The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-22
ARE THEY FORGER[ES?


question whether the Polard-K ORDERS
brought to light yesterday, are genuine or
forgeries, is one that every tax payer in Cen
ter township will keenly feel. If they are
forgeres, there is no telling how much like
paper has been put into circulation, and it be-
hooves the officers of the law and the man
whose name has been thus criminally used, to
spare no effort to track the forger and to bring
him to justice. In the presence of the dis
puted orders, and with Mr.. Kitz's
repeated assertion-once sworn to, be-
fore they were seen, that they were
forgeries-Judge Norton cannot afford to let
an unnecessary hour pass until he puts all the
machinery of the law at work to determine
and to arrest the criminal. Every interest Of
society, every interest of justice, demands
that there shall be no laggardness here. This
township-order fraud is altogether too gigan-
tic in its proportions and too bold in its con-
ception and execution not to evoke the
strongest and most earnest work of
the law and of the officers of the law
for its prompt and vigorous exposure and
punishment. Never mind who may be in
volved; there is no question of partisan poll
tics at issue, or of party Capital" however
much Mr.. Kitz and his fool lawyer may at
tempt to drag that in. Whether Republican or
Democrat, high or low, official or private citi-
zen-every one, in any way connected with
the fraud and swindle, should be called to
strict account, or, if they escape. it must not
be until every power and resource of the law
are fully exhausted. There will be no excuse
with the people and the taxpayers for those
officers who do less than their full duty
in this matter and that at once.
held to be genuine9 Then possibilities are
opened up as to the extent of the fraud which
cannot even be conjectured. Cashier Stark
was telegraphed to by the Journal last Fri
day. Immediately after Mr. Kitz made his
affidavit declaring them spurious. He came
to the city yesterday with the disputed orders,
and our city columns detail what was done by
the Journal representative and Mr.. Stark to
determine, if possible, the genuineness of the
signatures. We have taken the trouble to
have two of Mr. Kits signatures engraved,
one of them as found upon an uncontroverted
document and the other one as appears upon
one of the involved warrants. The traceries
are before the public, and with them the
statements of men used to the task of COM
pairing signatures to commercial papers. The
disputed warrants were carefully compared
and studied in this office; but, as we are not
expert in hand writing, it would not be
just, probably, to give our opinion. Yet it is
surely within the certainties of the case to
say that if the question of genuineness had
never been raised, the signatures upon all the
warran is and certificates in Mr. Stark's hands
would have been accepted as genuine any
where in Indianapolis, at any bank, without
moments hesitation.
If these signatures are genuine-and we are
dealing entirely in supposition, in view of
Mr.. kits disclaimer of them-then it will be
seen that they contradict the trustee in
several important particulars They show
that he has had dealings with Mr.. Pollard
which seems to be confirmed, also, by the
statement Of young Mr.. Davis, given in yes
terday's Journal-and the one we print shows
that warrant for ST, 500 has been issued,
which Mr. Kitz has denied from the first. If
these orders be genuine, it is demonstrated
that Mr. Kitz has not told the truth, but has
added positive falsehood to the evasive and
misleading 'reports" he has made to the Com
missioners and to the public.
But, as we said, all this depends upon the
question of forgery; and to solve this the
machinery of justice must be at once ad-
justed. Of course, Mr.. Kitz is entitled to
the full presumption raised by his denial
while the presence of colony of trustees in
Canada shows that Mr. Pollard found, in other
parts of the State, plenty of genuine paper
in which to deal, so far as the signatures of
the trustees were concerned. Altogether, the
disclosures given to the public this morning
put new and most important phase
upon the whole of this township-order fraud.