Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-03-10
THEIR FIRST STEPS IN CRIME.
Trivial Incidents Responsible For
Criminal Careers.

doers have, IL their own impressions
are to be relied on, been tempted to
launch into crime by the most acci-
dental circumstances. "Jim the Pen
man." the great forger whose forger-
les created a panic among London
bankers for several years, and who
was at last brought to Justice by the
confessions Of two of his accomplices
when he was condemned to penal
servitude for life, said that the idea
of forgery never occurred to him till
1t was suggested by the chance re-
mark Of a casual acquaintance whom
| he met in a London restaurant where
he was dining.
The stranger chanced to allude to
forgery that had been committed,
says the London Answers, and re-
marked how clever a penman must be
to be able to initiate a signature so
closely that a skilled bank clerk could
not distinguish the forgery from the
real one. Jim thought 1t would be
easy, and pen, ink and paper were
brought for him to try his hand at
Initiating the strangers signature. The
result was so wonderful that the
stranger remarked:
"You possess a dangerous gift, Sir
A man might be tempted with 1t to do
much at pinch"
Till that moment, "Jim the Penman'
then James Saward, the barrister
desperately In want Of money-de-
clared, he had never thought Of for
gerry as a means Of livelihood. The
words rang in his ears as revelation
Of how he might gain thousands. He
became the cleverest forger Of modern
times.
A man does not become coiner all
at once. It requires long, laborious
and constant practice to acquire the
proficiency to turn out base money
which will pass undetected from hand
to hand. But the most casual chance
has led men to adopt coming as a
means of preying on their fellows.
Woodstock, the coiner, samples OF
whose marvellous work are to be seen
in the Black Museum at Scotland
Yard, was as young fellow tailor's
assistant. One Saturday afternoon he
was in a public house in the south of
London with the girl to whom he was
engaged. Upon her leaving. stranger
remarked to Woodstock how pretty
she was, and jokingly asked when the
wedding was to be. Woodstock lament
ed that there was not much chance
of that happening for long time. His
meager wages forbade the hope. The
stranger was Draker. coiner, and he
hinted that II Woodstock-such a nice
faced, respectable looking fellow-was
poor 1t was his own fault.
Draker had heaps of bad money he
wanted passed. Woodstock was tempt
ed, and after a struggle with himself,
consented to take some Of the coins.
He found them so defective, however,
that they were difficult to pass, and he
criticised Draker,s work SO severely
that Draker invited him to "see II he
could do better himself" and he would
teach him all he knew. Woodstock
easily surpassed his master. He had
wonderful gift for delicate manual
work and a brain to discover new
methods. His "den," when he was at
last run down by Inspector Fox, was
round fitted with all the latest scienti-
flc machines that could be applied to
counterfeit coming.
In the famous case Of Martin Guer-
re, the launching Of criminal course
was the result Of an extraordinary
chance and a sudden resolve. Martin
Guerre was a soldier, and was mortal
ly wounded in a skirmish in the north
Of France. Among his comrades was
man remarkably like him, with
whom Guerre had contracted a great
friendship. The two used to be al
ways together, and enjoyed the joke
of their strange resemblance. Queries
double was with him when he was dy-
ing and Guerre, with his last BREATH
begged his comrade to carry some lit
tie trinkets he had to his wife at home
The double assented, and proceeded to
fulfil his promise faithfully. When he
arrived at the village on his mission
he learned that Queries wife had
during her husbands absence In the
war, come into some little property
| through the death Of a relation. he
began to envy Martin Queries lot II
he had lived. When the villagers saw
him they began to exclaim: Here's
Martin Guerre!" BY the time he ar
rived at the cottage door he had de-
cided to act Martins part, provided the
dead mans wife was deceived by his
similarity to her husband. She was
and the impostor took Martin Queries
place. The wife only discovered the
truth some twelve months later by the
absence from the impostor's arm Of
scar which Martin had bor:e.
Alice Grey, the girl impostor, who
used to make livelihood by accusing
! men Of robbing her, and melting all
the spectators, the police, the bar and
| people in court to make subscriptions
for her, while by her false accusations
innocent persons were branded as
thieves and condemned to jail, said
that 1t was a pure accident which
launched her on her horrible career
She really lost her purse one day al
a railway station, and burst into tears
on discovering her loss. Alice Grey
was so pretty, and sobbed so nicely that
score Of people were at once anxious
to assist her. To her profound aston
ishment, she discovered her loss made
up to her over and over again by char
table spectators.
The incident suggested a much cas-
ier way Of making a living than by
domestic service, and Alice Grey, a
few days later, was weeping on an
other railway station platform. Pass
ers by asked the cause and were told
that she had had her purse snatched
from her hand by a man whom she de-
scribed. There was a hue and cry
raised at once, and an unfortunate
wretch was found exactly answering
to Alice Grey's description. Almost
unthinkingly, Alice Grey accused him.
"Oh, you hard hearted creature, to