The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-06-21
Remarkable Gases of Forgery
 Are Brought to Light
.PERPETRATOR IS NOW DEAD
Fraudulently Raised Shares of Stocks, Which Means Losses to Banks of Between $75oooo and
 $1,ooo,ooo.

Philadelphia. June 20-One of the most sensational cases of forgery that has ever been brought to light in financial circles of this city was disclosed today when 1t was announced that certificates calling for small numbers of ahares of stock had been fraudulently raised to hundreds of shares, causing q loss to certain banks and trust companies of this city of from s75oOOO to s1,OOOoo0. The forgery involves the name of Benjamin II. Gaskill, who died four weks ago.
 Gasklll was the sole member of the banking and brokerage concern known as Benjamin II. Gaslill & Go. He had offices i'll the financial district and his credit was considered gilt edged.
 Deceased Left No Will.
 At the time of Gasl<ilrs death he was believed to be worth about a half mill lion dollars. He left no will and admin istrators began to close up his business. patron of the firm whose name is not given bought from the estate one hun- dred shares of Philadelphia Traction com pany stock and one hundred shares of stock of the United States Steel corpor- fI. c. Miller & Co.,. which firm sent the 100 shares of traction stock to the Philadel- phia Traction company to have the trans- fer recorded. The certificate did nc agree with the company's books and an investi- gation showed that the certificate had been raised from six shares to one hun dred The discovery was reported to b. C. Miller & Co.,. which firm immediately notified the stock exchange of which GaslSill was a member. which in turn sent out notices to it's members not to receive stock certificate from Gaskills estate
 Raised His Traction Stock
 A further investlgat on brought to light surprising state oi affairs. It was found that Gas1lll had credited himself on nis( own books with six thousand shares of' Philadelphia Traction stock. valued at ap- proximately $600.000 while the traction companys books showed he had only four hundred shares. It was also discov- cred that he raised stock certificates of the United Railways of New Jersey from two to two hundred and the certificates of the Frankford and Southwark Street Railway company of this city from two to twenty The latter stock Is worth S450 a share.
 Was Losing Big Money.
 Gasklll kept two accounts-one record- ing the transactions of his customers, which was correct and another giving his own transactions. His books showed that he was losing S15.000 to 900 year in his business His mettod of operation was to obtain certificates of gilt edged secur- ites calling for one, two. three or some other small number C shares. raise the figures and give them for securities of large loans At least six banks and trust companies admit holding fraudulent se- curities for large loans. Not one of tho Institutions win ma,tc public the amount of money advanced, but it was said to- night that the amount on the raised certi- ficates will amount 10 between $750,000 and $1, 100000. It Is believed but very little will be recovered from the estate.
 Gaskl was about 4 years old when he died and was a high liver. He was a member of the Manufaeturer's and other clubs and was well known
 Gaskl left widow to whom the stock exchange a few days ago paid s5000 as life insurance. His seat on the stock ex- change is valued at Sl5.000