The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-11-02

Wide Search For Him Failed.
! NEW YORK, N. Y.-Jules w.
I(Nicky) Arnstein, the master mind
in the gigantic swindle in which more
than $5,000,000 in bonds, was stolen
from New York city's financial dis
trict is being tried in New York,
| charged with grand larceny and re-
ceiving stolen property.
The securities were stolen, it is
charged, from owners and brokers IN
New York city and taken to other
cities. where they were deposited with
banks as collateral for loans aggregat-
ling MANY hundreds of thousands OF
dollars. When the expose came,
through the arrest OF the alleged
I"tools" OF Nicky, Arnstein disappear
ed and a nationwide hunt was made
for him.
| Saluted the Police.
| For months the search was kept up,
land, while Arnstein's wife, Fannie
IBrice. a prominent New York actress,
land his attorney said they were in
communication with him, the police
loficials were unable to arrest him.
Through his attorney he dickered with
the district attorneys office as to the
amount of bail which would be re-
CURED should he surrender himself,
but the amount placed by the officials
was too high for Nicky.
Then, the day when the New York
CITY police department held its annual
parade and review, Nicky rode through
the streets of New York in his wite's
big automobile, parked his car near
the reviewing stand, and stood up and
waved his hat to the police without
lbeing recognized His wife's car,
known to most of the members OF
New Yorks Finest" then sped to the
district attorneys office, where Nicky
surrendered. He was arraigned and
released on ball. but was later arrest
ed, charged with contempt OF court
lin failing to answer questions in
bankruptcy proceeding broug hi
against him, and has since that time
been confined i'll jail.
Murdered to Rob.
The police assert that Benjamin
4 Binkowitz, a messenger employed by
the brokerage house of Richard c.
Whitney & Company, New York city,
was stabbed to death near Milford,
Conn, Aug. 20, 1919, by a band OF as
Isassins who were friends and CO.
workers with Nicky. Securities valued
lat $4,000 were stolen from the mes
lsenger boy after he had been killed,
lbut were later recovered by the police.
Although Nicky has been called by
the metropolitan police the master
mind" in the wholesale theft OF bonds
from Wall street, confidence men
along the great white way call him
"four-fushing dub" He was known
to the New York police as wire
Taper" and has served four years IN
Sing Sing prison for swindling Wis
itor to New York out of 100000 in
wire tapping deal. He at one time
was noted as a bicycle racer around
New York
Fannie Brice, the actress, was in love
with Nicky when he was sent to sing
Sing and she was a constant visitor TO
the prison. Nicky married Fannie
when he came out OF prison, that is,
after she had divorced her first hus-
band. They have one little daughter,
Nicky said, was the main reason tor
him giving himself up to the police.
Nicky has an international record,
despite the declaration OF his peers IN
the swindling profession that ne IS
Il dub" He went to London and then
to Paris several years ago with Fannie
and while there was picked up with two
lother notorious American swindlers-
Trimmed" London.
They trimmed" several astute
/ Britishers and were finally picked up
by Scotland Yard and ordered to re-
turn to America.
1t was when overlapping became
too dangerous for Nicky and his pals
that he turned to bond stealing. His
method was simple. He worked on the
messenger boys of the big New York
city banks and brokerage houses, who
frequently carry as high as several
million dollars worth of securities from
one institution to another. Nicky
sought only liberty bonds, because
they were easy to negotiate. These
he procured in several ways. Some
messenger boys he would bride, in
one instance giving a lad $4,000 for
100000 worth OF securities. 1t was by
this bribery method that he made
most OF his hauls, although several
times he is charged with restoring to
strong arm" methods with a black
jack and lead pipe, and in at least one
instance, that of Binkowitz, he is be-
lieved to have stopped to murder.
How Band Was Exposed.
Nicky and his pals disposed of the
stolen securities in simple manner.
They merely took them to other cities,
preferably Washington, Cleveland,
Chicago or Montreal, Canada, and de-
lposited them with banks as collateral
for loans, usually about 40 or so per
cent of the face value of the stolen
bonds Nicty was too wise to attempt
to sell the bonds, and it was not until
one of his henchmen, dissatisfied with
the chiefs distribution of the receipts,
stole part of one haul from Nicky and
tried to sell them in Washington that
the identity and workings of the band
were exposed.
The list OF brokerage houses which
lost securities during Arnsteins oper-
ations would reveal a fair representa-
ton of the membership OF the stock
exchange. Few OF the losses were
made public, due to the effect IT might
have on prospective customers,-an and
the majority of the losses were cover
ed by insurance policies carried with
surety companies.