The Washington herald., 1913-04-24
FORGER BLAMES
drink FOR ruin
Henry N. Thornton Arrested
While Trying to Pass
Bad Check.
CONCEALS HIS IDENTITY
Secretary to Senator MARITIME Victim
of Same Man Several
Months Ago.

Henry M. Thornton, college graduate,
soldier Of fortune, and confessed SWIM
dler, will face trial in the United States
court here on a charge OF having at
tempted to obtain the Endorsement OF
Representative william S. Howard of
Georgia to a worthless check. forged on
the Lowry National Bank of Atlanta. Ga.
II will plead guilty and take my medi-
cine like a man." said Thornton last
night II will not deny the charges
against me. / was caught red-handed.
Thornton may or may not be his right
name. He is known to have gone under
many aliases, and admitted to having
served a long term in the Ohio State
prison on a charge Of forging check
for 1890.
Yesterday Thornton showed up at the Of
fee Of Representative Howard with a let
ter Of introduction from Attorney Hollius
Randolph, Of Atlanta, Ga, a member OF
the firm Of Brown & Randolph. But
Representative Howard was on his guard,
FOR it was but a few days ago that the
same man fleeced Joseph Aranoff, secre-
tary of Senator MARITIME of New Jersey
out of $3.50 Detective Hewlett, of the
Central Detective Office, was placed in
charge of the trap. Thornton was in the
act of presenting the letter to Represent
alive Howard when in walked Attorney
Randolph. Aranoff also put in appear
ance and recognized in Thornton the man
who had stung him for $3.50.
BIames Drink and Morphine.
Thornton attributes his downfall to
drink and morphine. When arrested he
had an S-ounce bottle of morphine in his
possession.
'I have fought under two flags" he
said. II was in the British army during
the Boer war and participated in the
ion inc he
De Witt Then l saw service under the
Stars and Stripes during the war with
Spain.
II have not always been a criminal.
Ny downfall began with an unjust SEN
tence of seven years at Cincinnati. i
was charged there with forging a check
for more than $500, but / pleaded not
guilty 10 the charge. My father was an
officer in the Confederate army, and in
hiding my identity / am anxious not TO
cast any reflection upon him. He is dead,
but even the dead must be respected.
Yet ii seems as though / don't love his
memory as I should by committing the
crimes of which ] am charged"
A woman figures in Thornton's life
The police found in his belongings the
photograph of a handsome woman. He
refused to give the identity Of the wom-
an in the case.
What caused my downfall? Drink
and morphine. I do not expect to live
through the sentence that's coming to
me. because my health is broken" he
said.
On October 6, 1906, Thornton. under the
name of II. G. Gathright, was arrested in
Louisville, Ky, and sent to Cincinnati,
when he was sentenced to a long term
in prison for swindling. He has gone
under the names of J. d. Boland, w. L.
King and many others.
Besides having defrauded Joseph Ara
noff, secretary to Senator MARITIME, out
of $3.50. Thornton last August swindled
Charles r. Pierce, an attorney in the
Pacific Building, out Of 500 by a SINH
lar scheme.
Representative Howard says that as ].
T. Pelham, Thornton. ten years ago in
Georgia, swindled him out of SIS.