The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-24
AN ARTIST F0RGER.
WORK OF THE LATE MIR. LUND,
OF ALTOONA, TOTALS UP
HEAVY.
STEERS WERE HIS SPECIALITY.
HE GAVE MORTGAGES ON MORE
CATTLE THAN HE EVER
SAW.
TIERS WERE HIS SPECIALITY.
RUSS, OF CHICAGO, BADLY NIPPED.
Holds Over 100000 of the Rad
Paper and Deeds Issued By
Mi. Lundr

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, July %
The investigation of the affairs of c.
L. Lund of Algona reveal a most
startling case Of continuous fraud and
forgery. Lund was a Swede and
recognized leader of his nationality.
He has been a member of the legis-
lature and filed appointive positions
of honor and trust. The press reports
indicated that his death last week was
due to apopleXy but it is now general
ly believed that he killed himself. On
the morning Of his death he bought
16 cents worth of prussic acid, and all
the symptoms shown, while he was
dying, were those of poisoning. When
Mr.. Lund left his office to walk back
into the shed where he died, he was
apparently as we'll as the officer who
had him in charge. Five minutes
after he was a dying man, and in
fifteen minutes dead.
Thus far the Investigations show
forgeries to the amount Of 100000. Of
this forged paper L. D. Russ, of
Chicago, holds 123, 1000 Lund has
been the agent of Mr. Russ for a num-
Der of years, and it is now known that
as long as ten years ago Lund issued
forged papers, notes, mortgages. and
abstracts. In his forged chattel
mortgages, steers were his favorite Sc
curity, and it is stated that Mr.. Russ
now holds forged chattle mortgages
on steers that count more than the
entire number in Emmett, Dickinson
and KOssuth counties. Another pc
culiar thing is that in none of these
mortgages are the steers located. Any
one of a very little legal knowledge
refuses mortgage unless the prop
erty is not only described but located.
But it seems that whenever Mr. Lund
wanted money, ne just made out a
chattel mortgage, putting in a num-
Der Of steers, sent the mortgage to
Mr.. Russ, and got the money.
The way he worked real estate
forged paper is out of the ordinary
course. First he made bona-fide
sale of some of Mr.. Russ land. Say
he sold a farm for $4,000, $1,000 cash
down and mortgage for $4,000 The
cash was sent Mr.. Russ, and after the
mortgage was recorded he sent that
also. But before doing so he care
fully copied the mortgage and note,
signatures and all, including the coun-
ty officials signatures; then, being a
>
tarial seal on any papers. In some
cases he made two copies of the orig
inal note and mortgage. One of these
notes he could sell in Boston and an
other in New York. AS the county
records would agree exactly with the
forged notes and mortgage he offered
for sale, they were readily bought
There are different opinions as to
where the money has gone. The i'm
preston among some is that Mr. Lund
did not speculate on the board of
trade. They think his system of fraud
ate him up. He paid the interest on
all the bogus mortgages regularly.
Every new instrument made the load
that much heavier, and the interest
must be paid or an investigation
would come at once. The big expense
of the firm, his bad luck, and the aw-
full burden of interest account for a
very large sum of money Mr.. Lund's
friends believe that he began his
fraud to, tide over a little pinch, with
the full intention of paying off. He
lost at every venture. The loans had
to go on, the interest on some of them
made others necessary, one step down
followed another-until he was over
whelmed.