The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-13
FORGED MORTGAGES
ARE DISCOVERED
Ernst Apparently Sold Same
Securities Several Times by
Duplicating Them.


| Investigation being made into the al
| legged crooked business methods of
Banker Casper Ernst yesterday after
| noon, when it was learned that dupli-
| cate mortgages are in evidence.
One mortgage which came to light
yesterday was pronounced a duplicate
by Register of Deeds Fitzgerald, after
he had made a careful examination of
the instrument, and when it was shown
to County Auditor Krahmer, who was
formerly register of deeds, he declared
that the signature of his name to the
| mortgage was without doubt forgery.
While an attempt had been made to
| initiate Mr.. Krahmer's style of hand
writing, the services of a handwriting
expert were not necessary to show that
the name had been written by some one
| else. Mr.. Krahmer pronounced 1T
| forgery the moment it was shown him.
The mortgage was brought to the
| office of the register of deeds by 10
cal attorney, who received 1T day or
! two ago, along with eight similar doc
uments, from Catholic priest in North
Dakota, who asked the attorney to in
vestigate the genuineness of the docu-
ments.
| The particular mortgage which was
pronounced a forgery is for 5000, run
ming from Kate Sprunck, widow, liv-
| ing on Dayton's bluff, to Casper Ernst.
| The priest who holds this mortgage
! and the eight others is involved to the
extent of more than $4,000, and if his
other mortgages prove to be as worth
| less as the one which was investigated
yesterday, he will undoubtedly be out
| the entire amount.
Register Fitzgerald Makes Discovery.
The forged mortgage was first dis
covered by M. F. Fitzgerald, register
of deeds When it was handed to him
for examination he at once noticed
that the file numbers stamped upon 1T
We're in red ink.
Nothing but black padding ink has
ever been used in stamping the num-,
| Ders upon instruments in the Office of
| the register Of deeds.
| The mortgage bore every earmark of
being original and genuine, except that
! the fatal error of using red ink instead
! of black had been made.
| An investigation showed that the
numbers tailed with those of the genu-
| inc mortgage, and there was nothing to
arouse the suspicion Of purchaser.
| 1t is thought that this discovery Of
| the methods alleged to have been en-
| ployed by Ernst to increase his mon
| ey-getting powers will result in turn
| ing up number of such duplicate
mortgages. There is no limit to the
number of duplicates which might be
| made of one mortgage, it being possiL
| BILE to dispose of each duplicate to
different person. So long as the mort
gage did not become due there would
| be no way of exposing the fraud.
| AS usual, there were a number Of
persons about the court house yes
terday searching the records in the
abstract Officer and the office of the
register of deeds to ascertain the value
of their holdings in matters wherein
| Ernst had been concerned i,,5st4s
With new victims of the banker
| turning up each day, it is impossible
to make even a guess of the amount
of money involved in the Ernst fail
ure. Indications now are that the
first guesses of 100000 or $250,000
will be too small rather than too large.
Preliminary HearInazPestponed
! Yesterday was the date set for the
preliminary hearing of Ernst in the
municipal court, but arrangements
were made for continuance of the
hearing until Nov. 10, at which time
the grand jury will have completed
| it's investigation of the charges against
| him.
When the Ernst case was reached in
| the police court yesterday the prisoner
| was not in court to respond, and a
| deputy sheriff was sent to the Jail after
| him. Ten minutes later Ernst, clearly
shaven and apparently as jolly as ever
| in his life, appeared in court where
the arrangements were soon made to
| have the case continued. AS soon as
| the case was continued Ernst was re-
| turned to Jail.
The Ernst matter was taken up by
the grand jury late yesterday after
noon, following completion of
the investigation by the jury of the
Johnson case, and it is probable that
it will require two or three days time
| to make the Investigation
| The first witness called before the
grand jury in the Ernst affair was
Father John B. MetZler, the Chippewa
! Falls Catholic priest, who is RESPONSE
BILE for the arrest of Ernst, it having
been Father Metzler who swore out
! the warrants charging forgery and
| embezzlement. =
| While the amount alleged to have
been appropriated by Ernst apparently
| grows with each succeeding day, so
does the curiosity as to what became
| of the money. The amount is now
placed at such a high figure that it
would, apparently, have been impossf-
BILE for him to have disposed of all of
it unless he speculated in stocks.
Luxurious Horne Is Given Up. =
There are many evidences that he
has no money now.
The large Summit avenue home,
which he had leased and which had
been furnished extensively, has been
given up, and his wife and their three
little children have gone back to the
old home on harrington avenue where
she is living temporarily with her
brother, T. Bowen.
Following the disclosure of Ernsts
| financial affairs, big vans backed up
at the handsome home and expensive
rugs and tapestries which had been
| bought but never paid for, as well as
other expensive furniture, was loaded
into the wagons and hauled back TO
| the stores.
Some of the furniture was sold to