The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1901-01-07
SENTENCED Foa FRAUD.
Meters and Jones Convicted Of swind-
ling.


Two swindiers of railroad com
panies By me6ns of forged passes, and
one swindler OF manufacturers by the
use Of the mails. were sentenceds to
the penitentiary from Chicago yester.
day
Gilbert e. Meters and John II. Jones
the wholesale foigers Of railway
passes, VINO were arrested when abou'
to leave Chicago few weeks age.
pleaded guilty Of forgery before Judge
ruley ana a few minutes later were
sentenced TO Joliet for an indetermi.
nate term. Although the men were
glad to plead guilty without troubling
the prosecution to present It's evil
dence. they were not willing to tell
the extent to which they had defraud-
ed the railroads
A few facts about their operations
were drawn from the men, but no copt
nected story was told by them The
amounts of which the railroads have
been defrauded by them run into the
thousands of dollars. and railroads
throughout the country have been vic
timized but no definite idea x the
extent of the operations can be secur-
ed In addition to the forging and
selling of employees passes, for which
the men were arrested. they had am
other method of obtaining transporta.
ton They would present to the pas
senger agent of a railroad a forged
letter from the head OF another road,
asking for trip passes for two en-
ploNees of the foreign road. When
this letter was honored by the issuance
of the requested passes the paste
boards would be promptly sold to a
scalper Meters told OF getting six
return passes to important Western
points in this manner They were
sold to Bill Nye, a Chicago scalper.
for $2lO. and We're recovered from
him. after the arrest Of Meters and
Jones by the railroads interested.
Meters and Jones worked in one
city after another through the coun-
TRY, and it was due to the vigilance Of
Central Passenger association officials.
who were on the lookout for them.
that they were caught when they APP
peared here They ordered bogus
autograph stamps from A. w. Martin
& Co, makers Of rubber stamps, who
reported the order to the Passenger
association. Tie forgers depended on
the possession Of false stamps and of
paper and passes printed by them
selves for their success.
Five indictments.
There were five indictments against
the men, but when they pleaded guilty
to the charge Of forging a pass over
the Norfolk and Western, the other in
dictments were dropped
Since the arrest OF the pair it has
been learned that Meters has a crimi-
nal record His real name is P. n.
Van Sickel, his home is in New Lex
ington, Ohio, and he was formerly
Wagner car conductor. He was con-
yicted a year ago In Reading. Pa, of
obtaining employment by means of
forged letters, and served a sentence
of three months in the Berks county
jail. He was also convicted last May
in New York city of forging the name
of l.. e. Rossiter, president Of the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit company. for
which he served a short term in the
Kings county Jail. He was at the
same time indicted for another forg
cry in New York, but escaped through
legal techaicaiity.
The men were prosecuted by T. Il.
Brodbelt, special agent of the Central
Passenger association; Joseph j. Dor
an of Philadelphia, general solicitor
OF the Norfolk and Western, and John
II. Coulter of Chicago, were the at
torneys for the railroads. and Assist
ant States Attorney Olsen appeared
for the state. The witnesses heard
were l.. E. Johnson of Roanoke. Va,
general manager OF the Norfolk and
Western ], c. Moorhead Of Cleveland,
Ohio general manager of the Erie, and
A. u. Bliss, Cleveland, Ohio. chief
clerk Of the Nickel Plate.-From the
Chicago Inter Ocean. Nov 2S, 1900.