims that, instead d
interesting themselves as they had prom
lsed, in getting him paruoned from 'h'
Eastern Peni,entiAry, after he had divulges
the information, they unzra.efuily wen
back on their pledgea. CAnter WA con
vic:ed IN 1876. under the name Of Ripley
10, completely II the attempted ;rau1!s o'
Insurance ConmiAAi oLer ForSser, by iui
posing upon him altered and stolen bond
As assets OF the Safeguard insuraoce C,E
pany, and he has but few fronsas
his sentence yeti serve When he goe
ou. he will have enough uaoaey 70 ke<
hin tor the res: of lis life During b.
lmprisonu enis his investments have bee
growing. and ihls knowledze coming I
,ne ears o; tie parton brokerage 'rasesnn
is supposed to have inci.ed The schefn
which The o.d fellow fruE ra.e1