The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-11
Goodbye the Thief of Dorng Enter Thief of Brains

by them as are the bank clerks who have
stolen and who fear exposure
The Gondorfs get S55.fao out Of Major z.
} Pendleton as wise and clever New
Yorker as you would find in a DAYS walk.
Major pendlcton lived at the Waldorf.
priced himself ON his knowledge of metro
relitap affairs. and vet the Genderfs had
10 more trouble with him than they did
with old man Walker of New Britain,
Conn
II was the same with Kirby { Sudbury
aud nr J. H. Powell of Wilmington. y.
4. MI Sidbury Is a LAWYER DR. Powell
IS a dentist Mr. Sudbury came along .
ser that Or Powell got fair play in tho
seheme the Comforts proposed. The
Gondorfs got not only the dentists money
hut the lawyers. They got the money of
". L.. Davis. Who runs a hotel In At
antic CITY They got $6ae0 out Of Daniel
5. Curry. who was treasurer Of the city
Of Winnipeg, as alert and clever a vest
erncr as the Dominion of Canada has
produced
The Gondorfs walk Broadway today.
\ thousand columns haVp heen written
about them and their Wet ms. Yot they
90 right along about .neir business. feee-
ing regularly and Il never seems TO dawn
tapping job is proposed that the whole
thing is a swindle and that the men who
propose it are crooks. The Gondorf5
haven't been in Jail except long enough
To furnish bail They consider themselves
immune. Their victims go into court with
unclean hands because they must confess
that they were parties to a scheme to
rob others through the supposed dishon-
estN of thu Gondorfs In the language Of
the day. they have no comeback
clever thieves have offices and busi-
nesses, 1t was So with the Gosln- Uhren-
Ammou combination. Gosln is a master
rogue. Ihren MAS a broker In the eurb
market. Ammon was a lawyer and gen.
eral schooner. These three robbed Wall
street banks through most adrolE
schemes. conducted big brokerage house
that was only a cloak for thievery and
blackmaied big and little corporations
much the same as the Gondorfs black
mailed dishonest employees of banks. Sos
lin went to Blackwell island for a term
and later fed to Europe. Uhren is a fugi.
tive. Only Ammon remains. lie was sent
10 Sing Sing for four or nve years, and is
now out and about town.
The cleVerest Of the sharpers still In
the Wall street district is Graham Rics-
That isn't his name but that Is the name
he goes by. lie was sent to the Elinira
reformatorN before he was 81 because
of forgery. lie hadn't been out long
before he started race track tipping
bureau that became the biggest thing
of its kind in America. lie made a for.
tune with this tipping game and at ono
Tine ran daily newspaper in New
York city Then he went to Wall street
after he had gone broke by playing his
own tips. In Wall street he took up
some dubious schemes that led to his
being sent to Blackwell Island as
result of prosecution by the United
states authorities When he got out OF
prison he returned to Wall street. Ho
now is the owner and editor of H.
nancial publication devoted To Wall
street matters. Rice has made millions
OF dollars but tho money has slipped
through his fingers almost as fast as lie
got II.
II is SO with all of that ilk They
are fools for other mems games Just
as other men are fools for theirs. Gam
bling gets nearly all of them. Ii IL
even so with the women. One of tho
eleVerest OF all the women rogues was
Ann o'Delia Diss Dehar She was so
clever that she got nearly all the for
tune of Luther r. Marsh one of the
greatest lawyers of New York city.
away from him through fake spirit pic
lures. Ann O'Delia was the daughter
of a Professor Solomon of Washington,
y. c.. but she always posed as the IL
legitimate daughter Of the mad King
ludwig of Bavaria and Lola Montez.
w ueH sue was on trlal Tor robbinE
Marsh. she repudiated her brother who
came to testify as to her birth and
rearing.
Mr. Marsh was only one OF a great num-
Der of persons this woman pluclxed.
Her victims usually We're men of talent
and high intellectuality Ann O'Delia
was no means well educated was Civ
en- to violent and profane language and
and had no physical charms. yet her
swindles netted her hundreds OF thou
sands of dollars. She lost nearly every
dollar playing policy. That is about
the lowest form of gambling. When
she was sent to prison she was without
money. For several years after her
release from iail, she earned living az
fat woman in a dime museum.
The methods of crooks change. but
thcir characters do not. Few IL any
profit lone from their thievings.
Copyright 1911 by Richard Spillanel