River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-08-15
FELL FROM GRACE.

Two Hitherto Respected Men Provo to
BE Forgers for Large Sums-The fresi-
dent of a New York street Railway
Company Robs 1t of S13O.0OO - A
Trusted Lawyer in Minneapolis Gets
Away with S2e5,OOO Belonging t. -
Wealthy Client
NEW YORK, Aug. S-Eben Alien. for
many years president OF the Forty-second
Street & Grand Street Ferry Railroad Com
pany, is under arrest for embezzement
and false issue Of the stock OF the COM
pany. His defalcati Jns am unit to be-
tween Sl25, 900 and $500 and his steal
mgs having been going on for four years
or more. The story of Aliens stealings is
extremely interesting, and was learned
from a confession which be made OF his
rascality both TO Inspector Byrnes and to
the directors of the road Allen had been
connected with the road, OF which
he was chief executive officer, for twenty
Eve years, both as treasurer and president
About four years ago he became connected
In business with an inventor of fire-escapes
and apparatus for hanging clothes upon
the roofs of houses, and put large
amount of money into the venture
After the loss OF the sum invested
in the fire escapes Allen became pressed
Tor money. and the thought that he could
raise large amount on forged certificates
OF stock of his company came TO him.
He went TO his office took some blank
certificates Of stock, filed them out with
numbers of stock already issued, forged
the signature of the treasurer and
secretary, and sold them for genuine
shares OF the company's stock This Oper-
alton he has repeated at intervals during
the past four years until, according 10 his
own statement there are outstanding
about zoo shares of these bogus securities,
many of which are in the hands of limo
cent holders. Allen was taken TO the
Tombs police court Wednesday afternoon
and remanded for an examination
An alleged accompEce in these transac-
tions is Ferdinand ". Hosfe, who has fig
ured heretofore as a partner with Allen in
certain mythical enterprises in wEic ne
has represented that he was engaged.
Hoefie was arrested at IL o'clock Wednes-
day night
TEMPTED AND FELL.
MINNEAPOLIS Mimi, Aug u. Frank
CollOm, son of the builder of the large Col
lOm block and one of the best known law
yers OF this city, has confessed to forging
the name of John T Blaisdell, pioneer
millionaire of Minneapolis, to notes and
papers valued ut s2@7 40 COLON was the
sral years.
About three weeks ago F. A Chamber
lain. cashier of tn Security Bank, met Mr.
Blaisdell on the street and asked him how
much of J F. Collom's paper he was on
The capitalist replied that he had Endorsed
his paper to the g tent of $1,000 and was
very much surprised to learn that
the bank held three or four times
the amount named An inyestiga-
lion was at once begun, and a great
amount Of fictitious paper was soon found
Within a very short period the immense
sum OF So geo in notes and other securi-
ties was discovered, but TO only a
part OF which Mr.. Blaisdelrs name
was attached Mr.. Blaisden pro
nounced the signatures forgeries The
bank and Mr.. BlaisdeIi We're equally in
terested, aud rigid investigation was at
once begun. The entire matter was put in
the hands of ex-COunty Att rney Frank
E. Davis The lawyer proceeded very
quietly A private detective was at
once secured TO shadow CollOm, the sup
posed forger The books and papers We're
turned over to MIR. Davis and his associates
for inspection An expert was secured to
examine the signatures attached to the
different notes and securities, and he soon
reached a conclusion. His verdict was
that J. Frank Colon was the guilty man.
The next move was to confront Attorney
Colon with the evidence of his crime.
This was done Tuesday. Colon was called
into the office OF Mr.. Davis. Here the stu
alton was explained TO him Mr.. Blaisdsll
and several of the bank officials were pres
emit The young attorney at once broke
down and confessed his crime in detail He
wept bitterly and begged his hearers not to
spare him.
1t is reported that Collom's father and
other friends VIII come to his assistance. If
such proves TO be the case lit is probable
that the matter Will be settled The Security
Bank holds but s25, 200 of the forged paper,
all of which is amply secured. 1t appears
that BIaisdelfs was the only name
| forged but that a number of people are
out by reason or their holding forged
paper The names of those holding the
spurious paper and the amounts held
by each so far as brought to light are
as follows: Dean Brothers Minneapo-
lis, $4,000; IL n Peck, MinneapO-
S.. coo; Frank Rupert, Minneapolis, sI3. 800;
Eustis Brothers, Minneapolis, SIS, 900; Julius
Schult Minneapolis, $4,000; total. sl02,-
OUO. The gentlemen and firms mentioned
above are nearly all engaged in the real
estate and mOney-loaning business. just
What action these gentlemen will take to
recover their losses could not be learned.
C. j. lockwood, of the firm of lockwood
& COllom, was asked if he could account
for the action of his partner He re-
piled: Il would have trusted Mr.. Col
lom, so far as honor goes. with all have
or hope to have. l received NV first
intimation OF this trouble Tuesday night
He has lived here twenty years and
during my business connection With him l
have always found HIM reliable. He was a
hard worker He neither drank nor used
tobacco in any form / know nothing of
nis business matters. except that he has
owned good deal OF real estate"