The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-01-20
DETAINED
|. Fred N. Dean At The
County Jail
Awaiting The Arrival Of An
Illinois Officer
To Take Him To Metropolis
On Forgery Charge
The Young Man Frankly Tells
OF The Affair
And Positively Denies His
Guilt Of The Charge

Fred. M. Dean, an apprentice ma
chinist at the G. & G.. Cooper Coz
works, is under detention here in COM
pliance with letter received by Chief
of Police Dermody from the sheriff of
arrival of the Illinois officer to take
him back to Metropolis, the county
seat of Messac county, to answer to
an indictment recently found by the
grand jury of Messac county against
Dean, charging him with forgery.
The letter referred to was received
by Chief Dermody Tuesday and after
getting Dean located he went to the
Cooper works in the afternoon and
placed him under arrest, taking him
to the county Jail.
The information of Deans arrest
spread rapidly through the Cooper
works and great surprise was mani
tested by all who heard 1t, as Dean
stood exceedingly high with his fell
low-employees, and they were loath to
believe that he had committed any
crime. Dean was visited at the Jail
Tuesday evening by Superintendent
John Mullen and others of the Coop
er works, and to them he related, In
an apparently frank manner, all the
details connected with transactions on
which the charge against him was
based, and IL what he states Is devel.
oped as the facts at his trial 1t will
not take the jury very long to acquit
him.
In conversation with representa-
tive of the Banner, Dean stated that
the whole matter was the outgrowth
of some family troubles In Metropolis.
He said that his father died in 1906,
and among the estate he left was a life
insurance policy for $500, the proceeds
of which were to go to himself and
his two sisters; that his uncle closed
up the affairs of his father, and acting
in that capacity received the $500 from
the policy, and paid funeral expenses
and such debts as were owing by his
father, but that he never turned over
any of the remainder of the proceeds
to Dean or his sisters, although some
five years have elapsed since their
fathers death.
Last September the uncle referred to
received some injuries which he knew
would prove fatal and he died in a
few days. Dean and his sisters were
summoned from this city to Metropolis
at that time, and there learned that
the uncle had stated to his wife just
before his death that Dean and his
remaining after paying the debts of
their father. The uncle also carried a
life insurance policy for $500, and 1t
was in connection with the proceeds
arising from this policy that 1t is al
legged that the forgery was committed.
Dean states that 1t was the clear un-
derstanding of all the relatives that he
and his sisters were to be paid the
1920 due them out of the proceeds OF
the policy carried by his uncle; that
in a few days a check was received
from the insurance company for $500,
made payable to their aunt, and that
the aunt being unable to write request
ed Dean to endorse her name. to the
check and have the same cashed; that
| M tn 10 hn mi
of his aunt he wrote her name on the
back of the check, she all the while
keeping her fingers on the penholder,
and that the writing Of her name was
In the presence of members of the
family who had also heard the aunt
request Dean to write her name,
Dean further states that at the re-
quest of his aunt he took the check
to a bank in Metropolis, endorsed 1t
and received the $500 called for by it;
that he took the $500 to his aunt and
1t being a matter of agreement that
he end his sisters should receive $3.50.
that that amount was received by him,
He states that since that time there
has evidently been some disagreement
among the members of the family at
Metropolis. but the nature of which
he says he is not advised, and growing
out of 1t is the charge against him.
Dean and his two sisters have been
living in Mt. Vernon for about year,