The times., 1899-01-21
forgery FOR A SICK WIFE.
Louis j. Snure Caught Alter n Long
Chase Through Europe.

Chase Through Europe.
New York, Jan. 20.-Louis J. Snure, the
thieving clerk of Mandel, Pursch & Wei
ner, clothiers at 127 Mercer Street, was
arrested today by Captain McClusky's men
after chase of more than ten months that
extended through Europe and the far
West. He is charged with robbing the firm
OF a large amount of money, reaching, it
is said, $4,000, by means of forged checks.
Snure is twenty-seven years old. His
young wife is dying today in her mothers
home, at $40 West Twenty-second Street.
where he was arrested yesterday. She
cannot live tomorrow out, the police say.
Detectives are human. They ran down
their man: that was their duty. But they
ill conceal their impatience with the
whole case. Byrnes in his day took no
trouble to conceal it. He would have put
his finger on the raw spot, had he the case
today with no gentle pressure. This is the
police account of his story:
With wife the victim of consumption,
dying in his sight by inches. Snure. the
head man and confidential clerk of the
prosperous clothing firm, all its funds at
his ready disposal, was drawing a weekly
salary of Sl5. 1t sufficed to buy them food
and clothes in the year of their honey
moon. and they were content. But as his
day and knew that the luxuries his salary
could not buy would save her, the tempter
whispered that $l5 was mere pocket
money for others. to be spent on whim
or nights pleasure; whispered that he
was robbed and that what others did to
him he might do without sin. He turned
a deaf ear, but the tempter stood by his
elbow. leaned over his ledger as he wrote
and showed him between the leaves of the
firms check book the picture of his home
with his sick wife, doomed, said the doctor,
to die in this climate. And at the sight
his pen formed letters that were not in
his name. One day he wrote the firms
name on check. The next, a trained
nurse moved into his fiat, and thereafter
the sick wife lacked nothing.
At the store things went on as before.
Snure was at his desk. No one was the
wiser until. many months later, one day
policeman came up from the street with
a check for 1920 which he had found in
Broadway. 1t bore the firms name. Dir.
Pursch was there and Snure was there.
They looked it over. 1t was certainly his
signature, said Mr.. Pursch, yet he did not
remember ever seeing the check before.
1t had better be looked into. Mr. Pursch
took the check and went down to the Pa
cific Bank. Snure took his hat and went
to Jersey.
At the bank they showed Mr. Pursch
lot of checks OF the same kind, or which
there was no record in his books They
had all been cashed. Mr.. Pursch whistled
long and meaning note and went back to
the store, to find Snure gone. Then there
was search of the ledger, a bench war
rant, and the hunt began.
The detectives found the home of the
Snures. at l2l5 Degraw Street Brooklyn,
deserted. The furniture had been removed
and sold. They traced the couple to the
steamship and across to Europe. They
found them travelling through England and
the south of France, seeking milder skies
but without avail. The wife was doomed
The doctors were right. They came back
but ahead of the detectives three months
ago. He went West and avoided them
They found his track in Wyoming and had
almost caught up with him. when they
learned that he had come to the city to
see his wife die. She was in her mother ;
home, in West Twenty second Street.
There he had left her on their return from
Europe.
And there they arrested him. He told
Captain McClusky the story as here re-
peated. He did not justify his theft No
body did. By tomorrow, the detectives
say, death Will have claimed his wife
whom he really loved. and after that he
doesn't care what happens to him.
Snure was taken to the district attor-
ney's office, where he proceeded to make a
confession