St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-28
FOSTER PROVED FAKIR.
The Legal Counsel of the New
York Produce Exchange En-
hPZZleS q Fortune.

beetles a Fortune.
NEW YORK, Sept. 27-The following
statement over the signature of ALEX
ANDER E. ORR, president of the produce
exchange, was posted on the floor of
the exchange at 2:30 o'clock this after
noon.
ITO the members of the gratuity fund.-
Gentlemen: Yesterday afternoon i came
TO the knowledge of the trustees of the gratu-
ity fund, that Counsel W. r. FOSTER IT,.
YVES suspected Of having committed similar
frauds 10 those practised by Bedell, in the
Office of Shipman, Barlow. Larocque q Choate
an investigation proved this to be the case.
The register of New York has pronounced
thirteen mortgages. aggregating Sl6S, 600 as
having fraudulent certificates of registra-
ton. The investigation is still going on. and
the members of the exchange will be advised
of further developments. Last evening
Pinkerton's detective agency was employed
TO arrest William X. Foster; jr., but as yet no
report has been received from them.
ALEXANDER Z. ORR.
This statement was not complete
surprise to the members of the eX-
change. Foster, who had Offices in
the building, and who had long been
legal counsel for the exchange, had not
been seen about there since last Tues
day evening. He went away then,
saying he would be back the next
morning. He enjoyed the implicit
confidence of his associates, and just
how he became first suspected of going
wrong is not yet known, but it be-
came bruited about yesterday on the
floor that he had absconded with a
sum of money that did not belong to
him. The amount varied according to
the imagination of the goSSiperS.
Some said 100000, others $500. coo, but
the exact amount was not known
until the bulletin was issued this after
noon.
HISTORY OF THE THIEF.
William r. Foster. Jr., is about forty
five years old, unmarried, and has
hitherto enjoyed an excellent reputa-
ton, no bad habits being attributed to
him by his friends. He lived somewhat
extensively, but as his law firm, Foster
IL Wentworth, did a good business, his
income was supposed to be sufficient to
legitimately account for his style of life.
His partners are in no way connected
with his fraudulent transactions, his
position as counsel to the exchange be-
ing in an individual capacity. Mr..
Foster is brother of James z. Foster,
the well known politician. His exposure
is due to an examination of securities
by the managers of the fund. who had
been alarmed by the revelations in the
Bedell case. They told Foster that as
members of the firm they wished to
scrutiniZe the securities, and he agreed
to join them in the examination the
next day, but has not been seen since.
In the conversation he took occasion to
remark that he could not see how man
of Bedell'S intelligence could be guilty
of such foolish frauds. The mortgages
known to be bogus are thirteen in num-
Der. The question of responsibility for
the loss is moOted one. Some think the
banks which cashed the forged checks,
representing that amount of the mort
cages, will be the losers; others say the
fund must make the amount good.
Foster was also counsel for the Mari
time Exchange, and had negotiated one
mortgage for them, but the documents
prove to be genuine.