The evening times., 1897-12-21
FORGER HARRIS RELEASED
Remarkable Scheme He.Worked
to Get Money.
He USED MONEY ORDERS
As Chief Clerk OF a New York sub
Posfoffice He Found an CppOF-
tunity to Swindle-By Pretending
TO Be an Inspector He CasEed
Fifty Bogus Orders.

Joliet, ILL.,, Dec. 21.-In the Grimm II
history of this country there are few
parallels &c the case of Leroy Harris, 4.
prisoner who was yesterday released from
the Joliet prison.. 80. .. ..
Harris WAS the originator of a no.cl
scheme for swindiing the pOstoffices' OF
the country, which was 50 skillfully car
ried out that he had obtained $4,000 Of
Uncle Sans money before any one knew
cent was missing.
Harris belongs in New York. He visited
the little town of Noroton Heights, Coma 1,
where n creduIous general storekeeperswas
also postmaster.
Harris tcld the postmaster that he was
an Inspector of the money order division
and exhibited several official looking .iOcu-
nients to prove that what he said was tr Ic.
The purpose Of his visit, he said, W as
to close vi. the money order portion )f the
Norton Heights postoffice.
The storek eeper was very busy that day
doing a rushing trade in groceries an,i
calico. He saidit was a matter of fndiffer-
ence to him whether the oney-order part
Vi HIS W INt dS t'oNtu up Oi nov 40 ttt
remuneration was small, and il was 4
''dod gasied'' nuisance, anyhow. He could
not spare the time from his mercantile
business to check up with the inspector.
So he invited Harris into the offire and
told him to do it himself.
This was the very thing that Harris
wanted. He checked up the business,
packed up tie money-ortier blanks, the
advice blanks, the special Department
envelopes, and putting the office stamp
in his pocket. he went in to the store and
officially declared to tie ieople present
that the noIey-order department OF the
Noroton Heights postoffice was discon-
tinued and closed.
The postmaster shook hands with him.
thanked him. and hade him gooG-by. Har-
ris caught the first train for New York.
He spent the next weuty:four hours in
a room iu the Grand Central Hotel.
diligently employed. He filled out the
money orders, naking them payable to
himself, and forwarded the advices to
fifteen different postoffices between New
York and Chicago.
Harris made out forty or fifty money
orders. esct calling for S1O0, the highest
amount for which a single order can be
drawn. and In all the advices he inserted
the clause waving Identification. He for
wardrd the orders ill department envelopes
and th,.i started Out to collect them
The offices on which he had drawn the
money orders were sprinkled on the map
in every State from Connecticut to Illinois,
including such points as Fort Wayne and
Valparaiso. Ind; Decatur, Peoria. Joliet
and La Sale Ill.
Five days after mis- disappearance from
Noroion Height rTarris. walked into &,
postofrice at La lie, ILL.,, and presen ted
two. money order calling for S1o0 each.
The postmaster had only money enough
on hand to pay one of them Harris re-
NAMED in Ia Sale until noon the next
tla Y before he could get the money for the
second order.
Almost at the same hour Chief In
spector Stuart, of tie Chicago rostoffice,
was notified CT the swindle that nad
been perpetrateti mon the. credulous rtst-
master at Noroton Heights.
Stuart immediately ,elegra phed to he
mOney-order offices in his div ision, and
asked If any adyices rad been recsiv ed
from Noroton Heights. The wires we're
soon hot with messages from vari ous
Stating ITsDil
the office named had been cashetl the
day before. Stuart took the fast train
for La Saile learned all the facts he
could, obtained description of the
criminal. aid then put the .eoret-servioe
men on the hun; for him.
Harris walks with slight hitch or
limp, and the depar artment added to it's de-
scription of hirn ''Oae OF his legs is shorter
than it ought to be-
Every eN-employe OF the Postal Depart
ment who vas afflicted with a short or
ga me- leg was hunted up. 1t was
learned that nan with "a limp" had
formerly been chief clerk at Station L
in New York. He could not be foun.l
The description tailed exactly. Harris
was finally captured at Buffalo, while in
the act OF passing other forged money
orders.