The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-22

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Grating with him to personally call upor
MI. Leete at his home In Scranton. and
ON the strength Of the communication
get some money out OF him. but Mr.
} Leete. having suddenly left Scranton
for Los Angeles in response to what he
believed to be q communication from
US on the subject. they had evidently
missed him there.
The envelope In which the letter was
contained. which he showed us, instead
OF having our business card upon It. as
Is customary with all letters which we
use in our correspondence. gave the ad-
dress OF a postofiice box at the general
poatoffice here. We thereupen took Mr.
Leete to the postal authorities. and put
the whole matter In the hands OF the
pOstofiice department. detectives and
instructed them to Immediately discov-
er. II they could. who the perpetrator
OF the forgery was. They started an
investigation. and We had several inter-
Views with them, together with Mr..
lIeete.
Tho Box Of Stranger.
They found that a person who ap-
peared to be u stranger In the city was
using the postofiice box designated;
that he was receiving a large amount OF
letters from different states. which
would Indicate that he was carrying on
some kind OF Il geseral correspondence
with persons In different localities;
they desired us to keep the natter quiet
20 that they might work up the case.
They proceeded with us to the First
National bank building. and found that
no rooms In that building were occu-
pied except by reputable and well
known people of this city. They have,
however, never as yet discovered the
forger. 1t appeared to us to be a very
strange affair. and We could see but
two conclusions which could be reached
In the matter, either Vt was perpetrated
for the purpose of getting money out Of
Mr.. Leete. or else II was a cruel. prac-
teal joke perpetrated upon him by
| some person.
| Whoever perpetrated the forgery We're
| probably induced to use our name by
reason OF the fact that 1t appears IN
nearly all the leading law directories
OF the country. and in our cards of such
directories is advertised the fact that
| we ATTEND to probate business In con-
nection with general practice, so that
| ii probably appeared reasonable to the
person concocting the scheme that ow-
| Ing to the fact that we are well known
firm here. and did that kind of busi-
ness, they would be able to make of Mr.
Leete an easier victim.
| Mr.. Leete seemed very cut up over the
matter, and seemed to feel very keenly
the fact THAT he had thus been. TO use
his own expression made fool Of"
to the extent of going to the expense OF
coming out here. He STATED that he
had. before leaving home. believing the
letter to be genuine, permitted its con-
tents to be made public through the
press and that he could not go back and
face his friends and acquaintances and
let them know that he had been so
| easily imposed on. He thereupon re-
quested that we keep the matter entire
ly secret. as he did not wish 1t to get
out that he had been imposed upon,
| and asked us how long it took an estate
to go through probate.
A Year to Settle an Estate.
We thereupon informed him that 1t
took about year in an estate exceed
| Ing $4,000 In value, and that no dis
tribution thereof could be had until
after four months had expired. when a
partial distribution might be had, and
the balance be distributed at the close
OF the administration. He thereupon
informed us that he intended to report
to his friends when he returned home
that under the laws of California, an
estate would have to remain in probate
Tor year, and that no partial distribu.
tion thereof could be had until after
the expiration Of four months, and
asked us II that would be In accordance
with our statutory law. We informed
him that 1t would. He stated his rea-
sons for making such a report upon his
return home were. that 1t would enable
the matter to die out, and after year
had passed, II would probably no long
er interest people except his own i'm
mediate friends and relatives, when he
could much easier explain the matter.
with less embarrassment to himself.
1t seemed to worry him very much, and
he seemed to feel very keenly the fact
that he had been so easily imposed
upon.
We told him that If in his first tele-
gram to us, he had intimated to us
that his inquiry was connected with
SUCH an estate here, We should have
at once put him on his guard. as We
could have answered that there was no
such estate In existence in the courts
Of this county. He would then have
been saved the expense and trouble
coming here, and the subsequent morti-
fication on discovering that he had been
imposed upon. He seemed to regret
that he had not exercised this fore
sight in the matter. but said the letter
to him had every appearance of being
genuine, and that he had taken pains
to examine some of the directories as
to the existence Of our firm here, and
found that we stood well at the bar,
and therefore he was confirmed in his
belief that the communication was a
genuine one from us.
Would Like to Stay In Los Angeles.
We took pains to make his stay here
as pleasant as possible under the cir
cumstances, as we felt sorry for him.
He seemed to think that II ne could get
something to do here he would like to
remove to Los Angeles. rather than to
return home and permit the facts to |
become known, and to that end, he |
having Informed us that he was an
expert In the oil business, we intro |
duced him to large number of our |
leading business men who are engaged |
in oil operations in this city and vicln. |
ity. and 1t looked at one time as if he |
might be able to make some arrange |
ments whereby his services would be |
secured by them here. We received n |
number of letters from him after his |
return home, in all OF which he thanked |
US, and seemed to feel under obligat tions |
to US for having shielded him to the /
extent of keeping the matter quiet.
Mr.. Forester. whom you referred to |
In your letter, called to see us In the |
meter, an4 In view Of Mr. Leete's in
we gave Mr.. Forester no
information concerning the matter, al
though he was well known friend of
ours. Mr.. Forrester's questions were
very pointed. and the most we could
say was that there was no such estate
In this county. He asked us II we
knew Of any such estate in other cour-
tries in the state and we told him that
we only knew such facts as had been
detailed to us by Mr.. Leete. and that
we had charge Of Mr.. Leete's matters
here. Mr.. Leete had previously eau
toned us to give no information to any
npraon Nyho niphf iuu ra about tha |