Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-22

and a presenter" The proceeds are di.
vided in certain proportions, the presenter
often getting the lions share, because it is
he who takes the greatest risk.
"Steve" Broadwell is said to have real
lied nearly three-quarters of million dol
lars as his share of the forgeries in which
he was implicated. There was hardly a
city in the country in which he had not
operated at one time or another. His
method was unique.
Here is a typical case. He walked into
a Boston bank one rainy afternoon just be-
fore the hour for closing. He presented a
draft drawn by a Southern bank upon a
bank in New York directing the New York
bank to pay to James Lane some $4,000.
Broadwell was soaking wet from the
rain, and as he handed the draft to the
paying teller he commenced a fit of cough
ing which seemed as though it would split
him apart The teller waited until the
coughing man had a moments respite and
then explained that he couldn't cash the
draft because it was drawn on a New York
bank
Again the man started his terrible cough
and the perspiration stood out on his brow.
When the spell subsidized, he handed the
draft back to the cashier and insisted in
a weak voice that the cashier of the
Southern bank, whose signature guaran.
teeing James Lanes endorsement was on
the back of the draft had told him that he
could cash the draft as well at the Boston
bank as in New York.
i was on my way to New York to see
a specialist" he went on, "but I'm afraid
III never get any further than this town.
That's why came here"
The coughing started again. me teller
became alarmed. 1t didn't seem as if the
mans racked frame could much long
er resist the terrific strain his coughing
spells were subjecting it to. The man
grew deathly pale and seemed about to
collapse. One of the officials of the bank,
attracted by the noise of the mans
paroxysms, appeared on the scene just in
time to catch him as he was falling to the
floor
A chair was brought and while the ex-
hausted man was assisted into it the
teller and tie other officials discussed the
question of cashing the draft he had pre-
scented.
The mans terrible condition completely
disarmed them of suspicion as to the au-
thenticity of the draft he had presented
and the only thing which made them hes
itate was the irregulaTity of the proceed
ing. Banks and bank officials are the
last to move out of the regular rut. Re-
peated experiences have taught them that
safety lies in following precedent.
1t seemed that the Boston bank had car
ried a large deposit of the New York
banks funds, and could, of course, safely
have cashed the draft if so inclined, fact
with which Broadwell was of course,
familiar. Again the man commenced his
Ill
suIting with the cashier and fearing that
further argument with the apparently
dying man might bring about his death,
finally counted out the money and handed
it to him. Broadwell went out into the
rain again, worked the same trick at four
other banks before three o'clock that after
noon and cleaned up some eighteen thou
sand dollars on the day!
The drafts he used in this way we're
genuine drafts issued for small amounts in
the regular way and skilfully raised to
several hundred times their actual amount.
In the case mentioned the original amount
was $40. BroadweIl collected $4,000 on it.
BToadwen died in a BOwery lodging
house. He had made fortunes in his time,
but he died a pauper. The strain he ex-
perienced in executing his ingenious fraud
undoubtedly fastened his end. He was a
most finished actor and would have
adorned the stage. But he chose a life of
crime and he reaped the criminals inevi-
table reward-misery and poverty
George Wilkes himself, who at one time
or another worked with most of the big
forgers of his time and cleaned up hun
dTeds of thousands of dollars in this coun-
try and in Europe, died penniless in the
Bellevue Hospital in New York City.
The accomplices of the actual forgers
become involved in the meshes of the law
more frequently than the principals them
selves. Thus, William Pinkerton has
pointed out that eight of the associates of
Charley Becker, the forger, were caught
and sent to prison, and the same fate be-
fell ten of George Wilkes associates, five
of Jack Brushs, six of Jim Farrell's and
eight of Alonzo J. Whiteman's
No one who is at all familiar with the
careers of the big forgers will ever con.
tend that forgery pays. On the contrary,
like every other crime, it has never brought
anyone any real happiness. For a few
years, perhaps, it may enable those who
pursue it as a means of livelihood to live
we'll but in the long run the life of the
forger is full of Indebtedness and misery
Forgery does not pay because no crime
pays
SOPHIE LYONS.