Omaha daily bee., 1886-11-21
A SACACIOUS DETECTIVE.
The Remarkable Career Of The Late George
Elder in Running Down Crooks.
A DARING, COOL HEADED MAN.
The Famous Livingston Forgery for
T5,OOo-How tho Money Wns
ScCured-Thc Tracking of
the Crook and CAY
turc Near Chicago

turc Near Chicago.
New York, Nov. -[Corrcspondenc
of the BEE. Two pictures lay on the desk
before Inspector Byrnes, the chief of the
detective police, when called. One was
n photograph of a gray.haired and
bearded man, who looked like anything
else than an ideal detective but whom l
recognized as George Elder, member of
the force, whose funeral Byrnos had at.
tended that day. "llc was daring, cool.
headed man, and ii was to his memory of
faces that he was indebted for his success
in many cases" said the chief. John
Henry Livingston was the son of
wealthy man, and had the opportunity to
remain respectable, but he preferred
crooked ways and got into so much
trouble that he was cast off by the family.
For n time he was employed as an OK
press messenger in New York, and in
that capacity Re acquired familiarity with
business methods that he subsequently
made use of in carrying out
AN AUDAC1Ous PIECE OF RAsCALITY.
In July, 1867, Livingston drove up to the
City Bank in an express wagon drawn by
two fine horses, entered in business
like way and presented TO the paying
teller n check for $4,000 purporting to
be signed by Cornelius Vanderbilt and
drawn to the order of Henry Keep. The
signature seemed all riGh., and, as the
man had often been seen in the bank
while he was actuallyin the employ of an
express company, no suspicion was
nr,nsoI Inv hn Siz, a thn ,l,,nl-
common thing for Commodore Wander
bit to have a large amount of money on
deposit and to send for the whole of it
unexpectedly. The teller, however, never
| paid large checks without orders from
| the cashier, and he passed the check over
| to that official Meanwhile Livingston
| stepped behind n rail to window be-
| hind the cashier, rcmarking that he had
| n new horse IN his team and was afraid
| the animal would not stand. BY this ruse
| he got into casual conversation with the
| cashier, and then told him he wanted the
| money but up in certain way. The
| cashier said it would take time TO do that.
| about half an hour, and Livingston said
he would 90 down the street to attend to
| some other business and return for tho
money. Had word been sent 10 the com
| modorc while the fellow was gone,
| THE SCHEME WOULD HAVE MISCARRIED,
| but Livingston calmly relied upon the
| cashiers acquaintance with the commO-
| dore's temper 10 save him from that dan
ger. No one in the bank cared to take
| one of the commodorc'S checks to him
and ask him if it were all right. The old
man was liable to storm and demand
whether or not he was good for the
amount, or had the mony in bank, and
| then dismiss the messenger with volley
OF unique but forcible profanity. When
| the supposed express messenger return
| ,I xNTG = fnS
| him. He carefully eXaniined it to SEQ If
it was 2ll right, cnatted with the cashier
for few minutes, sauntered out. got
| upon his wagon and drove away. 1t was
seven weeks before the bank officials
knew that the check was forged, The
| signatures were perfectly initiated and
would have deceived Vanderbilt himself,
but of course the. commodore knGw That
he had given no such check Here
| ChiCT ByrncS took up
THE SECOND GF TIE PICTURES.
| 1T was a iacn-and-ink drawing of Il fat
fellow IN the costume formerly worn by
! express messengers.
This little SKETCH he said, made q
famous artist of its maker and sent the
subject to state prison. The teller of that
bank was Thomas Worth, now woll.
known in the artistic world. He could
| give no verbal description by which the
thief could be identified, but he seized
hls pen and piece of paper, and In
few minutes produced n free sketch of
the man. AS soon rs Elder saw it no
said: That Is John Livingston, III bet
my life and taking tho picture he started
out with Il definite clew.
Had Livingston left the country, rs
he could easily have done, he would haye
| been safe, but his weakness for fine horse
flesh proved his ruin. He kept the team
he had driven away from the bank, and
started for tho west with IT, Elder found
the dealer who sold the horses to Living
ston, got n description of them, and
traced them through Buffalo and other
cities to Chicago. lie learned that the man
who owned the team had purchased other
fine stock ut various places, explaining
| that he was
| GOING TO RUN A STOCK FARM
AT Chicago the trail was lost for time,
but Elder argued that a man who had
many horses would need saddles, brides
and harnesses, and so he made patient
inquiries among the large harness houses
of Chicago. At last he found out that
some harness had been shipped TO gen
tleman who had purchased Il large farm
about forty miles from the city. Taking
! two or three friends with him, the detec-
tive paid II visit to the farm, ostensibly to
| admire the fancy stock owned by the
wealthy gentleman. Approaching John
Livingston standing on the steps, and
stepping up to him he said: Good morn.
ing Mr.. Livingston. The forger turned
pale and was bcwildercd for moment
but quickly recovered his natural cool
ness nad denied his identity, How did
you leave everybody in New York;
blandly inquired Elder.
The job was done"
The ChiIian Navy.
l 1 i Ia II.