Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-03
A SWINDLE In TICKETS.
GIGANTIC FRAUDS UNEARTHEn
ON THE sLS' ROADS

hoid Counterfeiter and score Of A.
sistants Substituting Counte,.ss,, .,,,s.,s
cts fos she Genuine-PIans T's,,, -. 60.
500 600 Worth of Genuine T,o,rsss 80
ON the Curbstone II a Reaucttor, -.
eral Arrests Made.
NEW YORK, July 2.-Col. Hahn. Mana.
ger Of the Manhattan Elevated Railroad
some weeks ago reported to Inspector
Byrnes that apparently counterfeittlckesa
We're passed on the road in large numbers
but that strange to say the receipts wars
not .sensibly diminished. Detectives wara
put on the case and found that
William Pindor, a ticket agent on the
sixth avenue road was in freouenf com
munication with John b. Cole. FORMER
ex-police officer of the company, who hs5
been caught robbing and had been dis
| charged. The detectives arrestMl Pindor
Today, ana IN his possession found 4 bnn.
die of counterfeit tickets and another
OF genuine ones. On Investigation tho
number OF the good tickets were found IA
correspond with the number OF a counter
felt one dropped in the gateman's box
on the previous evening at Pind0r's sta
ton. Pindor had been selling baa
ones for good ones, but had turned
all the money into the company.
The police were greatly non-plussed bv
this action. Coles address was rot IN
Pindor's possession. lt was at Wood
side, N. j. He was eoaxed over To this
city by spurious dispatch which ne
thought to be from Pindor, and was ar
rested.
HIS HOUSE SEARCHED.
Then his house was searched. and in Il
were found $4,000 counterfeit tickets and
m
house was obtained the address OF Aurust
q. Speth, photographer of this city. who
printed the forged tickets. A bogus
dispatch was also sent to him
and on his appearance he was
also taken into custody. In his house in
Brooklyn the detectives found an appara-
tus for forging tickets, and any quantity
of tickets. Speth said that Cole had cot
him to enlist into the Job. Cole. when
acting as ticket agent, had managed to
rob the company Of about IA 600 tickets
by abstraating cancelled stamps and sell
ing them over again as genuine.
COLES PLAN.
Coles plan was to hire a score or moro
of agents, print counterfeit tickets, Get
his men to sell these, and each packet of
genuine tickets these delivered to him
would be filed away until SiOO.OO0
worth had accumulated on his hands.
when he would destroy the counterfeit
ing plant and hire men to peddle the real
tickets near the chief stations of the road
at reduction. This plan would have
succeeded admirably had not an accident
N led to the discovery. The scheme had
just been started, and Cole had succeeded
in getting fifteen or twenty agents into
his pay.
DIVISION OF THE PROFITS.
OF the profits of the robbery 80 per cent.
were to go TO the agents, $4,000 in
lump to Speth, and the remainder to Cole.
In the meanwhile the latter paid Speth
$40 per week and bore all ex-
penses, investing $4,000 of his previous
steals in the new enterprise. Cole gave
to the police the names of twenty or more
agents employed by him, and these will
be arrested. He also told them where to
look for false latch keys that were being
used by thieves on the road Cole said
that he could with his knowledge of
stealing going on on the road save the
company $4,000 a year. Rings within
rings, organized for robbery, Cole said,
had existed for years. No two Of the men
employed by Cole in his scheme knew of
each others connection with it. The
prisoners were locked up at police head
quarters to-day, and tomorrow Will make
further developments.