The San Francisco call., 1904-03-12
]. c. COGGINS. FOUNDER OF
NEW SCHOOL OF MONEY
ORDER FORGERS.

Inc school OF postoffice money order
forgers founded by the notorious ]. c.
Coggins, now an inmate of the Salem,
Or, penitentiary, has resumed opera
tions in this neighborhood. Uncle
Sans postoffice inspectors are on the
! watch for a man that cashed a forged
money order in a Market street store
. last Saturday night. This man is sup
posed TO be one Eugene ]. Rossier, a
fOrmer cellmate and pupil OF Coggins.
These facts briefly summarize one Of
. the most interesting chapters in the
work of the postal inspectors. The
story was told in detail last night by
James O'ConneIl, one of the local in
spectors.
About a year ago." he said, 81. c.
Coggins and William B. Mortimer
worked the coast towns very extern
sively on a new plan of money order
forgeries. They purchased a number
of orders in San Francisco. All we're
for trif1ng sums, commonly 10 or 20
cents. The sole object of buying these
orders was to get possession of the
blanks, which they proceeded to raise
to sums ranging from S25 to s45, al
ing to as high as 500.
NEW THING IN FORGERY.
Their method was to erase all the
writing on the orders. To do this they
used chemicals which completely alb
sorbed the writing ink without affecting
the printed matter. Then they filed out
the blanks anew for the larger amounts
and forged the names of the Postmas-
ter and clerk at the Office of issue.
THUS equipped, they went TO the
town on which the forged money order
was drawn and offered it at some cloth
ing store in payment for a small pur-
chase. If the merchant was not un-
usually cautious he generally accepted
the order, paying the balance in cash.
The forgers always waited until after
the local postoffice had closed. when it
would be too late to get the order
cashed there. They thus had a ready
excuse for asking the merchant to cash
the order. OF course. the money order
would not be deposited by the mer-
chant until the following day. By that
time the forgers would be far away.
INVENTORS CAUGHT.
Mortimer was arrested in February.
1903 at Littleton, Colo, in company
with one Frank Hill. Coggins had
previously parted company with Nor
timer and was then operating in Ore
gon and Washington, where he, too,
was caught by the inspectors in June.
last. All three were convicted and are
now serving long terms. When Cog
gins gets out of prison at Salem he
will be tried on an indictment pending
against him at Seattle.
"Coggins had a number OF pals
while he was working his graft. and
when confined in the Portland jail
awaiting trial he instructed other pro-
fessional crooks in its mysteries. 1t
was an easy matter for a brainy crook
to memorize Coggins' LESSONS as to the
chemical substances needed for the
work The rest was simply common
forgery.
Among Coggins' pupils was Eugene
]. Rossler. whom we believe to be the
head Of the new gang of forgers now
at work hereabou His age is about
80, height feet 10 inches. weight 165
or lis pounds. hair dark brown. COM
plexion dark, eyes dark and squinty.
neck long. He loafs about saloons and
always cool and possessed. That
he has been in San Francisco we are
not sure, but if not himself it was one
of his confederates that worked the
scheme on J. Boas, the money lender,
at Summerheld's store last Saturday
night"
LAUGH is ON BOAS
The fraud referred to by OConnell
was perpetrated by a young man de-
scribed By L. Summerfeld Of the firm
named as about the age and height
given above for Rossier. SummerfeId
last night told the story:
"This fellow wanted me to sell him
a SIS overcoat, Offering a $50 money or
der in payment. We never cash checks
after banking hours. hence 7 refused.
But J. Boas. who was standing near
looked at the young man and his or
der.
Tt seems all right he said. 7
might cash it for you. Would you be
willing to lose a dollar?'
" Certainly the fellow replied sI'u
give you dollar to get il eashed.'
so Boas indorsed the order and 7
sold the coat, giving the stranger s45
in change. Boas got his dollar. He
has since had to pay the money or
der"
The naval vaSaeIS npdar ,~...-.-..-.s-