The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-04-20
A GIFTED ROGUE.

~ made Thousands in His Time Bat III
Now Dying in Poverty.
George Wilkes, at one time 4 lending con
noence man. and all-aronnd crook, know
20 King Of forgera, countsrfsiters anu
burglars Is lying in one OF the wards in
bellevus hospital on the verge Of delirium
tremens. and in = condition which may end
IN MS death. says a New York dispatch to
the st. Louis Republican. He was found
On Thursday night lying unconscious in a
vacant lot at Twenty-eighth street. and Tenth
avenue. He was rsmoved to Bellevue at once.
y was discovered that three Of his ribs
were broken. that his left eye had been
gou1ed nearly out and there were two cuts
on MS chin. There il . difference Of opin-
ion as to how he received his injuries.
gnptnln Gross. Of the police, helievss that
Wilkes was waylaid and robbed by some OF
his old confcderates. In 1884 Wilkes gave
evidence against SONS Of the meE who had
taken. part in robbsrieg with him, and it
may 20 possible that these CON
leuerates are responsible for his
ptesent condition. Detective Sergeant
nnSlao M;,n tired 70 gst . statement
~ q comatoss condition and could, Of
course, tell nothing Of how he came BY his
Injuries. Wilkes history is a most inter
ostlnR one, and he has had ! career which
70 probably more peculiar In some respects
than That Of = other outlaw this country
mas eyer produced. For twenty years he
that committed some 81 tic boiaost rob-
berries in the criminal annals.
~ was born in Orange county, New
YORK, hfty-tive years ago, and his real name
10 Henry Wade Wilkes. He has a brother
who u now serving a term in Sing Sing
Tor forgery. His family ID respectable. A
G1AEAr d7n1 ir RNn}Nr. - - - 4 -
broken heart, caused BY the disgraceful
Lives Of her brothers. Wilkes is a man Of
hne physique and striking appearance.
Ills hAlr and mustache became white while
ne was quite Dung. He began
We as q clerk in the office Of the Erie
hallway company, and was in the en-
ploy OF the company at the time jay Gould
an honest life, however, and became a gam
pier. lie ran a faro bank at Broadway and
Eourth street for some years, and made
money rapidly. Next he drifted into for
gerry, and is said to have made S1OO,O 900 in
three years. He was arrested shortly after
Ghls TOR forging 9 large check onthe NeWYork
BOARD 81 Education. He escaped conviction
on q technically, and as soon as he was re-
leased brlbsd q customs appraiser, who adj
United 9 large quantity Of whisky into
THIS city on q duty OF SO cents, when
W should have been paid. He and his con
tsderates made $4,000 each ont Of this
pany with Jimmy" Hope, tic Manhattan
bank robber. Hungry Joe'' and several
other notable crooks and succeeded in vic
thinking nearly every bank between here
AND san Francisco. Wilkes married a re-
spectacle girl in Boston. whom he induced
to a,d h,m in swindling the British Bank
. North America Of New Orleans ont of
$4,000. She died in.lS78. Wilkes then mar-
Tled another respectable woman and nj
tlated her into q life of crime. She is al
present living in California.
In 1877 Wilkes, together with Joseph
Chapman and Joseph Reilly, robbed the
of Trenton, N. j. Their plumber was
principally railroad bonds, which they took
They had Andy" Roberts make them
worth of Buffalo and Erie bonds
next, and tried to sell them in Amster dam.
out they were discovered and had TO destroy
the plates and scrip. Wilkes had
several hundre Thousand dollars in
back to this city and lived in
for a couple of years. Getting hard
up again, he got $50 900 in bogus bills and
in passing a quantity of them in
Europe. Among his victims were the Selir-
mans, Brown Bros, and other PROMINENT
Wilkes was convicted for the first
and only time in Milan. in 1881. The Wilkes
- = Il lLloA00ea LIMBO blxlO, Shell
Ed Burns and a dozen other
crooks OF International fame. When they
to Milan they had forged and
stolen notes and bonds Of over
Sl,5O0, 900 total value. Wilkes was i'm
.prisoned, but after four years. c%onfins-
!nent betrayed his partners and was re-
leased. Then he came back to the United
States, and in 1885 secured 1856, 900 by
raised" checks from different banks and
back to Paris "tO die as he told his
His health became very bad in
France, and it was thought he would die.
An irresistible desire seized him to return
% his old home again. and 80 he returned
u 1888, broken in health and %penniless.
Since then he has been going down-hil
For the last few months he has earned $l8
week writing race cards for the barrooms