Arizona republican., 1901-12-13
FORGERY IN ONE LESSON
The Story of a School of Penmanshil
 at Mesa.

The preliminary examination of Charles Sloan, charged with being the directing mind of the forgeries by
 which Eugene Daly and William Els
 worth swindled Phoenix merchants a
 month ago. took place in Justice Bur nett's court yesterday morning. Sloan
 was held to the grand jury in the sum
 of $500. He will probably be able to
 give 1t, since John Kemp. an English
 man spending the winter near Mesa. has interested himself in his behalf. Though Kemp has no property in this territory, he is said to be quite wealthy, all of his possessions lying in l New Mexico. He is now trying to make an arrangement by which he can secure bondsmen for Sloan.
 Ellsworth. Daily and one other unim- portant one, were the only witness ss against Sloan. and in testifying against him they sacrificed whatever hope of | escape they might have had. Under | cross-examination they told Attorney Flannigan. representing Sloan, that they intended to plead guilty. They said that some time before the forg- cries were committed, they went to Sloan and told him that if he could run them up against a job they would give him the first three days 4 put them into a way to make money faster than by working for it, and also much more pleasantly.
 | Then he introduced the check proj- ect. Daily and Ellsworth said that they had never seen a check or a checkbook. When Sloan tried to ex- plain the operation of the check to them, it was all Greek. He showed them how the checks were to be filled out. where to put the name of the payee and where to sign their own names. He also made them familiar with the mystery of the endorse ment- He made out a check himself. signing the name of C. c. Hockett His pupils used that as a copy and practiced filling out checks for two hours. when Sloan told them that they | were proficient enough for all practi- cal purposes.
 Those who have seen the bungled paper which they unloaded upon their victims must wonder what their first attempts under the instructions of Sloan looked like. This forgery kind ergarten was held in an old deserted house by the dim light of a candle At the close of the session there were eight checks ready to be precipitate ted on guileless Phoenix merchants. for Sloan told them that Phoenix was the best place to work them off. He also instructed them not to offer them any place until after o'clock, the hour of closing the Mesa City bank, so that there might not be any premature in- quiries. The next day Daily and EIls- worth come to Phoenix, like two Allad- dins, to try the virtue of the magic ring which the Mesa genie had given them.
 It worked like the charm they thought it was. They couldn't see why anybody should be complaining of hard times any more. Here was a kind of prosperity that beat the Mckinley brand by many laps. Those checks passed with the facility of treasury notes. One or two of the victims made some suspicious inquiries, but in the end they accepted the checks and ap- peared to regret that there were not more of them- Only three were cashed and the rest were held in reserve for d rainy day On the way home the finan- cial fever of Daily and Ellsworth cooled somewhat, and they got to ask ing themselves if society would ap- prove of this way of getting rich, and If their transactions had been con- ducted wholly within the law. The more they thought about it the more they thought that the road to the per,- itentiary is often mistaken for the road to wealth.
 They accordingly stopped by the way and burned the check book along with the unnegotiated checks, among which was the one to which Sloan had signed the name of Hockett. Sloan's share of the proceeds of the deal were to be a revolver. saddle and a part Of the money. Ellsworth and Daily said they took him the revolver and gave him a share of the money. but they did rot get the saddle. The only other wit ness for the territory was J. H. Diffen- derfer. who testified that on Novem- Der g. Sloan told him that he was getting ready to leave the country. What bearing that statement is ex- pected to have on the case was not disclosed.
 No effort was made to controvert the testimony of Daily and Ellsworth, but several witnesses were put on the stand to prove the good character of Sloan. Most of the testimony on this point was negative. Walter Wilbur, Samuel Barnett and w. J. LeBaron, said they had never heard anything bad or anything good about him. They had never heard his character dis cussed. William Walker, who had at various times employed Sloan. said that h had a good reputation. Mrs. Walker said that she believed that his character was good.
 None of the property realized from the forgeries has ever been found, so Sloan rests on the story of Daly and T. l.- T