Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-10-11
GIRL, 19,
+. HELD IN $4,000
+. CHECK FORGER|ES
Accused of Defraud-
ing Pittsburgh
Millionaire.
MEMBER OF ORGANIZED
CRIMINAL BAND, BELIEF
Husband, Who Escaped Police
Net, She Says Is Prime
Mover in Grimes.
Especial to the Newark star.

Especial to the Newark Star1
TRENTON, Oct. 11.-Winsome and
pretty. Miss Roxie Wells. 10 wears
old. Is being held here today on a
charge of forgery.
Frank N. Hoffstot, millionaire
banker and pressed steel car manu-
facturer, of New York and Pitts
! burgh, accuses her of defrauding him
of $4,000 on forged checks
She is believed by the police to be
the daring and clever member of an
organized band of criminals operating
in Toledo, Erie. Pittsburgh, Harris
burg. Philadelphia and finally Tren.
ton.
\ Her husband, whom she says she
| married recently escaped. Con-
WINGED that she had been deserted
by him. she admitted to Captain John
j. Clancy, of the detective bureau,
that this man was the prime mover
4 in the passing Of bogus checks.
| Her real name, she says, Is Lola
Blazer of 924 Harrison avenue
! Springfield.
| She learned to forge Hoffstot's sig
nature. 1t is believed, while spend
| ing several months in Pittsburgh. Tt
was through her mountaineering
with a number of young society men
sof that1&hy, the police think. that
she obtained copy of his signature
and that of George D. Schmidt. cash
Ter of the German National Bank OF
Allegheny. of which Hoffstot is pres
ident
The girl Is in the county Jail on a
technical charge of having attempted
to pass forged check at local de-
partment store.
Bookkeeper Discovers Fraud.
She and her husband came here
two weeks ago. She first offered n
check for $3.50 at the Ehrlich, Rock
well e. Forester department store.
1t was signed r. N. Hoffstot and
certified in red ink by George d.
Schmidt. cashier"
instead of sending the check 10 the
bank, Frank Shlnn, the stores book
keeper, telegraphed to Schmidt. who
replied that the check was forgery.
He notified the police who inturn
warned all the leading stores to
watch for the girl
Miss Blazer entered the establish
ment of S. P. Dunham & Co. on Oc-
tober and tried to get another
check cashed. She was arrested.
| When the detectives went to her
rooms In South Clinton avenue they
could not find her husband. They
then surmised that he had been wait
ing outside the store for the girl and,
seeing her under arrest, quietly
slipped away.
Miss Blazer apparently grieved far
more over her desertion by Cosgrove
than at her own predicament. She
said she had first met him while she
was acting as a waitress in the Sin
clair hotel, Toledo. She first knew
him by the name of Jackson.
Captain Clancy at last persuaded
her to talk she admitted. so he
says, that Cosgrove bought an auto
mobile in Harrisburg with certi-
fed check, received $125 in change
and then, when the machine broke
down, Abandoned It.
II warned him that we were using
too many checks on the same bank"
she is said to have told Captain
Clancy
She sometimes posed as an actress
and at other times as close personal
friend of Hoffstot, so she informed
the detective.
Never Heard Of Girl.
More than score of forged checks
are said to have been cashed and re-
turned to Hoffstot RECOMMENDATION be-
fore he discovered that something
was wrong. A private detective was
then put on the case. Hoffstot says
he had never heard of the girl until
this detective told him her name.
Hoffstot's name was prominently
mentioned in connection with the al
dermanic graft scadal in Pittsburgh
a few years ago. TIE was arrested In
New York city in April, 1910. on an
Indictment which charged that he had
conspired to defraud the city of Pitts
burgh, and to procure by the bribery
of councilmen the selection of certain
banks as the repositories of the city.
A $52, 800 bride was mentioned.
An extradition granted by Cover
nor Hughes. of New York. was fought
by Hoffstot In the Federal court.
After a number of long delays. Hoff-
stoi went to trial in Pittsburgh, for
alleged conspiracy, in May 1911.
After twenty-four hours wrangling
the jury is said to have stood six for
conviction and six for acquittal A
week later. when tried on a charge
OF bribery he was acquitted and fully
exonerated.