The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-10-09
BOGUS VIRGINIA BONDS.
An Interesting Story Showing How They
Got on the Market

story showing how bogus bombs OF the
State Of Virginia. of the value of 81 ,00o
each are ailoat. The journal story is
follows:
strangely Boston theatrical man
ager was. innocently on his part, one of
the mediums by which the bonds, repu-
dated by the State, fell into unscrupu-
lous hands. Brokers in the stock cX-
change and Wall street received yester-
day afternoon the following warning,
copies of which have been sent to stock
brokers in all the principal cities of the
country: 'Notice--Look out for forged
81. 600 ; per cent. Virginia State bonds,
issue of 1882, redeemablc in 1900 and
payable in 1892. Coupons payable Jan
uary and July of each year Signed,
III. III. Dyson, second auditor, treasurer
of commonwealth, Virginia.
"'Please notify Stephen OBricn, cap
tain detective bureau, New York city
captain O'Brien said he had been no.
titled to send out the general alarm by
President Roosevelt. a curious story
leads up to the warning which he sent
out
''rhe contract for the printing of an
issue of bonds to he dated 1882 was
awarded to the Kendall BankN Note Com
pany, of rs Sixth avenue, this city, by
the commonwealth of Virginia. There
were 100 of the bonds to be printed. The
order was cancelled after the Kendall
people had half completed the job and the
contract awarded to the American Bank
Note Company.
1.-The Kendall Company, however,
thinking of II probable law suit, finished
the printing of the bonds and sent them
to Virginia. There the officials refused
to accept the box, and the consignment
was returned TO New York. The Ken
dali company refused to accept the bonds
and the express company kept the
box to await IL claimant.
mo one ever came and it was several
years afterwards that public auction
was held, Mt which they were, among
other unclaimed express matter, dis
posed of.
'As was the custom of these auctions
the various packages were sold like the
provcrbial pig in the poke, and pur-
chaser of Il bundle could not tell what he
had bought until he had taken it home
and examined his acquisition. In the
crowd attending the sale was William
Austin, the Boston theatrical manager.
SIN spirit of fun he purchased the
bundle of bonds among other articles and
had his purchases expressed to Boston.
At that time he had just opened new
theatre, the Palace, now the Trocadero,
and had the bundle sent upstairs into
the bllroom. 1t remained for some time
unopened until he returned to Boston.
"Then he made Il cursory examination
of the bundle and found that it contained
what he thought was theatrical printing
matter.
Gle had no further occasion to exam
inc the bundle for some weeks, till one
day he had it opened and discovered to
his amaZement the bonds in question
to the extent of many thousands of dol
lars
"Mr Austin made inquiries regarding
the value of the supposed securities, only
to find that the bonds had been repu-
dated. Attaching no further value to
the bonds Mr.. Austin allowed them to
lie about the theartre until nearly all OF
them had been carried away by his
friends rs souvenirs Others, that were
in the room upstairs, may have been
taken by the employees of the theatre
One or two of the bonds have heen dis
posed OF, those purchasing them learning
to their sorrow that they were worthless
The issues printed by both banknote
companies were exactly alike, and only
when two bonds of the same number
We're presented to the auditor of Nir-
ginia short while ago was it learned
that the bogus countcrfcits were on the
market.
1.-The New York stock exchange was
notified by the Virginia authorities of the
duplicate bonds and the secretary of the
former took the matter up and appealed
TO President Roosevelt for assistance
The latter notified O'Bren and the result
was the general alarm.
"No one could he found at the oficc of
the Kendall Bank Note Company ycstcr.
day who felt ut liberty to talk about the
matter.
\ special dispatch to the Sun FROM
Richmond, Va, says:
"rhc story from New York of the nan
ner in which an attempt had been made
there to put on the market a large
amount of the rejected Riddlcbcrgcr
bonds of this State recalls one of the
most interesting episodes of Malone rule
in this State. The Malone sinking fund
commissioners i'll 1882 gave TO tho Ken
dali company the contract for eAgrarng
the whole Of the Ridd,ehcrtser or cen
fury bonds issued AT that session of the
legislature The bill for this work
amounted to about $50, 600. When she
contract was about one half completed
General Malone, who was then the dcta.
tor of his party and all of its officials, in
| duced the sinking fund commissioners
| to revoke their agreement with the Ken
| dali people and give the work of cngrav
! ing the bonds to the American Bank
| Note Company The Generals eXplnni
ton of this conduct was that the latter
company had contributed literally To hi.
| campaign funds. When the Democrat:
| gained control of the State in 1888 they
permitted the Kendall people to sue tn,
| State for the amount of their claim
which they did successfully. TIE bond
| put upon the New York market are thos,
| nrinlnl by the knudnlls nnd Mhich ihl