The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-05-24

Ho~ he Was Detected
a Ous q TIE most expert Of autograph
G 4 sCrss-s 11urishsL 10 this country and for
tire t-irFF1 . sDccess only egualec -
; ,hEf 81 SIZE Doicrso1s Nrs.r Lucas The
Frsuchunn whC Vicriuizad ~ Charles.
Ef.e sHrsrf 90 rhs rure 20 a. COG francs
ne rar-s cf rtts ro--e was Rcher- -rr.rg.
. fus rhcurk rht sr-ral soere OF rs rascal-
ines wss ncf NeW ICrk iherr are many
& tE NsW TCrk cclleC-lCu -hat are infected
- as fztgicaiiors ard that 700 ~ the
tHTlrrrng-I now htld iu highest esteem
fazf ~ American history. and especially u
Nsst5rE -u-LzUA
>Erir- WIS LCndorer born auc served
as rius 90 indenrured clerk 20 a scTivener
I e that city This person FurniVal BY
u1ue was noted bihliophile anu IL was
Z la his employ thar Spring doubtless &C.
Y cuirtd hi- knowledge Of old books and rs
marvellous facility in using the pen.
il was IN 1875 that Spring came 10 this
I country and opened a bric-a -brac shop In
I Baltimore. dealing also in rare books and
autographs. In the last line his business
was large and profitable, as he made the
autographs himself, needing no other tools
than the stump Of quill pen, a bottle Of
brown ink and few blank leaves taken
from the volumes on his shelves. Encour-
sged by his success, he oyerdid the thing,
and Baltimore became undesirable as a
place Of residence. So he removed 10 Phil
adelphia in the early ffties (1s54 it is sup
posed and opened another curiosity store
on South street, west of Broad, and for
number Of years did well and even pros
pered.
Collecting autographs was a fashion Of
the time, and Spring fabricated them by
the rcam, asserting i'm later years that ne
had sold at least 600 Washingtons, besides
many Clymers, Franklins, Hopkinsons,
Jeifersons, Whipples and others He was
very partial TO the signatures of the sign
ers, in fact, and supplied them to the trade
al libitum. He not only had much knowl-
edge OF out of the way Revolutionary his
tory, but also was an excellent narrator,
ana Is his conviyial moments a most anus
ing companion. His frauds must have
been almost numberless, for he did large
business both in New York and Canada,
selling 10 a lawyer i'm this city 60 bogus
letters from Benedict Arnold and his wife
Margaret, while be supplied the erudite
kanucks with many Franklins and Wash
ingtons.
Suspicion was first aroused against him
when the library Of one of the early Amer
lean Judges, "a connection of the Washing.
ton family, was sold al auction in Phila.
delphia. Many Of the books had IN them
the autograph Of Washington, and these
naturally brought high prices. But It was
thought extremely odd, 70 say the least,
when in one Of the volumes letter Of
Springs was found, wOrded ambiguously
a Cffarir.r, IL
tercsted in the sale, "a nephew Of the Judge.
Moreover, copy Of a book printed in 1904
was also graCed with Washington's sigma.
ture 1t is difficult to see how Washington
could have written in a book published
after his death, and this posthumous pro.
ceeding provoked much talk, well informed
bookmen being Of the opinion that Springs
omniyorous industry in deception had been
employed in giving a fictitious value 10
volumes with the autographs However.
this was mere suspicion, and came to
nothing.
Perhaps indeed, If Spring had led a
regular life he might never have been more
than dimly suspected. But for his drink.
ing habits 10 is question whether he |
would have been detected at all. Wary and
reticent when sober, he was Just the oppo- |
site when drunk, and toward the last Of |
his life this was his usual condition. While |
intoxicated he would make no secret Of his |
forgeries, but would take up pen and |
show his skill by writing a Penn, ely |
ner or Morris. To friend he declared |
that he had sold TO country clergyman |
an autograph of Pontius PLATE for So, and |
he described with much humor the trem- |
bling eagerness with which this modern |
DIR. Primrose secured his fancied prize.
His actual detection was due to "a DIR. |
Davis of Philadelphia, to whom he had |
sold number Of the signatures of the !
signers. by accident one of them became |
wet and faded out. 1t was then found |
that 1t had not been written with ink, but |
with brownish pigment which the forger |
himself had made. DIR. Davis inquiries |
made Spring swindling manifest. Spring !
was arrested and taken before Mayor Nc. |
Michael, who declared that there was no
excuse for such pranks. Collectors, he |
proceeded to say, had the means of test
ing the characters of these writings by |
with numerous authentic speci-
mems of the handwriting of the immortal
Washington, to whom we are so indebt-
ed, p" etc. Accordingly, Washington au-
tograph was borrowed for the moment
from the Independence hall collection.
"pOuN NiN VI W1lCn lfCrc COulu
be, Of course, no doubt. This autograph |
was laid side by side with the forged pa
per Their agreements were startling, but
confusion and tribulation followed when
Spring said quietly:
Why gentlemen, that's one of mine
tool'
For few seconds there was silence, and |
then unmitigated disgust at themselves
among the collectors assembled in court.
Then the mayor told Spring that the dig
nifty of the law would be INDICATED in his
case some day, and the forger left the room
as soon as possible. Deprived by exposure
of his former income, he lived meanly and !
miserably, wasting I'm wretched dissipa
tion the few dollars he made by petty
forgeries Finally his habits demoralized
him completely, and he became reckless in
his swindling and escaped imprisonment |
frequently only on the plea of extreme
poverty. At length he died In the Penn
sylyania hospital of asthma, aggravated |
by intemperance. Though he has been
dead many years, his fabrications still ex-
ist in large numbers and enrich many col
lectiOns. Valueless papers are hard TO |