Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-22
5000 FORGED NOTES.
The Remarkable Career of a PennsyI.
Vania Grocer


LANCASTER, Dec. I9.-Financial circles
were startled this morning by rumors Of ex-
tensive forgeries of names OF prominent clti-
zens to notes for large amounts, and involv-
ing not only the banks of the city, but also
many citizens. The affair eliminated this
afternoon IN the arrest, shortly after , O'Clock,
of Joseph Herzog, grocer, of this city, who
last Monday made an assignment OF his prGp-
erty for the benefit Of his creditors after
having confessed judgment in favor OF his
father in-law, Dana Graham, for $l4, 900, and
Execution issued.
NAN examination Of the outstanding claims
Nlnst HerzOg developed the fact that forged
p5lRr, aggregating thousands of dollars, was
atlb lbAbearing the name of HerzOg as maker
and nuWbers OF friends and relatives as in
dOrsersSNA fter making the discovery Mr..
Wilson tfi(gnOrning visited all the city banks
and informlA them that notes held by them,
purpOrtlng tCAN2ve been indorsed by various
individuals, wSM Morgerles. Among the notes
held by the LaneCAer County Bank were two
indorsed by jacob Nwers. wealthy retired
grocer Of this his city tE for 81 SoO; was dated
counted by the bank - Dec. Is. The notes
were made payable to HNHZog, and purDOrted
to have been indorsed Bowers It was
were fOrgeries, and the baraA ARshier immedi-
ately made complaint beforeSsVkerman Barr.
HerzOg was arrested at his ~ where he
was confined to his room by illntiN
1t will be impossible, of cOurse,AQr some
days yet to tell the exact amount Oa&Orged
paper eXtant. There are at present BeAank
maturing $4,000 of notes. the greater N Aof
which are forged. In addition to this th%sl4s
at least $4,000 outside in the hands OF privSTe
holders. The notes are in every bank In the
city except that OF Amos S. Henderson. The
Farmers National Bank holds between S25,-
900 and $4,000 of the paper. The Lancaster
County National holds over $2o, 900, and all the
others hold between $4,000 and $1,000. 1t is
believed that the two national banks men
toned above will be the heaviest losers, the
banking house least affected being that OF
LOcher n Son, who say that all the notes they
hold are genuine, and in this they are prOba-
bly, correct. a popularity Of the case was the
fact that all the banks supposed that HerzOg
was dealing with them alone, the jealousy ex-
isting between them preventing such investi-
cations and discoveries as would probably
have saved them thousands OfdOllars.
1t is charged that Herzog began his fOrgeries
between nine and ten years ago, and has
continued them up to the present time. His
favOrite plan was to issue sixty and ninety
day notes, and as these matured, he would
forge another to meet them. He constantly
had between 100 and $50 notes running which,
being renewed every two or three months,
would make over 500 fOrgeries year, or con-
siderably over 5000 since he began his re-
markable career. His favOrite indorser was
his father-in-law. Dana Graham, a WELT
do comb manufacturer of this city, and at the
present time the banks of this city hold sixty
one notes Of his Endorsement, all of which,
with three exceptions, are forged. The imi-
tallons OF Grahams name, which was the
favorlte Endorsement, is said to be pretty
cleverlY done, but not with such eXactness
that person familiar with the correct sig
nature would have been deceived