The Tupelo journal., 1905-10-13
WALL STREET
IS DEAD EASY
Henry Leonard Thought So and
Started to Prove It.
TURNED A SUCCESSFUL TRICK
The Latest Explanation of b Re-
cent Wall street (Ncsv York; Sem
sutton, Made BY the Man Who
Pulled It On.


sation, Made BY the Man Who
Pulled II on.
New York, Oct. 3.-The man who
looted the National City bank of $685.
600 OF securities by passing a forged
Hanover national bank check for that
amount, plus one days interest at AZ
per cent, on the loan clerk of the in
stitution is Henry Leonard, aged "a, who
lives with his parents at $50 East One
Hundred and Thirty-sixth street.
He is employed as a messenger by
Halley-S.eiglitz & Co., Of 30 Broad
street, and the amazing thing about his
crime is that, although he stopped to
forgery, he claimed that he did it for
the sole purpose Of demonstrating to
the world how easy it is, under existing
conditions, for any man Of ordinary in
telligence to rob Wall street at will.
Leonard's Explanation.
This explanation of the bcldest crime
that has stirred the financial world in
years would be ridiculous if the young
man was not fortified in his claims by
two convincing facts. The first and
most important is that the very day he
got the securities he put $500, 900 worth
of them in an envelope and sent them
through the mails to Dyer Pearl. head
of the firm of Pearl & Co., the owners
of the securities, at his residence, "a
West Seventy-fourth street
The rest were found in his room by
the police.
why" he said, just before being
taken to the Tombs police court, eff you
would see the way those loan clerks
hand out hundreds of thousands OF dol
lars in securities, thousands in cash and
a limited amount in checks, to mere
boys on the slightest evidence that they
are all right. 1t would take your breath
away. / have seen it done In every
bank in the city, and often wondered
why some of these big crooks never
tumbled to the simplicity of it."
Leonard was arraigned in the Tombs
police court and held in $4,000 for fur
Their examination. AS he left the
courtroom he said to q questioner, Il
did 1t on a bet"
Made No Clear Forgery.
IT made no attempt at clear forgery,
and II l made a good signature of Ger
t~ifcation Clerk Byrnes of the Hanover
1t was more chance than anything else.
I was careless because l knew that the
thing was going TO be very easy" said
young Leonard.
Leonard told the police that he con-
ceived the idea OF the theft some three
or four months ago and had been plan
ming during that time to execute it and
show how easy such a scheme could be
practiced on the banks of New York.
On September 26 he said he found
four blank checks on the Hanover ma
tlonal bank.
Later, on the same day, he said, he
was in the corridor Of the National City
bank and among the men waiting in
lire he saw a man holding in his hand
an envelope marked $500, 00O, AZ per
cent, on the envelope.
He said he heard the loan clerk tell
the messenger than the interest was AZ
and not Az. Then, he said, the mes
senger departed.
Leonard Had His Cue
Leonard then had his cue and went to
the Bowery and there ordered a rubber
c~erti1cation stamp, but before doing so
he cut out the certifcation of an old
check from which the stamp was to be
copied.
After he secured the stamp he filled
out the body of the check drawn or the
Hanover national bank.
Them, he said, he went to Wall street
and hailed a passing boy and asked him
II he knew where the National City
bank a
The boy said he did not.
Leonard said he told him, Take this
check to No. 50 Wall street and hand
1t to the loan clerk" Leonard mean
while stood opposite the customhouse
and saw the boy take the package and
come out with the securities. He had
no trouble getting them and he gave
him rs cents for the job.
Employer Says LeOnard's Honest.
August Stieglitz of the brokerage firm
that employed Leonard made the fol-
lowing statement concerning him:
Henry Leonard, or Harry Leonard,
as he was known in II office. has been
in our employ three or four years. He
is % to % years old. He has always
ber~ y. we'll, and we always regarded
him = thoroughly honest and trustwor-
thy. believe it will be found that this
thing was not done dishonesty, but
rather that the young man wanted to
show how easy It was to perform such
= trick"
President ExOneFates LOOmfs.
Wa ahfn I Oct. 3-President