Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-10-02
PARSON IN PRISON.
Rev. A NJ. De Ford Arrested For Raising
Bank Bills.


| Bank Bills.
| MILWAUKEE, Sept. pa dark-haired,
smooth-faced, intelligent-looking young
man, wearing a Prince Albert coat and a
stiff hat, locked up in the county Jail, is
Rev. A. Nj. De Ford, of Hortonville. who
started yesterday for the Methodist con-
ference at Whitewater. but landed in Jail
instead. He Is held by the United States
authorities on a charge of uttering and
passing raised bills.
He left Hortonville yesterday morning
and went to Oshkosh, where he staid ali
night. Early this morning. he came to
Milwaukee on st. Paul train. He went
at once to Sullivans saloon on Sycamore
street, where he asked to have S1O bill
changed. Sullivan refused to change the
bill, and De Ford went across the street to
the American house, where he ordered a
drink and rendered the bill in pay
ment. The woman who waited
on him accepted the bill, but had to 60 to
her husband for change Upon seeing the
bill he sent out for policeman and De
Ford was arrested He was taken to the
county Jail and turned over to the United
States marshal.
Deputy Marshal Marshall searched
him and found large wallet, in which
was large number of 81 and 50 bills.
all considerably worn; three $40 bills
and one $50 bill. The ten" was gone
from the $40 bills, and the twenty"
from the 500 bill, which leads the mar
shall to believe that he has passed three
more raised bills somewhere on the road.
The raised bill was what i known as
Hancock two, " and the alterations are
very neatly made Besides the paper bills.
lot of silver change was found in an
other little purse, which shows that he
d1d not need change. He also carried
with him bottle of mucilage, pair of
scissors and two very sharp penknives.
When questioned about the matter. he
offered no explanation but stoutly main
tanned his innocence. He was overcome
with grief and the marshal had an affect
ing interview with him. He has a wife
and four children. Hortonvile is a small
station on the Lake Shore road. Just north
of Appleton, and besides being pastor of
the church there, De Ford was student at
Lawrence university at Appleton which is
maintained by the Methodist church. He
seems to have been popular at Hortonvile
The people of his church have asked to
have him returned so that he could con-
tlnue his studies at Lawrence. He is %
years of age. He had been at Hortonville
one year.
MILWAUKEE, Sept. 37.-The Rev. A.
DeFord the poor methodist minister,
locked up on charge Of raising bills" has
made full confession to his friends He
will plead guilty when he gets an opper-
tunity and take his punishment.
His story, which Is pcthetiU in the OK
treme shows how small thing will change
the current of mar S life, and how i'm
portant may be the most trihing acct
dent. When all the facts are known, the
blame heaped upon the unfortunate pas
tor, it is expected, will change to pity.
A raised" bill found in a second hand
book which he had purchased in Milwau-
kee was the starting point of his wrong
doing.
T B. Reid, the editor of the Appleton
Post is one Of his closest friends, and to
him and some others De Ford made his
confession. They are going to stand by
him and endeavor to secure for him as
light punishment as possible, and when
he has satisfied the law, they are going to
start him again on the road of usefulness.
They think the good work he has done al
ready offsets the bad, and they think he is
capable of doing much good work.
To a reporter Mr.. Reid told the story
as De Ford told it to him, and he said he
had proof of its truthfulness.
81 am going to tell you the story" he
said Ito show the public that he is not
the cool, calculating villain he has been
pictured, but rather poor workman.
whose fancy had been taken with the
means another bad adopted to get money
and whose necessities had caused him to
adopt it for himself. A sinpIe-minded
man to begin with, the pressure Of debt
made him mOn0mani3l on a way OF re-
leiving it. know him very we'll and
have aided him often. He is we'll known in
Appleton, where he was universally re-
spected We knew he was simple mind
ed fellow but his earne3tness, energy, and
activity made him fawn for good. We
were helping him to better education, in
order to enlarge his field of work. He
was the last man we would have expected
to even think of such scheme, much less
to execute it. He thinks he is ruined, but
we are going to let him take his punish
ment, then help him live down the memory
of the offense.
His story is pitiful. Two years ago he
came to Milwaukee and bought some sec
ond had books. In one he found $50 BILL
which proved to be raised 81 bill. He
kept it as a curiosity, and when he got
into debt it haunted his mind He had
no thought of yielding to the temptation,
but as his debts increased the temptation
grew and he could MT shake it off. He
knew it was wrong, but some magic power
seemed to be drawing him on. He finally
got possession of $40 conferfederate bill,
which was intended for the archives of
Lawrence university, but instead of put
ting it there, he took the numbers off and
with them raised bill to 800 Then he
raised more bills but made no attempt to
pass them. A number of debts, small in
number, but aggregating 5000 or 5000,
were coming due, and the temptation be-
come too strong to resist. Last Monday
he got accused from Lawrence to go to
conference and also to go to Oshkosh to
rase some money for his church. His
career of crime has dated from that time.
! He passed the 800 in the opera house and
two 80 at other places. When he had
let the first bill go he felt thai he was lost,
and an insane determination to go the
whole length took possession of him.
''At Fond du Lac he passed NO more $40
and tried to work of one of his mutilatel
bills Then be came TO Milwaukee AMI
you know what he Gid here.
The poor fellow is greatly cutup about
his arrest, but he does not fully realize the
enormity of his offense His mind seems
turned on that point, and believe that he
is crazy so far as his thoughts relate to the
matter. He does not merit the severe
treatment the newspapers have given
him, and | hope they will do him justice.
He is simply a poor, weak-minded man,
led astray by temptation that has made
rascals of some of the greatest men the
world has known We want him to be