St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-11
4 FORGER SALTED.
HE HAD USED THE NAME OF A
ST. PAUL FIRM IN HIS
WORK.
WORKED NUMEROUS BANKS,
AMONG THEM ONE IN ST. PAUL
AND TWO IN NORTH
DAKOTA.
WAS ROUNDED UP IN NEBRASKA,
And Is Now Behind the Prison
Walls or n Five-Years
Sentence.
WAS ROUNDED UP IN NEBRASKA,

forger. For several months past he
has been going under the various
aliases of Max G. Mendle, Nathan
A. Meyers, George B. Hyman, Her
man Bergman, Oscar Silverman and
Davis S. Borman. Now he has been
arrested, convicted and sent to the
Lincoln, Neb., penitentiary for a
term OF five years. He was first heard
of through a press dispatch from
Port Huron, Mich. April 2, 1895 which
stated that a forger had been op-
Grating in that vicinity and victim
lied a number of banks by forged
checks. The matter was at once
taken up by the Pinkertons, repre-
senting the American Bankers as
siciatiOn, and it was learned that
on March 10 a bank at Marlette,
Mich, received a typewriter letter
On a printed letterhead, purporting
TO be from H. o. Pepper & Co.,
wholesale liquor dealers, Lexington,
Ky. This letter was addressed to a
bank at Marlette, and reads as fol-
lows:
Gentlemen: We have mailed to our
die, a check for $S5. Mr.. Mandle will
be in Marlette within a day or so.
The enclosed is his signature. Yours
respectfully, H. o. PEPPER & CO,
Per H. o. P.
Following the receipt of this letter
Mendle called at the bank, present
ed a check drawn on the Northern
Bank of Lexington, KY, Endorsed it
and drew the money, a comparison
Of his signature with that received
in the letter from H. o. Pepper &
Co. leaving no doubt that they were
written by the same person.
In precisely the same manner, and
about the same time, he cashed a
check at a bank at Yale, Mich, and
again at a bank at Bad Axe, Mich AT
Yale he assumed the name of Nathan
A. Meyers and at Bad Axe the name
of Bergman. Inquiry soon developed
that the firm of H. o. Pepper & Co.
is located at Lexington, KY. The
forger had gone to the expense of
having letter heads and envelopes
printed, bearing the card of H. O..
Pepper 6, Co, in order to make his
work appear genuine. From the Lex
banks in Indiana and Tennessee had
been victimiZed by the same man,
about a year previous, by cashing
checks signed NJ. P. Headley & Co.,
the handwriting in all cases being
identical.
USED A LOCAL FIRMS NAME.
In the latter part of April a bank
at Cummings, N. D., received a let
Ter from Ericsson & Co., wholesale
liquor dealers, St. Paul, Mimi, stat
ing that they had mailed a check for
SIS to their representative, George B.
Lyman, and enclosed a small slip
Of paper bearing the signature of
George B. Hyman. Hyman appeared
end presented this check and got
the money, and about the same time
a. bank at Forest River, N. D., was
sWindled in like manner. At this lat
ter bank the fOrger appeared under
the name of Herman Bergman. Berg
man also passed a forged check on
a st. Paul bank shortly afterward.
j. j. P. Odell, president of the
American Bankers association, was
and William A. Pinkerton made re-
newed efforts to ascertain if the work
was similar to that done in Michi-
gan, Indiana and Tennessee.
1t was learner that there was no
such firm in st. Paul as Ericsson &
Co., but there is a firm called Eries-
son, Brady & Co. Examination of
the work left no room for doubt but
that it was the same man that op-
Grated in Michigan. Mr.. Odell
requested that a circular letter be
prepared setting forth the methods
Of the forger, which was done, and
all members of the American Bank
ers' association were warned to be
on the lookout for him. The circu-
lar described the man and method
OF his operations, and contained a
specimen of his handwriting.
Nothing further was heard of the
forger until about July 1, when
William A. Pinkerton received word
from the First National Bank of
Arapahoe, Neb., stating that the
man referred to in the circular would
no doubt appear there, as they had
received a letter purporting to be
from H. ]. Gebner & Co, Wholesale
liquor dealers Of st. Louis, advising
them of the mailing of a check for
$50 to their travelling representa-
tive, Oscar Silverman. The bank
promised him warm reception on
his arrival, and later in the day Mr.
Pinkerton received a telegram an.
nouncing his arrest. He was taker
the same afternoon to Cambridge
Neb., at which place he had sue
ceeded in having a check casheG
under the name of David S. Berman
letters to himself, under differen
names, and to banks at Culbertson
McCook, BARLEY, Indianola, Oxford
Cambridge and Arapahoe, all points
on the B. & n. road. He was sue
cessful at McCook and Cambridge
and probably would have reduced tn
banks surplus at the other place
had it not been for the activity O
Banker Frost, of BARLEY, who hat
received one of these letters, and
SCENTED A FRAUD.
He drove to Indianola and learned
that the bank there had also received
a similar letter, worded exactly tn
same, except a change in the nam
of the travelling representative
From there he drove on to McCook
thence to Cambridge, reaching TIL
latter place little too late to war;
the bank or intercept the forger
who had already started towar,
Arapahoe with fresh team. Eros
communicated with Arapahoe b,
telegram, and the man was place,
in custody. The Arapahoe banker
were on their guard by the circula
sent out by the American Bankers
association, and when they receive
the message from Cambridge the