The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-04-28

IfNllSSlnStnt WnOSt cOnleSSlOu ldSl
winter to the forgery of mortgages
to the extent OF $1,0OO,OOO caused
great sensation in Chicago, where he
had been known for 20 years as
leading real estate man, exploded a
bombshel in the bankruptcy court
here when he stated that his con-
fession a few months ago was an
tedated by a confession made pri-
vately to men who held 100000 of
his spurious paper.
Van Vlissingen's confession and
his conviction on n plea Of guilty
last winter all occurred within "A
hours. He was brought back to Chi
cago from prison to testify before
Referee in Bankruptcy Frank Il.
Weab, who is attempting to locate
the valid assets Of the prisoner.
Van Vlissingen declared that in
1904 he was compelled TO confess TO
MaurR Rosenfeld, at that time
director of the now defInct Chicago
National bank. and Bernard Rosen-
berg, a real estate dealer, that the
mortgages held by them and valued
at 100000 had been forged.
s'They discovered some irregular
tiles in the papers that year" said
the witness. "and came TO my Of
flee for a conference. | admitted the
forgeries and said:
81 viii go before the states at
torney tell him just what have
related to YOU gentlemen about these
wholesale forgeries. plead guilty and
go to prison like a man"
We want our money they said.
WOULD HAVE TO DUPE OTHERS.
ga can get IT,, told them, but
! must dupe others as | have duped
you men,
1--WE had another conference soon
after" continued the witnessr Fin
ally proposed to settle with them.
to $1,000 n week. Altogether ulti-
mately, | paid them Approximately
S250,OO0.
tT told Rosenfeld at least 25 times,
and Rosenberg half as often" said
Van Vlissingen, "that could re-
imburse them only through illegal
business operations. told them
further that was rapidly becoming
deeper involved; that the number
OF Illegal transa tions was multiply
ing, and that my legal transactions
were falling off, and had almost
ceased TO be profitable.
Van Vlissingen said he transferred
1fra tf,,,.
$4,000 TO Rosenreld, delivering
them to him, and further stated that
since turning them over to Rosen-
field he paid the premiums on the
policies
CRoWDING HIM FOR MONEY.
Rosenfeld and Rosenberg, partic-
ulaiQy the former, the witness stated,
"kept crowding pe for money un-
til ! feared the strain would kill me-
Finally, / warned ROsenfeld that II
he didn't cease would become so
nervous that's could not duplicate
more notes and that / then couldn't
make money to pay him. ! said /
feared the end was near; that l did
not intend TO go to prison and
well. he knew what | meant"
Here the witness broke down and
wept
What became OF the forged pa
pers wh3h were held by these men
and which you cancelled?" was asked.
~ locked them in my safe"
"Did you resell them.
''Yes; not all ofthem, though.
Did they promise not to expose
you?"
''They came to my office regularly
for the installments, but said moth
ing more about my going before the
states attorney. paid them i'm
terest at times, / also agreed that
would sell my real estate and gave
them the proceeds. Finally, l told
them that If they did expose me.
there would be no way to repay
them
we want our money! they
said, and | was getting It as fast as
/ could raise it.
We don't want, TO know how
YOU get the money they told me at
one conference, held in December,
1904."
TllEhlBLIoS WHILE TESTIFYING.
Van Vlisslngens face was pale
and his hands trembled as he told
his story on the witness stand. His
every act plainly showed the strain
under which he labored. His eyes
We're blodshot and his lips twitched
as he faced the counsel.
The witness said that his forgeries
had continued for 20 years, but he
did not know the exact extent of
them.
~ was always afraid TO sit down
and figure out just how much they
amounted to- he said.
"Will they aggregate a million
dollars?"
Surely"
, @And maybe more?'
: eyes"
Asked when his marriage occurred,