Omaha daily bee., 1889-04-28
FOLLOWED FIFTEEN YEARS.
A Fremont Forger Finally Captured
BY a Victim.
THAT DEBT WILL HAUNT YOU"
His Refusal to Pay the sum OF Seven
Dollars ana Fifty Gents Raises
Up an AvenGipg
Nemesis.
THAT DEBT WILL HAUNT Yol
Revenge ls Sweet.

BEE A telegram has just been received
here from S. s. Price, Of Omaha, sent from
Rincon, New Mexico, yesterday afternoon,
stating that he was on his way here, having
in custody Joseph l.. Webber, man whose
career In Fremont developed the largest
succession Of crimes in the way OF forgery,
probably, ever occurring in Nebraska. The
announcement OF his arrest has revived the
story of his crime here, and there is intense
public interest and excitement on account
of il.
Webber came to Fremont about 1870 and
engaged in the barber business He brought
with him small sum of money, and in ad-
dition TO plying his trade as q tonsorial
artist he loaned money ut the usual rate of
interest current here in those early days,
BY this means he gradually acquired
comfortable sum. He followed his occupa-
tion and money loaning for about three
years. during which time he took special
pains to establish himself in the good graces
OF the general public, especially in the finan.
cial circles Of the city, and continued with
the comparatively slow process Of enriching
himself by loaning his money at the rate of
40 per cent interest. In the latter part Of
1873 he began to resort to forgery to swell
his income, He did little of this business
this year, but engaged in it on an extensive
scale during the months of February and
March, 1874. He forged dozens of notes on
fictitious names, and putting them among
genuine bankable paper he succeeded
in disposing of all of them at
good round price, discounting
them sufficiently to insure their sale. Dur
ing the time he was dsposing of his forged
paper he gave it out that he was intending to
IL L..
leased q building for that purpose, hired a
cashier and engaged board at hotel there
The crisis came and his rascally transactions
were discovered when he sold his household
furniture to local furniture dealer ut u
sacrificed price, The removal of the furni-
ture from his house created suspicion, and
upon inquiry it was found that he had left
the city, taking with him Mt least Sill 900
which he had secured by forgery. The an
nouncement OF this threw the city into u
state of excitement and almost created
panic, as the financial condition of Fremont
at that time was not OF the high order that it
is at present. BY the aid of the Pnkerton
detective agency Webber was captured in
about a week at Joliet, Ill. He was brought
back to Fremont and lodged in Jail. Thir-
teen indictments were filed against him i'll
the district court, and in less than six weeks
he had been sentenced TO five years in the
state pententary. Immediately after being
transferred 70 the penitentiury at Lincoln,
Mrs. Webber, who was an attractive and
voluptuous woman, aud who had evidently
rendered her husband assistance in his dia-
bolical schemes, at once began an effort to
secure his pardon She met with ili-success
here in getting signatures to her petition TO
the governor. She secured u few, however,
from laboring men and of the class OF
citizens VINO Knew little about the
case, and cared less, by treating
Charles Tenant, who was then running
hotel in Omaha, to copy on her petition the
signatures from his hotel register, for which
she paid him $50 Armed with this, she
went to Lincoln and engaged rooms ut the
hotel where Governor Furnas stopped. She
remained there two months, and the sequel
was that within five months from the time OF
her husbands incarceration he was par
doned. When the news Of the pardon
reached Fremont, which was not until forty
eight hours afterwards, public Indignation n
was intense, and the result was the burnin e
of Governor Furnas in effigy, at the corne r
of Sixth and Broad streets. This was hf
teen years ago, but from that day until re-
Gently nothing had been heard of Webber's
whereabouts He was recently located,
however, at Wilcox, Ariz., a little obscure
mining town on the Southern Pacific rail
road. MIR. Price, of Omaha. and b. w.
Reynolds, of this city, went there to secure
him. but he was at that time absent in San
Francisco. They, however, made certain of
his identity, and soon after returning home
they were notified that he was there, whe II
Mr.. Price secured a requisition from Gov
ernor Thayer and went to Wilcox and Sc
cured his man. He is expected to arrive n
Fremont with him tomorrow. This case
has been prosecuted by Wilson Reynolds,
who was swindled out of the pittance of
$3.50. When Webber was brought back
from Joliet, Mr. Reynolds interviewed him
in Jail and asked him to dsgorge the $3.50,
as it was too small sum to speak about
Webber refused to do it, when Mr.. Reynolds
assured him that that $3.50 would follow
him all the days of his life, and the sequel
proves that Mr.. Reynolds has kept his word