Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1883-05-17
LORD ASnBuRTON" ARRESTED.
The Career of n Noted FOrgcr-FioG,!.
ing the tountry Njth Forged CIrcu-
inr N0tcS-en Isis way Home To Die.

LohD AShBUklUN u ARRESTED.
ing the Country Nith Forged Circu-
lar Not.s-on asi. way Home 10 Die
From the New York Tribune
Detective Dunlap, of the Twenty
III til Precinct, yesterday afternoon ar
rested William Gritis, with hhll.dozen
aliases-a criminal whose career in
crime has been more than ordinarily
curious and romantic. Gritfis was ar
rested at No. POS East Fiftieth Street,
and locked up in the Thiltieth Street
station house on complaint of Thomas
kirkpat!. .cb, jeweler, of No. $50 Broad-
way. kirkpatrick alleges that in 1873
drlffis, who was then passing under the
title of Lord Ashburton, and asserted
that he was a wealthy English noblemau
travelling Ill this country for pleasure,
bought jewelry worth 81, GOO and paid
for 1t IN forged circular el0 notes of the
Union Banking Company of London.
Glltfis was the central figure of the band
of tolgers and counte:feiters who, in
the latter part of 1878, flooded the large
cities of this country with the forged
circular drafts. His career at that time
gave him much newspaper notoriety. AL
though comparatively ayoung man, be-
ing born IN lS49, he is now complete
physical wreck. Last night, when
locked up in the station house, he said
that he expected to live only short
time. He suffers from hemorrhage of
the lungs and aneurism of the heart.
Grltlis was bora in Dartmouth, Dav-
onshirc, England, and in ais youth went
to private school in London. In 1861
he was sent to Etop, where ne spent two
years. From that college he entered the
service of the Bank Of England as
clerk. While employed in this capacity
he became familiar with all sorts of
bank notes, and made experiments in
lithogrnphing and counterfeiting them.
After brief stay in this institution he
went to China and spent some time as
the confidential clerk of a wealthy tea
importer iu the cities of Hong Kong,
Shanghai and PekiD. Then for some
tanFaction of dubious morality he was
forced to leave the service of the mer-
chant, and he came to America. He
reached New York in 1867 aud for sew
eral years was employed as clerk and
lived Il moral life.
Becoming weary of morality he turned
his attention to his old pastime of litho-
graphing. He studied and experiment.
ed with marked success in this direction.
He became acquainted with Il gang of
torger5 who were thea operating this
city and was readily induced to become
one OF their number. Walter +. Floss
we'll, alias Esmond, was one of their
leaders.
Awaiting themselves of Grilfi5' kuowl-
edge OF European banking, they forged
untold quantities of the London bank
ing notes. kOuntze Broi hers, Jesup,
Patton q Co., and many other promi-
nent downtown firms were swindled by
the clever torgers. Not content with
passing their drafts, which were nearly
ali of the denomination Of GlO. they
unyeled over the country scattering the
furgeries broadcast throughout the prIn.
cpal cities of the Union. In Boston,
where G;itfis passed under tile alias of
NJ. w. Sayllle, he became acquainted
with a woman known rs GeOrgetta. The
forger induced the woman to accompany
him on his travels. They went west.
and under the titles OF lord and lady
Ashburton lived in surnptuous style at
the Lindell Hotel in 81. Louis. Super
lntendent Wailing heard Of him in that
city, ard sent Detective Cunning after
him. When the detective got there. the
t0rmer, warned of his coming. fled to
Denver. There he was found out by C.
G. Joy, Denver detective. Joy offered
to give him up to Superintendent Wall.
ing, provided he was we'll enough pnid.
Mr.. Walling's terms We're not high
enough, and Joy struck backmail bar.
gain with the bogus Lord Ashburton.
Together they started for San Francisco.
The woman, however, remained in Den
yer.
In San Francisco i. J. Baldwin. the
proprietor of the Palace Hotel, together
with Matthew Cahill, Brown & Thomp-
son and other stock brokers were SWIM
died by the swindler. He made thou
sands Of dollars and was freely bled by
JOY. Finally the Denver detective be-
came unbearable, and Grif1is told him to
leave him; he would never give him any
more money. Joy then denounced him
to the San Francisco police and the
criminal was arrested at once. Failing
to be indicted through some technicalitv
OF the California law, he Was sent to Vir-
glnla City and prosecuted or charges
brought by the Bank of Nevada. He
was sentenced to eight years in the pen
itentiary. This was in the fall of 1879.
Last November Griffis was released
from the Nevada penitentiary, as he was
thought to be dying. He went to San
Francisco and married a girl of 20,
distant relative. He took his bride to
the warm climate of Southern Califor
MIA. But he became rapidly worse in
health, and finally determined TO return
to his home in Devonshire, as he ex
pressed it last night, {" to die at home"
he reached this city few days ago.
Mr.. Kirkpatrick, the iewpler, who had
never forgotten the young English
nohleman who had deceived him with
the GlO.drafts, learned of his presence in
the city and had him arrested yesterday.
His young wife called to see her husband
III his cell last night, and the scene be-
tween the two was affecting.