The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-03
ROBBED NAILS ANDLlYED HIGH
FORGER AND HIS WIFE CUT A
SWELL AT ASBURY PARK.

tho DeI14ntIul 0rOsDyS were ThleveS
and Check Raisers-C ouple Caught in
Denver-WOman Clever and Of Good
Family-Her Name IL withheld.
The Pinkerton Detective Agency of
this city was advised yesterday OF the
arrest in Denver by post office inspector
and Pinkerton detectives Of a man who is
responsible for the disappearance OF a
mail pouch containing bank paper worth
about $500 600 from westbound Penn.
sylvania Railroad express train on the
night Of Sept. 8.
The man is F. II. Crosby, alias A. E. Bell,
alias Hammond, alias Crawford, alias
William Murray, one Of the most notorious
letter pouch thieves and one Of the most
daring forgers of whom the Pinkertons
have any record,
Associated with Crosby is a young woman
Of good family from Kansas City, The
Pinkertons know her name, but refuse to
make it public. She also was arrested in
Denver She represented herself to be
Crosby's wife.
TIE Pinkertons and the Government
AGENTS got track of Crosby through his
operations on banks in Asbury Park. where
he spent the summer, and where he was
located at the time when the mail pouch
disappeared from the Pennsylvania ex-
press.
Most of the negotiable paper In the pouch
was drawn by Philadelphia banks and was
on the way to banks in Pittsburg, when
il was stolen.
Crosby oashed & considerable amount
of this. paper--exactly how much is not
known--in the Asbury Park and Ocean
Grove Bank and the Sea Coast Bank, also
of Asbury Park. He got the money in
most instances by erasipg the name OF
the payee with acids and writing his own
name instead In some cases, he raised
the amounts OF checks by the same proc
os.
The Philadelphia banks and In many
cases individuals notified the Asbury Park
banks that their checks had been tempered
with, and it was also noted by some that the
checks which were being returned to them
we're those which were supposed to have
been In the lost mail pouch.
The Asbury Park banks called on the
American Bankers Association and the
Pinkerton agency il this city and Phil
adelphia, and the machinery OF both or
carnations was set to work on the case.
The Pinkertons found that Crosby and
the tall, stately brunette, who says she is
his wife. had arrived In Asbury Park early
in July, and engaged five apartments in
Edgemere Inn for the summer. They
we're iust back from Crewe, England, they
said.
Spectator In fruit and the woman saw
to it that information got around that
he was affiliated with New York city STOCK
brokers and that it took much Of his
precious time to look over his mail every
morning. To inspire confidence IN HIM
self Crosby ran over TO New 1ofk every
few DAYS and returned, Oh so tired ana
coynnletelv worn out with the rush OF Wall
Street businessl
On other occasions he went to Pennsyl-
vania and Delaware and Maryland to buy
up the entire fruit crop OF big farms, so
the woman said. Once III While che
anoomnanied him and brought back with
her lovely big peaches and other fruit.
Sometimes Crosby, from the excessive
strain of his fruit buying and wall street
operations, fell i'll, or pretended to, and
hen his wife. who at other times was az
ways pleasant to the young people about
he hotel, was doubly agreeable. She at
ended dances and other social gatherings
NJ Asbury Park. She got to- know the best
reople there and was received oy them
In fact, she became general faVorlte, LOT
She is vivacious, good looking ana exceed
She got TO know the men who conduct
the sbury Park banks and then introduced
her hus band to them.
crosby PLAYED the game well-he is no
h,lngler. He did not attempt to pass the
,octored checks at once. he opened
personal account, deposi ting. it Is said,
more than 81 900 in cash III each OF the
ina, was along in August About Sept. 7
j,4 disappeared from Asbury Park for two
Or three days. Mrs. Crosby went with him.
There was big deal on In fruit.
Crosby came back on Sept. 0. The night
0 T,oa The dav after his return he
sweed his accounts az the banks by de-
hosting several checks payable TO his order
and drawn by different Philadelphla firms
While he was depositing them Mrs Crosby
SAT outside in a we'll vanished orougham,
holding the rens.
Crosby drew out some Of his cash on
the next day, and on the 18th he closed
both accounts. He had, he said, been
called to England on important business T1esS,,,
couple. Some Of the cottagers came up
on The train to New York with them, and
Crosby pulled out a big roll OF bills and
bought parlor car seats for all
Il CAN'T bear to ride IN an ordinary coach,
and Mr. Crosby also dislikes it," said Mrs.
Crosby. Some of the other cottagers
offered to pay. but Crosby put his hand on
their shoulders with 'now-see-here-ol odd
fellow manner and pushed them aside
The cottagers left Crosby and his wife at
Jersey City, MA,
for week Be sure TO come and see us"
sid Crosby.
The Crosbys wouldn't go over to New
York with the others, they said, because
they had friends in Brooklyn with whom
thew wanted to visit before sailing. and
70 they would just sail around on the
Soon after Crosby's departure from
Asbury Park, when the banks there had
called In the Pinkertons, Assistant Super
intendent George s. Dougherty OF the Pin
kerton bureau in this city recalled the fact
that mail pouch had been stolen at spring
field, III, last April, and that one A, r.
Hammond had opened an account with
cash with the Lincoln Trust Company in
st. Louis and then deposited number OF
altered checks from the stolen mail pouch.
He suspected that this pouch robbery
was committed by A. Z. Bell, alias Craw-
ford, whose photograph. on being shown
10 the officers Of the bank In st. Louis.
was promptly identified.
Then the Pinkertons got very BUSY al
Asbury Park, and II developed that the
genial Crosby was none other than A. E.
Hammond. alias Bell. alias Crawford, &c.
Crosby had touched the Lincoln II,nt