The Ocala evening star., 1919-10-06


for the theft of $178,OOO in liberty
| bonds belonging to Richard Whitney
& Company here. A man identified
as Binkowitz was found murdered in
| Connecticut recently.
THE LOCAL END OF THE STORY
A young man who calls himself w.
E.. Singleton arrived in the city Fri
day evening and behaved himself iii
a manner that soon landed him in the
county Jail, beside bringing on him
self suspicion of being criminal of
rather large caliber.
Singleton came in driving a good
looking car. He was we'll dressed and
bore the hallmarks of a man we'll ac-
quainted with the world. He put up
at the Florida House and for some
time did nothing to bring on himself
any suspicion.
Saturday morning he came up
town and tried to cash small check
at the Ocala National. He only
wanted a little spending money, he
said; and showed pass book on the
|
almost two hundred dollars in that in
! stitution. Cashier Stokes of the
Ocala National told him he must be
identified before any checks were
Fcashed, whereupon Singleton wrote a
| telegram to be sent to the Melbourne
bank, and also made, out a draft on
the same bank for two hundred dol
lars, which Mr.. Stokes promised to
send at once. While Singleton was at
the bank, messenger boy came for
| his telegram. and Mr.. Stokes noticed
that Singleton had considerable dif-
| ficulty in finding in his pockets the
small sum of money needed to pre-
pay the dispatch.
AS no answer came to the telegram,
Mr.. Stokes, supposing the telegraph
Office was short of messengers, phoned
and soon found that Singleton, who
left the bank Immediately after the
messenger, had overtaken the boy
and taken away the message, saying
he had decided not to send it. This
looked very suspicious and Mr.. Stokes
Immediately wired to the State Bank
ers Association of Jacksonville, Civ
ing a description of Singleton, also
the number of his car, and soon there
came a dispatch from Miami, the
chief of police of that town asking
that both the man and the car be held.
Meantime, Mr.. Stokes had thought
of something else. On the 18th of
August last, in New York City, a
man named Ben Binkowitz had taken
from a messenger of Richard Whit
ney & Co. a. package containing
$178,000 in liberty bonds. belonging
to the National Surety Company The
details of this robbery with picture
of the robber. his signature and other
information has been sent to every
bank in the United States, and Mr..
Stokes, on hunting up his copy, found
a strong similarity between Binko-
witz and Singleton. About that time
the telegram from Miami arrived, and
Mr.. Stokes informed the sheriff, who
at once put Singleton under arrest.
Singleton had been out in town,
tried to cash two or three small
checks and failed. He then went back
to the Florida House, where the sher-
iff soon descended on him.
On searching Singleton's baggage,
there were found number of pass
books on as many different banks.
Also there was found the expense ac-
count check of II. T. Bryan, a young
travelling man whose acquaintance
Singleton had made only few hours
before. He must have entered Bry-
ans room and taken the check, while
the latter was out on the street, or
; perhaps in another part of the hotel
All this looked bad for Singleton
but he was nevertheless treated with
, consideration, being given a nice
room at Mr.. Chalker's clearinghouse
where great care will be taken that
he does not take cold before the Mi
, ami officer comes for him.
Mr.. Stokes has heard from the of.
ficials of the Florida Bankers Asso-
, ciation, who think he has landed q
. party calling himself D. C. Roberts
who has buncoed a number of unwarS
bank cashiers in various parts of the
country. If they have the right idea
: Singleton will have plenty of practice
III good, hard work before he is agair
: free man.
: Singleton as he calls himself is &
young man of twenty-five years o1
r less, good-looking, well built anc
r neatly dressed. He has a shifty lool
in his eyes. which is the only thing
detrimental to his appearance. Judg
ing from his talk, he is we'll acquaint
ed with the bright lights of Broad
, way, and it is not unlikely that he i:
one of the vanguard of crooks that