The Banner-Democrat., 1901-08-10
REMARKABLE FORGERIES.
DARING AND DRAMATIC CRIMES Ex'
ECUTED WITH A PEN.

The Case Of Jim The Penman "-Forgsd /
Testimonials to His Character While !"
Jail-A London Criminal Who was me
Most SkiIful Of AL.
The history of forgery records many
marvelously clever and audacious leats'
but the most daring and sl<illful OF them
all stands to the credit, or rather ois-
credit, of that most dramatic sf iofgefs'
sJim the Penman."
When "Jim" was arrested az Mem-
phis. Tenn, on charge OF forgery nc
was able to produce so many striking
testimonials to his character from tne
principal men in the United States tnat
the Judge considerably reduced the Sc
verify of his sentence.
He had been in prison only a iew
weeks when the overseer OF the gang
received an official notification that an
| influential petition, signed by the Judge,
Jury and many leading citizens, had been
| forwarded to the Governor of the State
| praying for the convicfs release on the
ground that "He bore an excellent char
| acter, and had been dupe and not
willing or conscious agent IN the for-
gery;" and month or two later an
order was received, from the Governor
commanding his release.
II was some time afterward that the
discovery was made that testimonials.
net;tions and order for release were all
the product of "Jim's" own clever pen,
and that they had been actually written
j in raol with the connivance OF friend
| ly warder.
/ Twenty years ago a convicted muir
derer was lying in Newgate prison un-
der sentence of death, when reprieve
was handed to the Governor. Some IN
| formality aroused his suspicious, and the
matter was placed in the hands OF de-
tectiyes. who discovered that the re-
prieye had been forged by man VINO
had conscientious objection TO the
death penalty, and who had taken TINS
daring means of preventing 1t IN TINS
particular case.
A few years ago a Greek presented
| himself at the Bodleian Library, OXFORD
| | with a roll of ancient manuscript which
. | he wished the authorities to purchase.
. The most recent of them dated from tne
thirteenth century, and, one by one, the
mustv. time-stained parchments were
S submitted to the late Mr.. Coke, the IL
y brarian. who examined them without
: comment. The last of them, document
:, ostensibly as old as the most ancient
New Testament manuscripts, was PROUD
n ~ placed on the table. "Now, how Ole
e do you think that isl" the Greek asked
e in undisguised triumph. About TN
middle of this century," Mr.. Coke quiet
o lv answered, as he examined it carefully
d and almost before the words were ou
it of his mouth the Greek had snatcne'
1t ND his forgeries and was out OF IN
u room.
y 1t is doubtful whether any forger' an
n cient or modern, was more skiiiiui Una
to B, who for many years baffied tn
er combined ingenuity of the bankers
I ondon Mr.. BIS fort was tn
r forging and manipulation OF letters
nr credit on foreign banks.
er About eight years ago he deposited
IT. srr, of f,oo with London bank, receiN
ing letter of credit for this amount
:. the banks continental agent. Within
Il few days he drew this amount from
Swiss bank. the letter being duly cal
to celed and the amount drawn indorse
unon it. To anyone but B the no
would have been absolutely useless; D
an he did not take this view at all. I
.th means of chemicals he removed the ca
he collation. marks and Endorsement, al
,c- presented the note again in Belgium
ed again he used his chemicals and ore
another foo in Paris, repeating the pr
,rf cess until on that single note tor Is
,de he had drawn ten times the amount.
emf To make such tricks impossible I
eat amounts were in future given on I
an notes in water mark, to which our fore
ich proceeded to add cipher, also in wat
% mark. thus enabling him again to or;
be 5000 on a 5000 note. To the wal
,er- mark was then added the amount
to perforated figures; but B siml
ach cut ont both water mark and perforati
ooo from the note, cunningly inserted n
an piece of paper Gin plup), and on
Iuct forged figures for ten times the amo'
or more.
out Go skillfully were the substitution
wire fresh paper and the iorgeiies
of figures effected that even with a mic
ON scooe il was impossible to see that
ton note had been tampered with, and
re- one occasion B actually forged
entire note so perfectly that even
n of hank officials who were supposed to NJ
e of issued it could not detect the fraud.
, be The captures of famous forgers n
igh- often been highly dramatic Fauntlei
h a the banker, who robbed the Bank OF
, be gland of over 100000 by means OF fo
to ed powers of attorney, was lounging
quail an easy chair, talking 10 cneh,' ~
$ of luxurious private room IN his Dank
Berners street, when the door was $
denly opened and the intruder, walk
M to the lounging, aristocratic fg
: said Henry Fauntleroy, l arrest yor
and charge of forgery.
As Two men were sitting IN pu
Lon house near Oxford market when the
their was silently and stealthily opened ar
ping. head was furtively introduced and m
agin- more quickly withdrawn. Not qui
nter- enough. however, for in that bret
|; all slant its owner had been recognized
They before he had proceeded hve yards
sket; tectives hand was placed on his shoul
ening Thus James Saward,' alias Jim the
own man." in spite of all his cleverness,
h the at last into the simplest of traps
good his career came to an end.-I'f-b't'
lads; .
n;ous Fault Of the Boots.