The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-24

nrnsror rnus o. ls9I, II presented in person or
properly lndorsed by T. s. Robinson
T. S. Robinson ''"'' 0iiiei OiefA'
Which said obligation was wholly falsely
made and counterfeited and known nv tbe
SAID J. II. S0uthall to be falsely made
tIIfseu tIa @ ana c9unterfeited, which is against
| ana contrary to the form of the statutes
III such case made and provided
ahd. count c. S. Fessenden, $1,000
oro' count William Downs $50 CO.
One Friend Responded.
| Inc commissioner fixed bail at s25.-
ooo' ana Mr.. Southall said he thought
ne could secure a bondsman. He did
! not want to go to Jail if he could avoid
| IT, ana the commissioner agreed to give
MIN chance to get bonds. He sent
WORD to several of his former friends
put they did not respond.
Inc only man who called upon him
70 oIer assistance was Arthur :.
Wooisey, the st. Anthony Park drue.
glst, but he was unable to qualify in
| the required amount and could do moth.
| ing.
commissioner McCafferty waited un-
III aIter = o'clock and then decided
that Mr.. Southall would have to go ia
| the county Jail
Mr.. Southall was disappointed. but
ne agreed that it was useless to exnect
bondsman' at that hour, and in com
pany with Deputy United States Man
| shall DonahoWer he walked TO the brick
building In the rear Of the city hall.
There ne was assigned to a cell. He
VIII pe Obliged to remain there until
June 70, unless in the meantime sorne-
one furnishes bonds for him.
MIR. SouthalPs arrest was a terrible
blow to his wife and children. He has
Two sons and daughter. who are well
known in ST. Paul society. Mrs
Southall has been Ill.
Most StuDendGlus SyvindIe.
Southalps arrest follows one of the
most stupendous swindles ever per-
petrated in this country. More than
100000 of paper bearing his indorse-
ment and held by banks, brokers and
private individuals all over the United
States falls worthless on the market.
OF this immense amount between $3.50
600 and 100000 is in the hands of St.
Paul parties. The rest is scattered as
far east as Boston, west TO San Fran
cisco and south to New Orleans
Every time check issued by Southall
since 1894 is declared to have been
fraudulent, as the government has not
paid it's laborers in that way since that
year. Even those issued previous to
that time We're not legally negotia bic
Yet Southall went right on sending
out his bogus paper, and for three
years he continued to swindle his con-
hding friends, who thought him the
greatest philanthrOpist that ever lived.
Shrewd business men tumbled over
each other in their eagerness to get
the gilt-edged autograph of Mr. SouJ-
hall. They were so jealous of it that
they would not let each other know
that they were handling it. 1t was too
good to share with others. Southali's
signature was better than house and
lot.
Southall himself assured a number
of skeptics who asked him what his
autograph was worth that it was be-
yond price. AS he wrote 1t they were
satisfied that he knew it's value and
| they went back to their offices and
bought as many duplicates of it as they
| could get. SO great was the demand
| for his signature that Mr.. Southall
| had to stay up nights TO supply 1t.
Bankers Loaded Up.
Bankers thought so much of the time
checks that several of them took it on
their personal accounts because they
thought it too good for their banks to
| have. One or two of these gentlemen
| loaded themselves up with several
thousands of dollars of the checks.
| They were willing to sell them at great
reductions yesterday, but the bidding
| was light.
| There was general indignation among
| Southalls victims yesterday because it
| transpiied that Southall's superior Of
| ffcers in the United States engineering
| department acknowledged that they
! knew a year ago that he had issued
| fraudulent time checks and had al
low n:
| with an understanding that he would
make good his frauds.
| Capt. King, who is at Rock Island,
| is quoted in dispatch as saying that
| It was known to the government of
| fcials that Southall had obtained about
| $4,000 by means of the time checks,
| but he was supposed to have paid the
| money back to those from whom he
| got it. If the government officers knew
| that Southall was dishonest, they said
| the fact should have been made
! known to the persons who were hand
| ling the paper so that its true char
| acter could have been detected They
| accuse the government officials with
neglect of duty in failing to inform the
| public of Southall's retirement from
| the engineering department. He was
| allowed to represent himself as still
| connected with the government, and 1t
| is considered strange that such a thing
| should have been done.
Blames the Government
ut was certainly improper to permit
| Southall to pass himself off as a gov
ernment clerk after he had been prac-
tically dismissed The public should
| have been warned not to accept his
time checks. Had that been done the
banks of St. Paul as well as in other
places would have been saved thous-
ands of dollars" said one angry bank
er to a reporter for The Globe e.
There is no excuse for such work 1t
was known that he had issued bogus
paper and 1t was only natural to as
sumo that he would issue more of it."
Southall has admitted his guilt to
several friends. and says he has only
one object now in life-to live long
enough to square himself with the
world.
Edwin James. representing the Mu-
tual Life of New York, with offices at
80 Manhattan building in speaking Of
the Southall affair yesterday, said:
Il am friend of Mr.. Southall and
was deeply panied to hear of the trou-
bic. In the course of a conversation
| had with him yesterday he informed
me that he never intended to do a
wrong, but admitted that he had.
From what he said 1 imagine that
years ago, probably before he entered
upon the duties as clerk in the en-
gineering department of the govern
ment, he had engaged in cotton spec
u!ation and had lost considerable
money in this wav