Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-03

ing IN that city was good. An accurate
physical description of the man was OBJ
tanned easily. and then Greenslade, who had
been held in custody, again was put
through course of questions, especially
with reference to the men who had called
on Miller in the st. Louis office of Burt &
Miller.
In the meantime another channel of inves-
t!gation had been followed with success.
Application to 8. s. Bissell. who controlled
the office space rented In the name of Burt
e Miller. disclosed the fact that stranger
representing himself A. G. Burt. law
yer, had negotiated for the Office. The de
scriptfon of this man. as given by Bissell.
ccrresponded with that Of Russell.
After we closed the deal for the office,
said Bissell Burt said he wanted some
letter heads printed and gave me the job.
He used my desk to write his copy for the
work and said his partner. Miller. would
call for the letter heads when they were
completed. About a week later a man call
Ing himself Miller asked for the stationery
and paid for it,
Habervoold's interview made 1t reasonably
certain that two of the principal conspir-
ators were John d. Cameron and William
Russell. and at the same time rendered
1t highly probable that Carpenter was the
third. 1t was found that he lived in Be
lott, Iowa. a small town founded by his
fat tier, who had named 1t after Beloit. Wis,
in which place he had formerly lived. Ed
ward e. Carpenter. the man whose descrip
ton Tailed in all points with that Of the
MYSTERIOUS Miller. was said to own about
SIS,0O worth of property in Iowa and had
been interested in the land business, al
tho ugh there was record of wrongdoing
be hind him. In various business deals he
had been associated with Cameron, and in
this way had become known in Sioux Falls
as n friend of the latter.
Long before the work7of the government
had been carried this far some of the
forged or counterfeit scrip had been secured
from Mckinney & Scougal, as 1t was impor-
tant to locate the printer who had manu-
featured the blanks, and, through him. the
man who had placed the order. The form.
geographically, was an exact duplicate Of
the genuine form used by the government.
but there was a marked difference In the
quality of the paper, the bogus forms being
printed on much inferior stock. The as
signment slips to be pasted on the backs of
the scrip were also good duplicates. The
scrip bore three signatures of assistant
treasurers of the United States-Benjamin
F. Flanders of New Orleans, G. N. Will
liams of Santa Fe. New Mexico, and James
Gillian of Washington. D. c. Part Of it
bore the signature of one. some Of 1t an
other. and the rest Of the third. The sig
natures were fOrgeries cleverly executed.
Each piece of scrip also bore a notarial
seal, as required by law on genuine scrip.
The scrip was redeemable In land by the
government and was therefore equivalent
to cash. Burt & Miller had sold it at 30
cents on the dollar which rendered it's
manufacture more profitable scheme than
the counterfeiting of United States cur
rency, as the average market price of
bogus paper money to the purchaser was
about So cents on the dollar and its cost Of
manufacture much greater.
Trying to locate the printer was a good
deal like the proverbial haystack search
for the needle. 1t was through a travelling
salesman, whose name l have forgotten,
that the government finally obtained its
eleW to the printer of the scrip. This sales
man knew John D. Cameron and had heard
of his arrest at Sioux Falls On the gen
eral principle that the information might
be of some value, the drummer Informed
the government officials that he had seen
Cameron in Omaha about the time the
printing was probably being done Omaha
was a point convenient to both Cameron
and Carpenter. An investigation of the job
printing Offices of Omaha, which were not
SO numerous as to make the task a large
one, revealed the fact that the owner OF a
printing plant had lived formerly in the
same Iowa town in which Carpenter lived.
Do you know Edward E. Carpenter?' the
printer was asked.
Yes" he said
Has he ordered any printing done here
within the last few months?'
NO, but we had conversation concern
ing some work he wanted done. 1t was
ordered by another man"
Who was the man that ordered the
work.?
John D. Cameron of Sioux Falls, Oak"
Did you know what the blanks were to
be used for?"
No; paid little attention to the wording
OF the blanks and did not know they were
TO be used for Illegal purposes"
Were you directed to use any particular
kind of paper?'
Il did not furnish the paper; Carpenter
bought that elsewhere and brought 1t here"
The printer furnished details of his trans
actions with Cameron and Carpenter and
was a willing witness for tho government
i The entire conspiracy by this time was
perfectly clear. In the firm of Burt IL Mil
Ter, Russell was Burt and Carpenter was
n. 70 thnt nepN
made so distinctly doubt remained
Cameron assumed no fictitious name for the
purpose of the scheme 1t was learned
later that Cameron had issued a large num-
Der OF postal cards out in the northwest ad-
vertising the alleged fact that Mckinney az
Scougal had quantity of surveyors
scrip for sale. These cards had been sent
out without the knowledge or consent of the
mixers, the plan of Cameron evidently be-
Ing to create a demand on the banking firm
for the scrip and have the firm, in answer
to this demand purchase the scrip from
Burt & Miller In large quantities. In
order to give the transaction air or
genuineness Cameron and Russell had writ
ten the fake" letters of inquiry to Burt
81 Miller" These letters were submitted
by the government to DR.. r. U. Piper of
Chicago and Edwin B. Hay OF Washing
ton d. c., well-known handwriting experts,
the latter in the employ Of the government.
They were compared with other writings OF
Cameron and Russell obtained from Da-
kota. and positively identified by both ex-
perts as having been written by the same
men.
The forgeries OF the names of the assist
ant United States treasurers had been done
so well that when Assistant Treasurer
Flanders of New Orleans. Louisiana's war
governor was placed on the stand, given a
piece of scrip to examine, and asked II the
signature had been written by him, he an
Swered:
Yes"
i us it not true that the number OF that
piece of scrip is higher than any issued by
the New Orleans officer" asked the govern
ment's attorney.
80 it Is" supposedly answered Gov
Flanders: this scrip could not have been
issued from the New Orleans office; but the
imitation of my signature Is so we'll made
| would have sworn to its genuineness."
After wrangle between the United
States attorneys over the proper place to
try the conspirators, Yankton was finally
decided on. Cameron was under arrest and
all three had been indicted by the federal
grand jury for conspiracy to defraud the
government Russell was the second prin-
cipal arrested. Then Deputy Marshal Weed
with another deputy named McNichol, went
to Beloit, Iowa. to arrest Carpenter. He
was taken into custody and the three start
ed for Yankton. Near the line between
Iowa and Dakota Carpenter feaped from
the train while in motion and escaped; but
later he was retaken and lodged in Jail at