The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-12-10
HOW BECKwITH WAS TRICKED,
Even After He Had Begun to Suspect
Mrs. Chadwick.

Even After He Had Begun to Suspect
Mrs. Chadwick.
Cleveland, o., Dec. 1O-"At the last
moment of our negotiations, when the
first suspicion haunted my mind, 1 was
tricked into making the loan by Mrs.
Chadwick. who brought to me young
man whom she introduced as the son
of a Pittsburg millionaire. His words
of reinsurance made me fall and
wrecked my life. I have since learned
that he was an actor, employed by the
woman 20 trick me-"
So said Mr.. Beckwith, bank presi-
dent of Oberlin, o., in a supplemental
confession to L. S. District Attorney
Sullivan last night Then he added:
"a certain banker, who was him
self overloaded with her worthless Sc
curities, was as much responsible for
the crash of the Oberlin bank as any
one else. He knew in his heart that
Mrs. Chadwick was a fake, and he
wanted her to raise enough from me
to pay him some of the money she
owed him. She showed me that she
had on deposit in banks in New York
and Ohio nearly one million dollars in
cash. Since the failure, my inquiries
have shown that she really did pos
sess this cash, but she had drawn it
all. She even now has it hidden some
where, unless she has given it to some
one close to her to save it.
RAISED TWO MILLION DOLLARS.
I'm the last three years, Mrs. Chad
wick has raised more than two mill
lion dollars from different banks and
the demonstration she gave me of how
easy this was for her convinced me
that her credit was the best in the
world. If those notes were forged it
is my conviction that some of her
agents will be ultimately found as
guilty of forgery as she is. One of the
biggest corporation lawyers in Penn
sylvania was either in the game with
her or he was duped as completely as
1 was.
"She issued checks broadcast for
hundreds of thousands of dollars on
banks where she had no deposits. One
of these checks was for $1,000, and
was drawn on the Knickerbocker
Trust company of New York. If these
banks will come to the front Mrs.
Chadwick will have so many accusers
that they will not all be able to get
into the court room. Even when the
blow of learning all this came, 1 still
had hopes that she would take up the
Carnegie notes and save my bank"
More sensational than anything that
has yet come out in the Chadwick
case is the formal Beckwith confession
which is held by the federal authori-
ties. 1t is more widespread and open
in its accusations, not alone against
Mrs. Chadwick, but against those with
whom she was associated Seated in
his little home in Oberlin, beside his
heart-broken wife, the old man wrote
his confession, document that is
thousands of words long, and then
gave it to a United States marshal to
present to the federal district attorney,
Mr.. Sullivan, who told him he could
confess or not, as he chose, but that
he would not hold out any suggestions
of immunity as a reward.
MAY MEAN MORE PROSECUTIONS
The document, which is now in the
safe of the United States commissioner
in Toledo, is the outpouring of a
broken heart, the grinding statement
of a ruined man, who never ceased
crying as he wrote it, and today it is
more than probable that new criminal
proceedings, based on it, will begin. 1t
is so complete in it's details and so
fruitful of evidence that, it is stated,
Mrs. Chadwick may be rearrested on
two more charges that may increase
the proba ability of her Imprisonment to
fifteen years.
Never has a more sensational docu-
ment come into my hands as a govern
ment official said Mr.. Sullivan. "It
is absolutely startling, and if 1 can
gather the evidence to back up the
accusations made by Mr.. Beckwith,
we will find ourselves practically at
the beginning of this amazing case.
AS a government official I simply can
not give the confession. I will only
say that it embOdies everything Beck
with has been quoted as saying, in
great detail, about things he told only
the directors of the bank and about
many names and facts that he has
never whispered to a soul. As mat
ter of fact, it would be an injustice to
the persons whom he involved to
make it public now