The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-06
New York Broker Is Arrested and Gigantic Frauds
 Are Discovered
DISTINGUISHED NAMES
 USED IN TRANSACTIONS
Operations of the Broker Were 50 We'll Disguised That There Was Little Chance of Immediate
 Exposure for Fraud.

n,ou, work December 5.-(Special.)- Dave1onments today in connection wltn the arrest on a charge of forgery or samuel M. Biddison, broker, with of- eoas |, the Morton building, disclosed what the police say Is one of the most extensive, intricate and well planheo schemes that ever has been hatcnea III Wall street.
 These developments. it is alegeo' show that Biddison was the head anu front of a swindling syndicate Whose onerations covered the whole or uie r1pi+ed States. Owing to the secrecy with which he enveloped his transac- .,ons however, it Is likely to pc nonths. the district attorneys olnce sal dtoday, before the fuA e~'on' them can be ascertaineo-
 While Assistant District AtloineS KindIeberger, who has charge or 'he case. is convinced that Biddlson anu his confederates obtained hunoreos ol thousands of dollars he says In@' IL the swindlers had not been stoppeo +heir booty would have run lnto ene millions.
 The data on which this calcuiatoh n,os based was brought to light by the mass of documents seized in Blodlsoh office. These documents lncluue po'1S and certificates of stocks calling TOT ai- most incalculable sums. Among l1ein' tho. were some of the strangest cohi- ,,,unications ever seen. The most peeu- flor nerhaps. was a petition bearing the nerves of 10 of the best known men Tn Inc limited States and addressed to tue late queen Victoria of Englano anu eli 2 Prince of Wales. That petit'on re@u CD follows: lv beg your rajestieF the most gracious and beloved Queen of 4England, and his royal highness, the Pince of Wales, pardon for the young act Of our lore- fathers of over 100 years ago, m oe- claring the independence oi the oni'ee States. And now. after lpo years oi indenendence. we come before you with this petition from humpie peopie "-4e ask your forgivness. we also acknowledge our lnapiilty to run this government alone ana peg that we have the great and glorlous privilege of being annexed to y1ui great and glorious domain, In oroer eliae we may enjoy all the blessings or monarchical government, ana s,a. and now promise you that we Will never advocate A measure without interna- tional agreement.
 MARK HANNA,
 LYMAN J, GAGE,
 JOHN SHERMAN.
 .GROVER CLEVELAND,
 JOHN G. CARLISLE,
 JOHN D. PALMER,
 "JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, "JOHN D. TANNER,
 "SIMON P. BUCKNER,
 "GEORGE NJ PULLMAN" All the signatures to this document Jxere in the same handwriting, which ex- perts say was Biddisons.
 Simple Scheme.
 shorn of all it's embellishments Bid- dison's scheme was very simple. It con sisted of printing certificates or stocks and bonds in companies that existed prlh- cipally in his imagination and lending those bonds for so much per month to per- sons desirous of obtaining security on which to raise money from banks or brokers.
 Tn obtaining borrowers for the bogus securities Biddison employed confeder- ates. Wherever he lent any bonds or stocks he invariably took trust receipt. If any of the bonds were sold and the purchasers of them applied for the pay ment of the coupons, Biddison produced this receipt and alleged that the bonds had been stolen from him. The victims pocketed their loss and returned the bonds. If they did not, Biddison threat aned them with criminal prosecution and cited the case of one of his agents, a poor. broken down man named A Regulus Sbippey whom he did cause to be con- victed and sent to Sing Sing, where he now Is.
 Some of the persons who hired bonds
 FrIlx rtxxfr Rra1- George w. Dresser Samuel K. Schwenk, the Charlton Contract company, Frank A Yarnell. George I. Robinson, Jr., Dr. G. Morton. E. H. M. Roehr, William Hooper. A. S. Rosen. H. B. Hahn. A. P. Kosher and o. F. Clifford.
 Mrs. Peck's Plan.
 Through the papers found in Biddison's office 1t was learned that he had been associated in schemes with Mrs. Ellen Peck of Spark Hill, N. Y., who Is now in the Tombs on the charge or swindiing Norman D. Wilson, real estate proKer' out of s2O0O in a bogus land deal in Ken lucky.
 The deeds. as well as what purported to be the original abstract of title to the Kentucky land, which Mrs. Peck used under the name of Eliza Knight in carry ing out that scheme, were found In 6ldai- sons office.
  lum book containing what purported to be Biddison's family record in this coun- try and which dated from 174s. Many or Hiddison's ancestors, according to this book had Biblical names.
 In addition to all this there were clip rings from western papers purporting to show that Biddison owned property rights in the water fronts of Lakes Michigan, Superior and Erie. These rights, it was said, had been acquired from the government and were valued at S200,O00o0O.
 Many abstracts of title and deeds for hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Florida, Kansas and California, Michigan, Virginia, Ten nessee, New York, New Jersey, Minne- sota, Missouri. Maine and Massachusetts were also found in Biddisons office. These deeds. Assistant District Attorney Kin aleberger said. were used by Biddison in