The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-30
BIRDS OF PREY FLY UP TOWN
DRIVEN FROM PERCHES IN WALL
STREET SKYSCRAPERS.

M III W Lawn W NBIhAOeAAND
Hard To Keen the Crooks Cut, Though.
Eeeping the big new office buildings in
the Wall Street district clean Of crooks re-
auires a deal Of careful watching and In
v~estiRation these days. In fact, IL the state
ment OF some Of the investigators IL to be
believed, there never was a time when so
many crooked schemes we're devised 70 get
the public's money.
The hackers OF every one Of these schemes
count IL as a big asset II they can secure a
Wall Street address. By a Wall Street ad-
dress is not meant simply a perch in one OF
the towering structures that actually line
the little street from which the whole dis
trct takes it's name, for an address on
several other streets. such as Broad street
or Exchange place, is almost as good for
the purpose. Certain blocks on Broadway,
recognized as being a part Of the financial
district. also fill the bill.
With the putting up Of new buildings
with twenty or more stories there has come
a determined movement on the part Of at
least some Of the agents and euperintep-
dents to keep financial ~swindlers from get
ting offices in their buildings. Once a con-
Germ OF this kind gets into a building IL is a
DlSNNJ NOhbu W W hOt " III dIlu u IldJ
reason no end Of vigilance is exercised
when applications for space are made.
There never was a time when the big
Wall Street buildings were 30 clean" said
a man whose business it lie to keep tab on the
crooks. That does not mean that the
district is clean by any means. because
nefanous schemes without number are
being worked there right now. some Of
them no doubt in the best buildings.
But it does mean that there has been a
big improvement and an improvement that
ought to go steadily on until more and more
Of the financial crooks find II necessary 10
fit to roosts further uptown. There is
already a big movement in that direction.
the best evidence in the world that things
are not comfortable for them here"
Nowadays when a big twenty story
building on Wall street begins to bid for a
place in the skyline along with the other
sk~yscrapers it is pretty certain that among
the applications for Offices in It there will
be some that won't pass muster. 1t takes
a year or more sometimes to fill a great
building with tenants. There is always
a temptation to the renting agents not to
he too particular.
But a good many Of them have found
that it doesn't pay not to be particular.
They lave found that for a building to
have the reputation Of being clean is an
attraction to good tenants that will win
out in the long run.
Most OF the work Of investigating appli-
cants is done not by these agents them
selves but by special detectives, who make
a speciality Of this line Of business. These
men not only keep a card index themselves
Of all the %swindlers that nave been exposed
but they employ any number Of stool
pigeons, men who have at one time or IN
other been mixed up in crooked finance and
nave a marvellous faculty Of finding out
just who is back Of the various concerns
that start up and masquerade under names
that seem eminently respectable.
These names are frequently trade names,
registered at the County Clerks office.
The records there will show in such cases
who the persons doing business under them
are. but often it is back Of These names
that the detectives must 60 to run down
The real hacker Of the scheme, who may
turn out to be some financier they have
in their rogues' gallery Of finance. In
such a case the securities company or min
ing company, or whatever it may be. Is
politely told by the agent Of the new build
ing that space in it cannot be had
1t isn't always easy to smoke out the
hacker Of some fraudulent mining scheme
or promotion. All the big buildings that
are trying to keep the crooks out these days
require references. The facility with which
these are obtained is often surprising.
A case in point is that Of G. Augustus
Seton, now serving a sentence in Sing
Sing for %swindling a lot Of Southerners
by posing as a banker here and taking a
tDuir YGt ia nnui "a ht,,TR iz5;iz FIR = TS=ng
railroad mpan Seton was one of the
men who counterfeited stock certificates
Of the Norfolk and Western and had just
started to put them put when the plot was
run dow and he was nabbed, along with
Kid MURRAY. alias Col. Colmey OF Nevada. '
One Of the references which Seton, then
posing as the head Of G.. Augustus Seton
4 Co., bankers. had when he tried to get
into one of the biggest buildings in the
street happened to bs the PIesldent o.
companies in the city. II the building had
not been very particular in regard to the
character of its tenants that letter would
have got Seton into the building without an
other question.
Seton's name was handed over 10 the
detective agency along with a lot OF others
in the regular course Of business, When
one Of the detectives reported that Seton
had a record out in Ohio and was a swindler,
the agent almost gasped. Even sfter the
oRtuJ UOIu dDOuJ JIG lOlNSI IN bCpSSNlNO |
insisted that he was right and that the
letter only ven to prove how clever Seton
was.
Seton did not get n space in that build
ing. but he did in another and from there
worked his scheme to defraud a lot OF in
nocent investors down in Texas and also
hatched there the plot to counterfeit Sc
%curities. II came out later that Seton
had hoodwinked the trust company presi-
dent and had even used the trust company
to bolster up his ~swindling game.
One OF the hardest men TO keep from
getting a perch somewhere in Wall Street
was K. A. Goslin. His name still strikes
terror in the hearts Of the agents OF the
buildings there.
1t was not Goslin himself who tried TO
get in but concerns that had him as a
baoker. In fact Goslin had a way OF
getting 30 far in the background that it
was hard 20 identify him as the man who
was getting the money culled from the
suckers. 1t was on account OF Goslin and
his list OF companies more than anything
else that there came the present concerted
movement on the part OF some Of the large
renting agents TO keep the financial crooks
from getting a roost among respectable
inns and enterprises.
Every time a Goslin enterprise was
brought To light the building that had