The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-07-17

leading parts. The other two members
OF the gang we're arrested last Febru-
airy In 81. Paul and are now awaiting
trial In San Francisco Becker has
long been known as the king OF
forgers" a New York banker said
that the arrest OF this man alone was
worth 100000 In hard cash 10 the
bankers OF the world. why" said
the banker. there is no country IN the
world that this man l. a stranger 10.
and no bank was safe while he was At
large In my opinion he "a the clever
est forger that the world has ever
known"
The Nevada bank swindle was one o!
the largest operations Of the kind that
was ever carried through 10 this coun-
try. For boldness and cleyerness In
execution Il Ia said to have no parallel
in the criminal history Of America. On
Dec. 2. 1895. a bufiness.like looking
man Of refined and gentlemanly ap-
pearance. perhaps 80 years old and ave
feet eight inches tall. with abundant
dark hair. dark eyes and smooth face.
rented an Office In the Chronicle build
ing. San Francisco Shortly after TAX.
ing possession Of the Office he had let
tered on the door. "A. II. Dean. Mer-
chandlse Broker" a few days after
opening his Office he told the superin-
tendent OF the building that he wished
TO open an account with a reputable
bank. The superintendent told him
that he would be glad TO introduce
Dean at the Nevada bank and did so.
I The bank officials were cap,iyated by
Deans manners He was 90 clearly a
man Of marked business ability that
they considered themselves fortunate
In obtaining such a customer.
Dean's FIRST deposit was $500 In
cash. On Dec. Z Dean drew against
the deposit for 500 A few days later
he drew out 500 more. On Dee. IS he
deposited $500 In cash and a draft on
the Anglo-caliiornia bank for s95.
This s95 draft was tho next step In the
swindle. II wss here that the middle
man. Cregan. got In his fine work. II
was be who purchased The draft from
the Anglo-Caliiornia bank On Dec. 3
Cregan bought another draft on the
Bank OF Woodland. woodland. Cal.
for si2 drawn on the Wool
worth National Bank OF san Francisco
and payable to the order Of a. u
Dean
This draft was drawn on safety pa
per. filled cut b. the cashlor 10 a hCavl
hand. and perforated on each end viii
a check punch were the figures ] and 2
with the dollar sian before them. Tit
Bank OF Woodland keeps two &C
counts subject 10 check In san Fran
cisco. and on the day the draft wal
drawn they we're drawing on theil
correspondent other than the Croker
WoolwOrth Bank. lnasmueh as tn
draft Of so was to a stranger. they dc
clded 10 issue the draft on ;he Croker
woolworth Bank, because the draft
on that bank were printed on safet!
paper. The pcrforation on each en-
was out Of the regular cource ana VA
done as an additional safeguard
Eight days later. on Dec. II. thl
draft. VITA the date changed iron
Dec 3 to Dee. 10. and the amour
raised from si2 to $4,000. was deDosl,
ed by Dean to his credit In the Noyaa
Bank. Al the sane time Dean de
posted the draft he drew out 5000 q
currency. This was s. more than HI
: balance prior TO the credit OF IN
raised draft, ana lef, his account bal
ance In the bank S2i .ss5. 80 that fro.
that time. Il the fraud should prov
aboriive. the forgers had none q
their own money at stake. On IN