Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-03-22

stances. a doubt was raised about the
ve.acity in other matters OF impOr-
lance.
Several days passed and nothing
was heard from Storms. Wells & CO,
became a bit uneasy and sent cable
10 Fric. & Beaman asking for infor
nation about the further shipments Of
gold. Brink Il Beamen replied that
tLae did not know anything about
shipments Of the precious metal and
would be delighted 10 find any Of it.
Then the direct inquiry was made by
Wells d co. OF F'rink &, Deamen if they
had not consigned 100000 TO Wells &
Co.. and the answer came back that
-hey nad not
This news turned things upside
down i'm Wells & Co.'S establishment.
The gold which they had sold had been
broken Up into smaller packages and
pretty widely distributed. Some Of the
coin was found and it was pronounced
genuine by bank experts, but the deep
interest OF Wells * Co. aroused the
suspicious of some OF their customers,
and they sent several samples TO the
assay Office for analysis. This eXani-
nation showed that there was pracJi-
cally only trace OF gold on the face
of each coin, and the metal was worth
less.
Then there was tho deuce to pay.
The customers of Wells & Co. demand
ed the return of their money aud the
firm Was forced to temporarily sus-
pend I was called Into the case at
this juncUre. and must confess that
IL looked like q noun ain. AdviCe5
from London showed that all the pa
uers which had been Used by Nathan
iel Storms i'm this country had been
forged, and The Investigation made by
Wells * Co. was just zen days TOO late.
THE plot would have been exposed
If they had made inquiries concerning
storms aC the start. Private letter
blanks and secret marks Of Identified
ZION had been obtained from Frank &
Beamen in some way, showing thatl
some one in Shcir employ had been
giving information. There was moth
ing in this country but a good dcscriP-
ton Of storms lie wore q full beard.
and l knew that he would shake this
AZ the first opportunity, so that de-
zcriDt,0n OF him was useless.
Il was sent TO London to work up
that end with the Scotland Yard peo-
pie. l brought them the information
about the letter blanks and secret
marks, and watch was put Un0n ey-
erybOdy in Frink & Beamens once.
They had twenty clerks working for
them, and it took some time 70 pick
up our man. We found a young fell
low named Sinclair who had money to
burn on SO a week, and pinchet MIN.
He sQuealed without delay and said
that he had been induced TO give up
the secrets tfhe business by two men
who claimed to be Englishmen.
They gave hi mS500 for his work.
He heard them call each other Andy
and Vary, and this gave the first tip
on the gang. I was satisfied that the
two men were Andy Bliss and Wary
Niece both crooks. l learned that
the bogus coin had been brought from
America on the Cunard line In sasks
Of white lead. and had been returned
by the same line.
CAS- il had been arranged that the
money should be paid in New York l
knew that it was certain that Wary
and Andy would be on board to get
their whacb, and 1 came back.
could not imagine who this Storms
was, and my only hold was to keep
the pipes running for Bliss and Me-
Gee. who naturally would not be much
alarmed over the robbery for the rea-
son that every end was covered.
Il knocked around among men and
women 1 knew to be crooked for about
a month before l got a good tip. 1t
was in Nat Cunningham saloon on
the Bowery that 1 overheard a CONVEX
sation between a couple of bank
eneaks. who were telling a friend
about a "trip they had on Andy Bliss's
yacht, and the sport at the fishing
club in Ravenswood.
1T took me q couple Of hours in
Pavenswood 10 locate the clubhouse.
To vas I'm an old deserted mansion. l
went there after dark. and was aston
ished to hear regular and very
heavy humping in one Of the out
houses. I could not see into the place,
but | heard the sound OF several
voices. and whom some one came out l
caught q glimpse of some moving ma
chinery through a door. l waited till
after daylight. and I knew that there
was crooked work going on. for there
was no sign of q smO6epipe anywhere.
Ell made all my arrangements for
raid. and the next night l had ten
picked men in BavenswOOd 7 kept
tab on the clubhouse, and saw that
there were at least five men there.
About : o'clock four men left the
clubhouse and went to the barn. Soon
the machinery was going, and Went
90 the barn with five men. leaving the
others to watch the house. The men
felt so secure that the barn door had
not been locked. ] flung it open ana
jumped inside with my men, Every
crook was covered by gun and threw
uo his hands. except Frenchy Kline.
who was hit ON the head and died
afterward from the injury
Two men in the house, hearing the
confusion in the bacD, rushed out TO
see what the trouble was, and we're
captured by the guard We got War
ry MCGEE. George KeeCe, Frenchy
/ Kline. Billy Wallace, Darby Jones and
andy Bliss. and the best counterfeit
ers outfit in the world. New York
Recorder.