The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-07
RICHES FOR 4 CONVICT
WILLIAM CUTHBERT, MILLTOSAIRE
is SERVING A TERN IN
JOLIET, I'LL.
EXPERT FoRGER OF CHECKS
Son of Illinois Pioneer Chose Pen.
ttentiary Sentence In Order to
Obtain 100000, OF
Which He Is Heir.

In cell at the Joliet penitentiary. the
son of former high official of Illinois
impatiently awaits the time for his re-
/ lease from prison, and makes plans for
the spending Of the s.. OOO, 900 Of which he
| Is the. possesser. If it. had not been FIR
the fortune, William c. Cuthbert would
j not be convict. for. he had been sac
cessful in eluding the officers of the law,
who wanted him to answer an Indictment
for forgery, and he surrendered himself
IN order to claim ssthe big bonanza thal
was his inheritance
Cuthbert had the choice between pov-
j erty and wealth, but he had to sacrifice
his liberty in order to procure the mil
lions that belonged to him For nearly
two years he debated the question
/ whether to reIinquish 81, 600 ard taus
/ escape the shame and disgrace of being
! a convict, or whether to serve d term fin
/ the peelnitentfary,. accept THE dfseomforts
and the humiliation of prison life, and
ultimately enjoy his money The pr.cc.of
1 liberty was millions. Month after 10 )prh
| be weighed the matter in. his rnind.a yIHse
as fugitive from justice had it's: draw
/ BACKS, however, and one day last sum-
/ mer Cuthbert walked into the criminal
| court, the Inter, Ocean says, and con
fessed to the crime of forging a check
on the West Side bank of Hinckley &
Tflden. He was sent to the penitentia1v
on an indeterminate sentence but by
good behavior the prisoner hopes for re-
lease at the end of two years
L
SPENT MONEY REcKL EssLY.
Cuthbert has had life full of change
1t had its pleasant side, but the record
of his forty years. contains many dark
! pages. The son of an Illinois pioneer.
| he was accustomed to wealth In his
| youth. His father, old Gen Cuthbert,
was promoter, a speculato tor, and a poll
| tlc1an In the days when there were grea
/ opportunities to make money in the
| west. Fortune played strange tricks
| with the pioneer, who was wealthy one
day and poor the next. Gen. Cuthbert
travelled through all the Western states.
He invested in mines, he bought cattle
ranches, he started town sites Where
| ever he went he took his only son, a
handsome boy, who was quick to be-
come familiar with all the vices of the
times. In mining camps and in boom Cit
les the youth learned to drink, play faro.
and to shoot like a practiced frontiers
man.
When his father was succcessfur in
seine new venture the boy lad plenty of
money. which be spent like a prince. He
! treated whole camps. He played poker
with recklessness that made the profess
sional gamblers hold their breath.
Money had no value to him, except that
1t was something to be spent as quickly
as possible When young Cuthtert came
Hons Al.
reckless that the saloons and the levee
could furnish
| In the height of his fortune Gen. Cuth-
bert became a power in Z olities He was
a shrewd man and he was soon known
| as the counselor of governors and adj
wiser of party leaders. He contributed
generously to campaigns, and he settled
In Chicago, ! prepared to spend the re-
mainder of his life as citizen of I'LL
nots 1t was at this time that he realized
his sons dissolute habits and made an eff
fort to persuade him to reform Young
Cuthbert had gone too far, however. to
change his mode of life. He followed
the race tracks, he gambled in stocks
and he played faro. lie spent money as
If he were Monte Cristo. His escapades
became the scandal of his fathers
friends.
SON ACCUSED OF FORGERY.
Gen. Cuthbert had bad luck one dav
He was on the wrong side Of the market
in q big. wheat deal. TIe was squeezed
so seriously that he lost the bu,k Of his
fortune After that he had all varieties
of bad luck. He. bore his misfortuues
patiently, but his son cfafed under them.
Young Cuthbert did not have enough
spending money. He made frequent de-
mands that his father could not meet.
There came a time when the father and
son had painful scenes After one OF
these a stranger visited Gen. Cutbbart,s
office. He had a check bearing the gen.
erals signature. When the old man took
the check into his hand he saw. stamp q
on the back of it IN red, the word
| Forgery. The general said that the
| signature was SO good he would have
! cashed it himself
Your son presented this check at the
] bank said the man The old general
trembled and paIed. He suddenly sat
! down in his chair. He had many blows
| in his life, and he knew how to control
himself. In moment he had turned and
asked in a steady voice to be allowed to
see the signature again. He examined it
! slowly and then said calmly:
ut is my own handwriting. I signed
the check myself. Let me have 1t aud I
! will cash IT,
! There was a little delay Then the gen.
eral. who had gone into an adjoining Of
| fee, returned with the money--$500 In
crisp, new bank notes.
FORGERY BECAME A HABIT
Young Cutbert showed no sense of
| shame when his father returned the
check to him. After that forgery made
| the process of procuring of money com
| paratlyeiy easy. The boy wrote his IA