Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-11-09
FORGED DRAFTS
Passed in New York, Michigan,
Ohio and Indiana.
New and Successful Method Of Swim
ding by an Organized Gang.
They Went on the Road IA Commercial
Three of the Gang Now In
Custody, While the Fourth Broke
Jail and Made His Escape.

New YoRK, Nov. 7.-After many
weeks of patient work the police OF
this city, assisted by the Chicago po-
lice and the Pinkerton agency, have
Succeeded in bagging a remarkable
gang Of check and draft swihdlers.
For six months the forgers hatc fit
ted about the west and east, leaving
forged drafts behind them in each
place they visited.
Their method, according to the po
lice, was an entirely new one and OF
sort which proved successful every
time it was tried. OF the four mcm
bers OF the gang, three are now in Gus
tody, one in Michigan, one in Chicago
and one in this city.
The fourth is the ]. b. Lyons, OF
Harry Rhodes, who escaped from the
Goshen IN. W Jail in the latter part Of
September, and is still at liberty. Ly'
ons, or Rhodes, is better known as Kid
Smith. The other men are Walter B.
Peters, Willis Herbert Connor and VIII.
liam Thomas. The last to be nabbed
was Peters
The gang got together last June and
planned general swindle of banks
merchants and hotelkeepers through
out the country. The men met in Chi
cago and made their plans Peters is
an expert photographer, and his work
was to print the necessary drafts and
forge the necessary signatures, while
Connor and Smith got rid of the paper
1t was resolved from the first that nc
forged checks would be used unless IL
became absolutely necessary to ncgo
tiate one in order to get sufficient
funds to get out Of some temporary
difficulty.
Connor and Smith, it was agreed,
should go out on the road as CONNER
cial travellers. Peters was to stay in
fast as they could get rid Of them. In
his letters he would pose as their en-
ployers, wording each epistle in u busi-
ness-lilte way and signing the name of
some well known firm to each one. The
police have in their possession lot
of these letters. They illustrate bet
ter than anything else why the men
were so successful. In them Peters in
sists on the statesmen cutting down eX-
penses as business is very bad. He gen
orally orders them to take new route,
mentions some firm in the next town
! which he wants them to be sure and
visit, says that he expects an order
and winds up by a reference to the in.
closed draft.
Altogether the usual letter is bust.
ness-llke one and apt to impress ho.
tel clerk.
The early travels of the alleged CON-
mercial Travellers however, were
through Ohio and Indiana, and every
place they went they passed their
drafts on merchants, hotcl-keepers
ing on the drafts as fast as Connor and
Smith could get rid of them. Each
man had equipped himself with lay
out of cigar samples, the better to car
ry out their scheme, and they spent
large gelamounts of money wherever they
went. In each place visited they
changed as much as possible their per-
sonality.
Michigan was visited when Ohio and
Indiana had become hot for the pair.
In Michigan precisely the same game
was worked, and there, as far as can
be learned, Is drafts for amounts vary
ing from 500 to $500 were cashed. In
Ohio and Indiana so of the drafts were
passed.
The police Of the entire country were
put on the track of the swindlers.
The amount of money secured is not
known, but bankers estimate it at S75,.
900.