Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-04-28
A SMOOTH FARMER.

lake, about four miles north of BeYent
village. The arrest was made on the
charge of forgery, and it is case that
the officers have been working on for
a long time. The piece of work charged
to Btranowski, and to which he adj
mitted being the author of, is one of the
smoothest forgeries ever committed in
this county, and the details are practi-
cally as follows:
In the year 1900, Baranow k was hard
up aad badly IN need of money TO cover
his Indebtedness. He set his wits to
work to dsv1lve scheme whereby he
might be reiieved from his financial dis
tress. He had held several offices in
his town and was somewhat familiar
with the workings of town government
aud knowing of the law whereby town
electors may hold a meeting aud author
iZe their clerk TO secure a loan from the
trust fund of the state % to exceed
five per cent. OF the district valuation,
for the building Of school houses, he
thought thar a pretty good scheme L,
work on He SAT down and wrote the
procce,if g If an imaginery meeting,
alleged t. have been held IN the dis
tricG al lining his own, the minutes of
which if set 10 type would ill two
columns of this paper. Everything IN
them appeared correct and these he
sent to Madison, with the request foi
the necessary application blanks. The
blanks were sent him and these he filled
out giving the assessed valuation of the
district and all information required,
forging the names of the school board,
for which he signed his own name as
treasurer and the names of two other
parties as clerk and chairman. With
tbac1 bla nj IL ba leo laH fo Mahi-
son forged note to protect the state
and secure the loan In due time he
received draft, to which he forged the
signature of his son. Joseph, rs assist
ant treasurer. an office he created in
his mind. The boy was then about
fourteen years of age, and living some
where in Michigan, and an innocent
party to the transaction Baranowski
claims to have taken the draft to VIC
tenberg to secure payment, but there
had pointed out To him an error in the
draft Perforated in the corner was
$500" while written on the face of it
was Three and sixty one-hundredths
dollars" The bank would not pay the
money, and later he took the draft to
Stevens Point He claims to have there
met Louis Woesner, who was later shot
and Killed by "Sheeny'' Green, and
showing him the draft, and pointing
out the mistake, Woesner, he claims,
Of red TO secure the money for him if
he would leave it in his care. His pre-
sumption is that Woesner altered the
writing on the draft and made it read
Three hundred and sixty dollars" in
fact that is the way the paper now
reads After Noesier had secured the
money he claims a "divy" was made,
and with the share he received he paid
a number of small debts he was owing
He thought to cover up his crooked
ness by being elected town clerk the
next year, and by some "hocus pocusn
with the assessment he could in time
cover up all traces of the forgery. But
in this he failed Later the electors of
the town wished to build a school house
to replace one that had been destroyed
bV fire. Several hundred dollars were
in the treasury and several hundred
more had been collected in insurance,
but this they deemed not sufficient for
the purposes needed They therefore
made application for and received a
loan from the state of $400. The next
years assessment roll showed that two
loans were charged against the district,
and it was then that su investigation
was made Examin dtion of the rec
ords at Madison broaght forth the
minutes and application of Baranowski
but the officers were not yet ready to
make an arrest and they have since
been gathering evidence which they are
confident will convict the man.
70 anyone who has had any expert
ence in filling out the papers and going
through the f0rmality required in get
ting such loans from the state, 1T is
known that man must use his head,
and absolute accurateness is required
in every detail, yet this man of practi-
cally no education carried out the work
unassis,ed, and made no errors of any
kind, except in breaking the law. tie
was under the impression that the
most serious charge he could be pun
ished for, if punished at all, would be
for obtaining money under false pre-
lenses, and that Woesner alone was
guilty of forgery 1t is the opinion of
some that BaranowskiS story of his
relations with Woesner are myth, and
as Woesner is dead, it will be hard to
dispute him To the sheriff, tie dis
irict attorney. the assistant attorney
o a ecal Frank Tacker and the superin-
fendent Of schools, the prisoner told the
story substantially as here set forth.
When brought into court Saturday
morning, his attorney stated that Bara
nowski desired to waive examination
and the Judge bound him over to cir
cult court, fixing his bail at 81 00o hich
so far h. has been unable Ia furnish
A few years ago an officer of the
town of Pike Lake was arrested for
crooked dealings in connection with
forged town orders. AT that time Bara-
nowski was town clerk and would
naturally discover forgeries OF this nat
ure Immediately, Yet they were carried
on for some time There never was
enough evidence secured to warrant
prosecuting he official and so the mat
ter was dropped Baranowski resigned
or WAS removed from office and the
man appointed TO till his place found
.ch irregularities III the tewn's books
that shortly after, be- stepped ouk of
Office rather than be mixed up in TIE
affair
The man is apparently about 65 years
of ago. -s.,S if convicted of the crime
vita which he is now charged will un
douhtedly spend the latter days of his
life IN prison, for there are four counts
charged In the information.