Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-13

in a lot of notes which he had bought OF
the Rothschilds in Paris, and asked the
bank manage to discount them. The man
ager said he would let him know the next
day il he would leave the notes, and In
the meantime took them to the main office
of the bank. The authorities there in
formed him that he could discount such
notes by the cart load, and he did.
Other genuine notes were brought in and
discounted in the same way. This was kept
up until the bank grew accustomed to dis
counting Rothschild's notes and then Bid
WI. began to forge such notes. He showed
them in by the bushel and took out gold to
the amount Of $500, 600 in exchange. The
most Of this money he took away in gold
coin, which was carried off to the rented
house nearby. He would have gotten per-
laps $1,000, 900 more had not Hill, one of
his confederates. omitted to fill in a date on
one of the notes. This caused suspicion and
the torgers were discovered. They had
time to fee, but sooner or later they were
all arrested and imprisoned.
Mcdonald and Hill were kept in prison
for life, but Austin and George Bidwell
were pardoned on the ground of i'll health.
They were released and came back to the
United States.
l don't know that either was able to save
anything from his stealings. The greater
part of McDonald's share fell, 1t is said,
Into the hands of a detective named irving,
who, Mcdonald claimed, had agreed TO al
low him to escape IL he would turn the
money over to him. George Bidwell had to
give up his share when he was taken In
Scotland, and ! think that 1920, 900 of the
money was captured in the shape of United
s ates government bonds which had been
bought in London and sent to New YORK In
a trunk Of dirty linen.
Frauds in Bank Notes.
1t is hard to counterfeit the Bank Of Eng
ian notes not only on account of the paper
and ink, but also of the care which is used
by the bank to trace the note. Every note
hat comes into the bank must be indorsed,
although 1t Is doubtful whether such in
dorsement could be enforced, as the notes
are payable to bearer. You may have
heard the story of how the bank refused to
cash one Of its own notes for Pierpont Nor
gan a few months ago. AS the story goes
Mr.. Morgan presented the note and ahked
hat 1t be exchanged for gold. The cashier
requested him to write his name on the
back, but he refused, saying that the note
was to bearer, and as 1t was genuine the
bank should cash it without Endorsement.
Upon the cashier persisting Mr.. Morgan
said he would let the note go to protest,
whereupon the banker threw up his hands
In holy horror at the idea of a protest of
the Bank of England. He was about to
hand over the money when Mr.. Morgan as
a favor wrote hiG name across the back Of
the note.
There are few financial institutions
which can afford to have a question raised
as to their solvency. Even the Bank Of
England doesn't want its notes to go to
protest and it is sensitive as to its reputa-
ton. l was told at the bank how a Jew
once bluffed the ~oficials into paying some
notes which the bank officers knew were
stolen.
The Jew was a man Of wealth and was
well known in the Stock exchange. He
had bought 500 900 worth Of Bank of Eng
land notes from a clerk who had been en-
ployed in one Of the banks Of the conti-
nent, but who had absconded with this part
OF his banks funds. When the notes were
presented the officials refused to pay them,
but the Jew at once took them with him to
the stock exchange and there proclaimed
mat the Bank of England had stopped pay
ment. He said 1t had refused to honor its
own bills for 500, 900 and he showed the
notes In corroboration Of his statement.
he said he would continue to publish the
fact that the bank was insolvent ana
thereby almost created a panic. The ex-
itemen was such that the cashier of the
Bank OF England sent for him and gave
him the money for his notes. It is doubt
tul' however, whether such a thing could
be done today.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.