The evening times., 1897-07-01
GRIMES BY THE HUNDRED
Abe Rothschild, SwindIer by In
stinct, Owns Up to a Multitude.
DEALT MOSTLY In JEWELRY
His Operations Extended Over Two
Continents-BoldM Methods Employ
ed In Carrying Out His Schemes.
Murdered a Woman of Bad Repute
aud Attempted Suicide

A United States postoffice Inspector was
discussing crime with a reporter for The
Times this morning. and in telling of some
of the great and skillful crimes which have
been ruu down by the inspectors corps.
he recalled the case Of Abe Rothschild.
This man hal long career as a swindier
Of the gilt-edge type. With it all, he is
charged with having becn a blackcned
criminal Two of his important aliases
were Joseph Jaeger and Henry SMITH.
He was arrested at san Lorenzo. Cal,
September 80, 1894, by an inspector at
tached to the San Francisco division, for
cIimes alleged to have been committed
in Missouri during the summer OF 1884
The charge against him was using the
mails in conducting scheme 20 defraud' -
One of Rothschild' plans was to learn the
name of a business man of nigh standing
in some particular town. Then he would
forge an order in the name of his man on
some big city dealer, who would ship the
goods either to the place at which tie
man lived or to some place nearby. where,
as the swindler stated, lie was about 10
open a racket store" The goods Were
nearly always shipped as requested. The
swindler would then assume the name Df
the business man, and have a large guam
tity of mail addressed to himself at the
nointto which the goods W ere TO be shipped.
Rothschild would reach the place about two
days before the goods were due, and by
claiming the letters at the postoffice and
by making inquiries at the freight AMI OK
press offices would established his identity
under the name assumed. He would have
no difficulty in getting the goods when
they arrived. Then he would disappear.
His plundcr usually consisted of diamonds
lewelry, or valuable articles of small bu,k
which he could stow away in his baggage.
Sometimes Roihschild would order the
goods sent to the very place at which the
real business man lived. He would first
inquire at the postoffice, aud when tCld THAT
the most promin ent business man III town
also bore the name he mentioned, Roths-
child would be astounded, and would call
upon the man whose name he had assumed.
Rothschild would then receive from this
man the letters which he tRothschild,
had cansed to be mailed to that name and
address. The real business man had been
receiving these letters fol several days,
| and had been unable to comprehend them
The arriya! of this stranger cleared matters
up.
Rothschild had such a complete knowl-
edge of the contents of the letters, that
the real business man would not suspect
that they bad not been intended cor the
| man who had called upon him. In this
way he established his identity, aid when
| the goods came by express he would have
| no trouble in getting possession of them.
| On March 3, 1894, he secured $4,000 in
| diamonds in this way at SwainSboro, Ga.
After he had been arrested in California,
| it was agreed to remove him to Missouri,
| where the offenses for which he was wanted
| had been committed. The prisoner eS-
! capped from the deputy marshal Mt Little
| Rock, Ark. on November 1 2, 1894. After
| his escape, he operated the same scheme
| through Mexico, Cuba and through several
| of the Southern states, and was rearrested
! at st Mary's, Ontario. on March %, SEQ
| while he was in the act of leoeipting fol
| express packages. He Was eXtradited
and tried at Moberly, Mo-, and sentenced
to foar years imprisonment. After the
expiration of this term he viii he taken
| TO Swainsboro, Ga, for trial.
Rothschild is about forty-seveu years old
1
| He is the son of a prominent ieweleg and
banker at Cincinnati. He killed Diamond
| Bessie Moore, woman of bad repute al
| jefferson, Tex. He was arrested at Gin
| cinDati for this crime and attempted tc
commit suicide, but succeeded only in
! shooting out one eye. After his recovery
| he was taken down to Texas and escaped
being lynched by mere chance. He was
convicted and sentenced to be hanged, but
the verdict was reversed by the supreme
court, and, after four years of trouble, he
was acquitted.
RothschId was involved in bushes:
failure in New York CITY, in which the lia
bilities Were 81 80, 600. He was tried fol
fraud, but acquitted After this he be
came known as horseman and gamble
| in London, Paris and other European capi
tails. According to the confession o
RothSchild, there are over 200 crilnina
| charges against him in the United States
Mexico Canada, England, France an
Cuba.
In his defense he pleaded that his vic
tins were always wealthy people, ex
press companies, railroad companies ant
banks. He claimed never to have defrau6
ed a person who was poor.