The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1910-03-09
LITERARY FORCER|ES
Versatility ard CIeverness Of a
ShreWd Scotch Lad.
FOOLED THE coNN0IssEURS.

posed by q Simple Little Slip.
From the days Of Isidor Mercater,
who forged letters of the bishops Of
Rome with such skill and success that
they were treasured for centuries in
the Roman archives, to the days Of
Ireland, the notorious forger of Shake
spearean plays snd letters, and Chat
terton. the clever and Ill fated boy
who died miserably in bis attic, there
have w been wanting unprincipled
men who could forge ancient manu-
scripts SO cleverly that leading experts
have been deceived.
But for versatility and cleverness
none Of these forgers Of past centuries
could approach the cleverness Of a
young Scotchman who years ago pro-
duced a long succession Of forged a
uscripts which completely bafled the
connoisseurs Of the world. The true
and full story Of these remarkable
forgeries is almost unknown and is so
extraordinary that it may we'll be told.
It was in Edinburgh that this in
comparable forger practiced his arts,
and it was by an accident that he was
tempted to embark on a areer which,
after a spell Of great success, involved
him in disaster. One day the princi-
pal of an Edinburgh firm of lawyers
told one of his clerks to clear out sew
eral boxes full Of old documents, the
accumulation Of many years. Among
them were several documents and au-
tographs the value Of which the clerk
was quick to recognize, and he had no
difficulty in finding purchasers for
them. As the supply was limited and
the demand constantly increasing it
occurred to him to supplement the gen.
uine documents with others of his
own manufacture. and as he developed
a remarkable skill in forging and had
already won the confidence Of a large
number Of collectors he found 1t easy
to dispose of as many forgeries as he
could produce at very profitable prices.
, Many of them were sold to collectors
in different parts Of the world, others
We're disposed Of by auction, and the
remainder were pawned and sold as
unredeemed pledges. These fOrgeries
covered a very wide range and includ-
ed autographs and letters by Crom-
well, Mary, queen of Scots; James W..
Prince Charlie, John Knox, Rob Roy,
Burns, Scott, Thackeray, Carlyle, Sails
bury, Gladstone, Lord Nelson and
many other men of note as well as
vast quantities Of Jacobite correspond
ence.
So cleverly were the %forgeries exc
cuted that the largest purchaser Of
SCOTS letters was a gentleman who
as a boy had carried most Of the great
authors manuscripts from AbbotsfOrd
to his Edinburgh publishers and was
as familiar with SCOTS handwriting
as his own, and the head Of the firm
that published Lord Byron's works
purchased f~orty-seven letters purpOrt-
ing to be Lord Byron's for the sum of
f125 Is. Cd. A very large collection of
these manuscripts was purchased for
a sum of over $4,000 and presented to
the LenOx library, New York, where
they were for some time regarded with
reverence as the chief treasure of The
library, and another collection was
presented to the city Of Edinburgh.
) Although these forgeries were pour
ed on the market in such %profusiOn, nj
suspicion seems to have been aroused
They were accepted without question
by the experts and found ready pur
chasers at large prices. Whether the
forger's success made him careless Of
whether it was due to M Of those re
markable oversights to which the mos
skillful criminals seem liable ant
which bring their career to a close, tn
forger was at last exposed through
mistake of which such a clever maj
should scarcely have been capable.
Among the many forgeries he pre-
duced a poem signed by Robert Burns
It was called "The Poor Mans Pray
er" and opened with this stanza:
Amidst the more important tolls Of state
The counsels laboring In the patriot
Though Europe from thy voice expect he
fate,
And thy keen glance extend from pol
to pole.
This poem, which consisted Of nine
teen verses, might well have escape
detection with the rest but for tn
fact that a gentleman to whom tn
poem was shown discovered the idel
teal verses In the London Magazin
Of 1890 in a poem addressed to th
Earl Of Chatham by n Simon Hodge
laborer.
Thus it appeared that If the verse
were actually written by Burns th
poet must have opened them undo
the pseudonym of Simon Hodge at til
very immature age Of a poet Of seve
years. Suspicion once aroused, doul
was at ono cast on the hundreds {
other documents which had emanate
from the same source. The Lenox CO
lection was submitted to the expert
Of the British museum and pronounce
"a worthless lot of forgeries," and &C
lectors all the world over awoke to IL
painful discovery that their treasure
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