The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-01-05
Dope fiend Was Rather Too
Handy With Passing Out
Bogus Paper
Pushed One Too Many and the.
Police Got Him; Story of
His Downfall
Attempted To Pass Himself As
Member of Pay Family
In This City
from TUESDAYS Daily.

! From TUESDAYS Daily.
| Il just wish my procne- mad got
ten all the money and that none had
been given to me. That money was
what ruined me. My will is weak If
l had had to work right along and
make my way, it would have made a.
man of me. AS it is l am just victim
of dope and probably will have to
serve time in the penitentiary Oh,
! if l could just get cured of this NOR
phine habit and start life right over.
again and have chance to make a
man of myself, / would be willing to
go through hell to accomplish it! The.
trouble is that when you get down,
everybody wants to take a kick at
you. Nobody wants to gvie you
chance
| Quivering and trembling, partly
] from drug effects, and partly from
excitement, a stranger, locked up at
the police station Saturday evening,
| thus lamented his fate. Admitting
that he was a forger and dopefiend,
he nevertheless asked for sympathy.
! The man was arrested Saturday
evening about seven O'Clock by Of
| fcer John Albrecht. The officer was
standing on North Front street, wait
| ing for car, to go to his home hav-
| ing completed his days work, when
| Chris ]. Zotalis, proprietor of the.
Mankato, Candy Kitchen came along,
and said a fellow had passed bad
check on, him. The officer at once
lset to work to find the man. Accom-
panied by Zotalis, he searched through
saloons and other places. 1t was not
long before the wanted man was.
found in the fancy goods store of
| Porter e. Pay. He was at once recog-;
nized by Zotalis, and the officer
placed him under arrest.
Did Not Confess at Once.
The man did not confess at once
either his crime or his identity. He
claimed to live at 215 Clark street,
or "Clark avenue" as he called it.
That is the residence of B. Frank Pay
and Chief Klugherz found that no
such man as the one arrested had
been living there.
| 1t seemed that the prisoner had
| tried hard to make himself one of
the Pays of Mankato. He had called
himself Wilmer E. Pay and had
written out several worthless checks,
signing them with the name of B. f.
Pay Some of them he managed to
Ipass. III
| In some way he had gotten hold of
the check book of w. E. Pay, super
| intendent of the Pay Candy company,
with the Savings and Building as
ISOLATION. Here he made some entries
of his own in crude, awkward way.
He also had gotten hold of memo
randum book, belonging to Mrs. w.
| II. Pay.
| Not only did he try hard to be Il
Pay, but he also tried to be an Elk.
He wore an Elk pin. He gave it out
that he belonged to Chicago lodge
of that order, but afterwards adj
mitted that this was false.
Investigation of Forgeries.
| The forgeries, as far as discovered
in the investigation that was made by
the chief during the first two days'-of
the mans Imprisonment, were for
ltrifing amounts. 1t was found thHf
he had written out one check for SO
in favor of himself as w. e. Pay
and signed with the name of B. F.
Pay on the National Bank of Com
merce. This was not passed on any
Ibody. The check that he passed az -.
tcandy kitchen was in the sum OF $3.50
Ialso signed with the name of B. F.
Paw and was on the First National
bank. He passed this check on or,
|dering a little candy. The check that
The passed at Porter e Pays place
was insthe sum of So and was on the
i National Bank of Commerce an
lsigned with the name, B. f. Pay. An
Iother bogus check in the sum of $l2
on the First National bank and
lsigned with the same name was
lpassed by him on his nurse at the
Emmanuel hospital, to settle what he
lowed her.
The man had spent short time ct
1.-THE hospital, being sent there by a
local physician. He paid his hospital,
hill, little over $11, in cash.
I If the man had not confessed, he
would certainly have found himself
Ihopelessly cornered. He admitted to
1.-THE chief that he was neither a Pay
NOR an Elk, but that his real name
was Willard H. Fry. He said his old
family home was on q farm at Broad
J well, Harrison county, Kentucky. He,
II SdlQ JIlS IdIIl Idu UcSli UouShI Ny
ione Thomas D. Urmston- Chief
IKlugherz has sent letter to this
imam, to ascertain whether the pris-
oner is now telling the truth.
Could Square the Checks.
The money found on the man was
} enough to- square up the forged
ichecks that he was found to have
lpassed, except the, one passed on the
! nurse. A little money had been hid
den away by him in the toe of one of
Ibis shoes. This he did in q saloon.
The officers did not find that money
until she voluntarily told them about
lit. This was Sunday morning. The
prisoner declared he would conceal
nothing. He would make a clean
breast of all. In the toe of this shoe
were found a five dollar bill and
several one dollar bills. wedged
Tightly in by the pressure of the. foot.
w. HI. Pay told the police that he
had faint recollection of the pris-
'oner hanging around the office or
, premises of the Pay Candy company.
, The prisoner said his memory was
hazy about where he got the check
lbook and the memorandum book. He
'r-nrslsT-7 -y