The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-11-16

quarters.
Forging, coming drug peddling and
white slave trading are among the
counts upon which these men stand
convicted. The roundup was made
at the Grand Hotel, Antwerp, q few
weeks ago and the names are Tom
Murray, Harry Mason, George
Alamoy Joe Morris and Dick the
Penman. A woman confederate who
has played no small part in their
sWindling schemes IL also under
arrest.
Operating from Antwerp and
Brussels, with agents at Hamburg
and Amsterdam, this band has been
able to ply trade which extended
It's activities IN no small measure
to the United States.
A Master Crook
Dick the Penman, q master
minded crook. was the genius who
inspired this party of pests. q
Italian origin. this man Il barely
forty, linguist, Of gentlemanly
appearance and well educated. He
has 4 phenomenal record Of crime.
much OF which has been perpe
trated in the United states. Con.
traband and counterfeit goods have
been circulated and a large number
OF undesirable aliens have secured
admission into the country as D
result OF his and his gangs efforts
Horace Lee washington. the. Amer
lean Consul General In London. and
M. Van der Eteen, the Comniseairae
Of Police Of Antwerp, were largely
responsible for this clever coup,
which is likely to result IN q de.
crease Of the Objectionable happen.
ings which have Tor so long karassed
American police.
Dick the Penman, chief Of the
gang and 50 named because Of his
Rskiu In forging Is q man Of many
aliases. the most used being Dick
Picket, John Pickering, w. g. Cur.
tbs and Ed Turbine. When ar.
rested, he gave as his address
1908 Topping avenue, New York.
He has served terms III Sing Sing,
N. Y and other American prisons,
also In France and England, and
there are still few outstanding
counts about which the police II
the United States would be pleased
to see him.
Sing Sing Plot
It was IN Sing Sing that the
Gondorf brothers, then. serving
five years for wire tapping and
confidence trickery, first met DicH
the Penman and arranged that
when released he should proceed
to Antwerp and meet people who
would assist him In establishing Z
base for every sort OF forging and
counterfeit work. This plan was
carried out and, arriving ct Ant
jwerp, Dick met q German printer
named Katz, q criminal not un
known to headqua ters dns the
II was arranged that Dick should
do the scratching, Katx thu
printing and another man named
| George WoOlf was to be the dis
| tributing agent through the y. 8
A.. with runners to work undeI
his direction. So the machtnery
was soon In motion, and before
long passports, receipts, checks
| masses for cattle or forest produce
wills, birth certificates and mar
/ riage certificates were being turnet
| out in order.
These forgeries were always tn
refined art Of the expert. The.
passed under the vigilant eye o
| the United States officials time al
/ ter time, and even American con
| suls have admitted the REMARKABLE
ability with which they were copiet
lin some cases almost to def,
! detection.
Dick, besides storing numerou
inks and scores Of pens. had hi
own methods of obliterating In
| marks. Sometimes he used equa
| parts Of 1saltpeter and sulphur
acid, dissolved BY heat, and ar
piled it with q fine brush. Thi
method once nearly led to his al
rest, as he found that it removes
rot only the Ink but the surface o
the paper. He was quick to dis
cover, however, that by dilutinl
this acid with water this DANCE
was removed.
Fled With Woman
Like all other criminals, in spit
of his care and skill he at time
has made a mistake. Once a forge
| check, which he signed "W. c
| Curtis" by some strange freak o
nishap bore an address, which
brought the police to close rang
and Dick had to run the town.
This address happened to be that o
a woman named Maud Meyers
the daughter OF Coblenz drug
gist, with whom he was co-habit
ing, and who, finding herself in
volved in this offense, decided t
flee the country with him. Pass
ports, marriage and birth certif
Gates were all forged so cleverl,
that these two people had no dill
ficulty in escaping, and travele
| Ellrona topather having counter