The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1901-01-11
SENTENCED FOR FRAUD.
Meisers and Jones Convicted of Swind
ling -FOrgers of Railroad Passes
Get Indeterminate Terms.


Get lndeterminate Terms.
Two swindlers ofrailroad companies
by means of forged passes, and one
swindler of manufacturers by the use
of the mails, were sentenced to the
penitentiary from Chicago yesterday.
Gilbert f. Meters and John II.
Jones, the wholesale forgers of rail-
way passes, who were arrested when
about to leave Chicago few weeks
ago, pleaded guilty of forgery before
Judge Tuley, and few minutes later
were sentenced to Joliet for an indeter-
inmate term. Although the men were
glad to plead guilty without troubling
the prosecution to present its evidence
they we're not willing to tell the extent
to which they had defrauded the rail
roads.
A few facts about their operations
were drawn from the men, but no con-
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
imized, but no definite idea of the eX-
tent of the operations can be secured.
In addition to the forging and selling
of employees passes, for which the
men were arrested, they had another
method of obtaining transportation.
They would present to the passenger
agent of railroad forged letter
from the head of another road, asking
for trip passes for two employees of
the foreign road. When this letter
was honored by the issuance of the re-
quested passes, the pasteboards would
be promptly sold to scalper. Meters
told of getting six return passes to
important Western points in this man
ner. They were sold to Bill Nye, a
Chicago scalper, for S2l0, and were
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 country, and
it was due to the vigilance of Central
Passenger association officials who
were on the lookout for them, thatthey
were caught when they appeared here.
They ordered bogus autograph stamps
from a. w. Martin ~ Co., makers of
rubber stamps, who reported theorder
to the Passenger association. The
forgers depended on the possession of
false stamps and of paper and passes
printed by themselves for their success.
FIVE INDICTMENTS.
There we're five indictments against
the men, but when they pleaded guilty
TO the charge of forging pass over
the Norfolk and Western the other in
dictments we're dropped
Since the arrest of the pair it has
been. learned that Meters has a Grim
inal record. His real name is p, n.
Van Sickel, his home is in New
Lexington, Ohio, and he was formerly
Wagner car conductor. He was
convicted year ago in Reading, Pa,
by obtaining employment 10y means of
lOIHtu lGlltISs anu StINch ScultllNt
of three months i'm the Berks county
Jail He was also convicted last May
in New York City of forging the name
OF l.. f.. RCssiter, president of the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit company,
for which he served short term in
Kings county Jail. He was at that
time indicted for another forgery in
New York, but escaped through a
legal technicality.
The men were prosecuted 10y Y. T..
Brodbelt special agent of the Central
Passenger association: Joseph j,
Doran of Philadelphia, general
solicitor of the Norfolk and Western,
and John II. Coulter Of Chicago were
the attorneys for the railroads, anC
Assistant States Attorney Olsen APP
peared for the state. The witnesses
heard were l.. f.. Johnson o
Roanoke, Va, general manager Of the
Norfolk and Westerns j. G. Moor
head of Cleveland Ohio, general
manager of the Erie, and A. l.
Bliss, Cleveland, Ohio, chief clerk o
the Nickel Plate.-From the Chicago
Inter-Ocean, November 18th 1900.