St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-27
He WAS A HOSTLER.
George Gordon Tires Of the
Stable and Takes Up
Penmanship.
He Is Arrested for Forging
in All Over Fifty
Checks.
The Pretty Little Oak Park
Congregational Church
Is Dedicated.
1t Begins Business Out OF
1t Begins Business Out Of
Debt--Rev. VIM. Wilkin-
sons Sermon.

1ASHNOlOIS llOh anu Ivy II
an important arrest yesterday morning,
and for their clever work will no doubt
be accorded the heartfelt thanks of
every merchant in the city. They az
rested George E. Gordon, a former en-
ploye of Gavin Il Sons, liverymen. on
First avenue south, and locked him up
at the central station. The ex-hostler
turns out To be the petty fOrger, who,
for the past month, has been making
life miserable for merchants and sa-
loonkeeDers by passing on them forged
checks of various denominations. Com
plant after complaint came in at police
headquarters, and the whole depart
ment was notified to keep an eye out
for the forger, but he appeared 10 be as
elusive as the flea. Howard and Doyle
were put on the case Friday, and the
result of their sleuth-li like tactics is the
forger's arrest.
Altogether Gordon has forged fifty
checks. and though none of them were
for very large amounts. the merchants
on whom he passed them very naturally
felt chagrined and mortified to think
they had been made victims. Gordon IS
young fellow, not over twenty-elght
years OF age, and has a wife and several
children. While employed i'll greasing
buggieS and Scraping horses he evlnced
lasSitude and Indifference to his work
that bespoke a poetic nature. His
fingers were altogether too small and
white for the plebian work they were
forced to 90 in the livery stable. The
very idea of shOveling out horse manure
was nauSeating to him, aid he decided
10 quit tie business.
With one tremendous effort he jumped
from the occupation of hOstler to that
of a furger. He forged checks and
passed them right and left, finding no
difficulty in passing them on the credul-
OnS business men and their clerks. His
acquaintance with the various livery
men and their signatures led him to
sign their names in nearly every in
stance. Among the checks Gordon
forged and passed are the following:
One bearing T. B. Harrison's. the liv-
eryman'S signature, for S25, which was
passed on StearnS IL Van Winkle; all
other one bearing the same name for
S25, which was passed on Thornton d
Rice, grocerS. at 2605 Stevens avenue;
one signed ''F. S. DarrOw IL Co.," for
S25, which was passed on Mrs. DeHaven.
who keeps a confectionery store on
Washington avenue north: one bearing
G. b. Dickens, the West hotel livery
mans name. for S25. passed on Joe
RobitShiek, of 22S Hennepin avenue;
one for SO with the firm name OF ID.
Kelly Il Co., plumbers, attached, was
passed on w. J.Green,O 81 Indiana ave-
nue. south; one purporting to be signed
by Phillips Bros, lIverymen, for $40,
was passed OH Rooney d Co.. grocers at
2O7 Fifth street south. f. Rooney, the
grocer at 32S Second avenue south, took
one for $40, with George Il. Pierce's
name affixed; Harry Lubin. of 32l Me
Ollet avenue, had one for SO, bearing /.
B. Hawkins name, passed on him; F.S.
Hainert, the druggist at the corner OF
NicOllet avenue and Sixth street, was
caught for SIS on a check supposed to
be signed by MD. Wilson, the liveryman,
and Joe Robitsheik bit a second
time on a check indOrSed by Gordon
and passed by an unsuspecting friend.
Nick ROnner, the liVeryman. appeared
to be the favorite one, inasmuch as bis
name is attached to four, one for SO,
passed OH Keyser q Co., 226 Hennepin
avenue: one for SO, on the Enterprise
Furniture company; one for Sl5, on H..
II. Constantine. and another on Frank
DAILY d Co., the Hennepin avenue bot
ting house, for $50.
From the above list it will be seen
that Gordon was very active fOrger,
and there are still nearly thirty checks
that have not been sent in to the police
department. The inspectors are anX-
ious TO get all that have been issued, as
1t will strengthen their case against
Gordon. He declined to make any
statement yesterday, but promised to
make a full confession today. His pre-
liminary examination will be held this
nnnr.ri1ntr N tho molina cOnrf