Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-09-28
Foster Follows BedeIL.
He Has Swindled New York Merchants Out of $168,o 900.
ANOTHER RASCAL FOUND OUT.
He Readily Agreed to Conduct an Investi- gation in Behalf of His Clients, but He Disappeared and Cannot be Found-His Father Will Make Good.


 Father Will Make Good. NEW YORK, Sept. 2S.-William R. Foster, who was counsel for the trustees of the Pro duce Exchange gratuity fund, has robbed his clients out of S16S,000 in precisely the same way Fcrger James E. Bedell swindled Ship man, Barlow, Larocque SJ Choate. When Alexander Mum, one of the trustees of the fund, read Thursday of Bedells forgeries he decided to have an examination of the mort gages in which the S1 193, 304. 6S belonging to the fund we're supposed to be invested. It never occurred to MT. Mum that any one connected with the guardianship of the fund was guilty of wrong doing, but being clear headed business man he thought it might be well to have the funds securities looked over. Saturday of last week he spoke to Duncan R. Norven, the secretary, the subject, and the result was that it was resolved to consult Mr. Foster, their counsel
 No man in the city stood higher in the esteem of the members of the Produce Elk change than Foster. He had been one of the organizers of the gratuity fund and was its counsel from the start. He was a mem Der of the law firm of Foster & Wentworth, and his offices were in the Exchange build ing. Messrs Mum and Norvell called at Posters office Saturday afternoon, but were informed that he was out of town. No SuS- picion of his honestNhad entered the mind of either MT. Mum or MT. Norvell. They con- cluded to defer their examination of the securities of the fund until he could be con- suited, and waited until Monday. Monday Foster was still out of town, but Tuesday he went to his office, and in the afternoon called on Messrs. Mum and Norvell at the office of the trustees When told of the desire on the part of the trustees to have their mortgages looked into he acquiesced readily and com posedly and spoke of Bedells case. He re marked: ''I don't see how the discovery of Bedells forgeries could have been deferred so long,
 MesSrs Mum &5 Norvell had asked him during their joint consultations to go to the registers office to compare the mortgages on file there with the ones in the trustees safe Foster made plausible excuse for not going at once but promised to meet Messrs Mum 6 Norvell the following morning. That was the last that was seen of him by either Mir Mum or MT. Norvell.
 Alexander Meachim and Evan Thomas went to Fosters office Tuesday to consult him about a Delaware and Lackawanna rail- road mortgage for a very large amount of money He promised to give the matter his attention. At what hour he left his office or whither he went from there, is not even sur missed.
 Wednesday morning Secretary Norvell waited for Foster a long time after the hour fixed for the meeting. At length, when it became clear that Foster would not keep the appointment, Mir Norvell went alone to the city registers office with forty mortgages, representing about S650, 900 of money invested hU ba ora f1lit fund Ea bandaI tla gages to Deputy Register James J. Martin, and in a few moments thirteen of them, aggregatng S16S,OO0, were returned to him. with the information that they were for geries of the Bedell kind The forgeries were not difficult to detect The counterfeit regis ter's seal with which they were stamped was smaller than the genuine, and the impression 1t made upon the paper not so clear or well defined, and the forged certifcation was printed ill type different from that used in registers office. Moreover, the forged mort gages were not recorded
 The assurance by Deputy Register Martin that each of the thirteen mortgages referred to was fraudulent aStounded MT. Norvoll It occurred to him then for the first time that William R. Foster, Jr., was the forger He hurried back to his office in the Produce Exchange and laid the matter before Presi- dent Orr and the trustees. A thorough in- vestigation followed, Lawyer Horace E. Deming being called ill to assist the Produce Exchange officials. It did not take the ex- aminers long to convince them that Foster was as great villain as Bedell. Yesterday afternoon a notice was posted on the bulletin board of the Produce Exchange announcing Fosters rascality. It caused great excite ment.
 William R. Foster, the aged father of the forger, had been informed of his sons crime earlier than the posting of the notice, and ii is said he assured F. B. Thurber and Presi dent Orr that he would make good any loss up to $250000 caused by his son. Mr. Foster Sr., is wealthy and universally esteemed wholesale flour merchant at D Canal street He is millionaire
 Fosters method of robbery was ascertaineC to be similar to Bedel's. The only difference is that there was no go between such a Bedel had in the person of young Lawyer Henry Fosters game was surer and simpler After he had forged mortgage and had ap proved of it as counsel for the fund he pro cured a check for the alleged amount iron the treasurer a matter of course. Check would be made payable to him for the ac count of the fictitious mortgagor, and some times to himself alone Then, in order t. get the money from the Produce Exchang bank, where the gratuity funds account kept, all be had to do was to indorse his owl name, either for his own account or for tha of the alleged mortgagor. Foster kept hi own account in the Chatham National bank He began his system of forgeries in 1883, on year after he had assisted in organizing tn fund.- Like Bedell, Foster paid interest o the forged mortgages, and thus succeeded il averting suspicion as to their genuineness
 None of the men who knew Foster wer able to give guess at what the forger ha done with the $16S,0 he had stolen H was a bachelor and his only extravaganc appears to have been in the matter of hi attire, which is said to have been always ( the very best material and the latest mal1, He was between 45 and 46 years of age, ta and athletic and his hair and mustache fro gray. Lately he has maintained what is
 scribed by his New York friends mode
 bachelor establishment at Bayport, L.
 The house and grounds are computed to ha,
 cost $30,O00 He was member of the Uniol
 University, Down Town and South Sit
 clubs of this city, and of the West End clu
 of Newport, R. I. His acquaintances clai
 to know that Foster did not squander mone
 on women.
 civilian R. Foster, Jr., said MT. Wen