St. Paul daily globe., 1889-02-27
READS LIKE A ROMANCE.
How Pigott's Cunning Forgeries
We're Detected and Exposed.

T READS LIKE A ROMANCE.
How Pigott's Cunning Forgeries
Were Detected and Exposed.
LONDON, Feb. 26.-From a gentleman
high in authority in the prosecution OF
the Parnell-Times case representative
of the Associated Press to-day heard the
true story of how the conspiracy against
Parnell was detected. 1t constitutes
one of the most romantic and extraordi-
nary narratives in the history OF poll
Parnell, his counsel and colleagues
were wholly at sea. They surmised,
conjectured, Investigated clues and
found each of them false. They knew
the letters were forged. But the for
geries were so adroit and the text OF the
letters, to say nothing of their penman-
ship, So like the:habitual phraseology OF
both Egan and Parnell, that it was clear
the crime had been committed by some
one having access to the correspondence
of both. But although the most astute
detectives and the most ingenious OF
English solicitors were in the case,
every effort to discover the forger
proved futile, and Parnell and his conf
| pressed and disheartened.
ONE DAY LAST JULY
young IriSh-American priest, Rev.
| Maurice j. Dorney, of Chicago, ILL.,. ac-
companied by Rev. Herbert Dunn, of
| the same city,sent his card in to Parnell
| at the house of commons. When they
| met, Father Dorney informed Parnell
| that he had package to deliver, placed
in his hands the night before he sailed
| from New York. 1t contained. he said,
the evidence thatWouid defeat the forger
| les and identify the forger of the letters
printed in the London Times. The
| circumstances under which he came to
| be the bearer were singular and almost
accidental He received a telegram
| from Alexander Sullivan, of Chicago,
whose name has figured prominently
during the trial, asking him to meet
! Patrick Egan at railway station in
| New York the night before he was to
sail for Liverpool. He did so. Egan
said he had come directly from
| Chicago, where he had been
| i'm consultation with Mr.. Sullivan whom
| he had requested, after they had gotten
| the documents and their history in form
| to select trustworthy man to carry
| them to Parnell. Sullivan learned that
Fathers Dorney and Dunn were to take
/ the steamer that sailed for Liverpool,
and he selected Father Dorney to bear
tie message. Mr. Egan was met at the
| station by Father Dorney, who was told
the duty that had been Imposed upon
| him. They sat up all night. The priest
| learned the whole story, and was ablet
| to make it'clear to Parnell. When the
| story itself was oyer Parneu asked with
| apprehension. how many men in the
| United States knew what the package
| contained. Father Dorney replied that
| only Egan, Sullivan and himself were
I familiar with it, but that Patrick Ford.
of the Irish World, would be taken into
confidence by Egan. The discovery
| that
| PIGOTT WAS THE FORGER
| was made by Egan in Lincoln, Neb.,
/ while detectives and experts were
| vainly trying to found clue in Great
| Britain. Egan writes that he was sorely
| perplexed by the forged letters, fac
Smiles of which he got in the London
| Times The signatures of those attrib-
uted to him were remarkably good. EX-
| pressions and odd abbreviations pc
| euliar to him were in the text. He re-
/ called Richard Pigott, but he had been
| so long dead in politics and covered
| with accumulated shame that Egan dis
t missed him from his mind. In Scru-
| tinizing the forged fac-similes he finally
| discovered that one signed with his
I own name was written avOWedly at
certain address in Paris, and the
| recollection flashed upon him that
Pigott was the only man to whom he
had ever given it. PigOtt had written
Ito him asking for confidential adj
dress to which he might send important
| information, and Egan, concluding to
/ ,l,o}i
| which proved the key to the forgerles.
| Egan, who is methodical in habit, had
| saved his correspondence for years.
| Instead of keeping letter press he has
| been accustomed to writing on the fly
| leaf of a letter received his answer to
| it, and then copying the answer to be
| sent to his correspondent. Thus he
| had letter and answer together. He
| searched his volume of letters until he
/ found Pigott's. By comparing them
| with the handwriting on the forged
| letter she saw that
HE HAD THE FORGER.
/ He submitted letters written by Pig
| ctt to experts, together with fac-simileS
| of the forged letters. They Immediately
I detected characteristic peculiarities,
| which were confirmed under the micro
scope. Egan had Pigot's letters and
| the forgeries photographed and started
| for Chicago. where he placed all the
letters before his friend Alexander Sui
| liyan. who is also solicitor. The
| brief was drawn up by him and Sullivan
| in the latter's office In Chicago. 1t re-
lated the chief incidents in PigOtt's
| career. and showed that he had been
| fOrger before. Years before when Pig
Oft tried to sell the IriShman, news
| paper, to Parnell and Egan, he fur
| snished an inventory, apparently authen-
ticated by well-knOWn Dublin account
ants. showing the value of the property.
Egan proved that the inventory
was false and Pigott had forged the ac-
icountants' signature to it. Pigott was
canght in another similar transaction.
| in the office of Pigott,s newspaper was
| "a. man who contributed to the Boston
pilot: his nom de plume was Leo. After
his death a relative discovered that Pat
rick Donahue, then editor of the Pilot,
| had remitted to Leo draft which his
| family never received. and that Pigott
| had opened the letter, taken the draft
| ,infended for Leo. forged his indorse-
tnent and drawn the money. PigOtt
was compelled to 'disgorge. These facts
| sEgan committed to writing. He had
meanwhile ascertained the process by
(which Pigott made the spurious letters.
He found among his papers some letters
liwritten by him, in which entire SEN
tences appeared that were also in the
forged letters. Pigott had traced these
sentences carefully word for word.
Then he interpolated OF added other
sentences or phrases,
| COMPLETELY CHANGING THE MEANING
l. of the whole letter while preserving the
tsintegrity of portions. Dates were also
to make the criminal interpo-
iations applicable to illegal events:
Egan also found letters by Parnell
+ which had been similarly used. Photo
graphs of all these and of Pigott's beg
t>IooI,,oo;Iiptr LOTT 1unro an