The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-01-21
SLICK FORGERY
PLOT REVEALED
Girl's Fascination for Ice
Machine Helps in Solv-
ing Big Crime.

O0BAIO CaLC 01EOgOOO NnCCh GOIk~
ery' includes a sign painter, a Fatty
ArbGckle-sized elevator boy, a girl fas-
cinated by an automatic reproducing
machine, an elderly and innocent New
Jersey business man Of established
honesty and several as yet unidentified
persons. The elevator boy, who ad- ,
mits, according to the police, that he
got $1,000 out Of the $14S,0O0, is held
in the TOmbs on a forgery charge. The
girl is being detained as a material
witness.
William Roedel, the elevator opera
tor, Is what detectives call a "sap" or
sucker" He was not, according to
the charge against him, nawar Of
the plot. But he was so naive that
he got but a fraction Of his share of
the loot The respectable business
man vas g. P. Ford, sixty-four years
old.
Mr.. Ford knew nothing Of the plot,
and when he finally became suspicious,
notified the authorities. The sign
painter, whose name is either I'M
known o. being withheld, was the
master mind" in a scheme as clever
as any that clever criminals have yet
evolved. Nancy Kirby, the girl inter
ested In refrigeration, was merely
ROedels sweetheart.
The largest, If not the chief. char
acter In the plot, was Roedel. The
elevator boy had been an object Of
pride. If also Of some embarrassment,
at the Capitol theater on Broadway.
Once he had been a slender chap, but
the ease Of his life caused him to grow
rapidly. Hired eight years ago, he
was becoming so large that passen-
gers In the building began to COM
plain that no one else could get into
his elevator. He weighed 256 pounds.
The MOredall Realty corporation
runs the Capitol theater. One Of its
rules has been never to discharge an
employee who was faithfully perform
, ing his duties. Even the most exact
ing official could not complain that
ROedeI was doing anything else. If he
was growing cOrpulent it vas an act
Of God and certainly not a cause for
discharge. There were no other
places vacant in the theater and he
could not be transferred.
> So ROedel continued operating the
y elevator, even If casualty inspectors
making their periodical examinations
Of the machinery looked at him with
3 a suspicious eye and intimated that
they were going to reduce the number
d Of persons legally permissible as long
r as he continued to operate the hoist
/; "Fatty"-sO he was called by his
: phrase-making fellow wOrkers-wa'
paid S28 a week and seemed cOntented
=, Liked His Job.
= His salary may not have been com
~ mensurate with his size, but the pos
. at the Capitol carried with it pleasan
l. privileges. he had passes for mos
% Of the other Broadway motion pictur
theaters, for instance. Very frequent
ly he was given seats for legitimat
m shows. Often be appeared with Mis-
n Nancy Kirby, known along BrOadwa
as "his steady" Miss Kirby, nine
teen, or so, and pretty, also gradual
li' acquired the pass courtesy at Othe
lg theaters.
One day some weeks ago ROedel wa
operating his car and listening wit
i'll a somewhat bored look to the Occi
no sional gibes from passengers about b
size. He was due to go of duty earl
r. in the evening and was to take NanC
out. Possibly he was beginning to fe
that S28 a week was a small salary
u which to give a girl a good time.
Is quite possible that Nancy had star
- ed to urge him to earn more. At g
events, so his story later related
10 the police goes, he lent a recepti7
3 ear to evil suggestions from a ms
& who had formerly painted sig
5 around the theater.
The artist, ROedel's alleged sto
goes on, said that he knew Of anna
nihcent trick whereby he had pick
5 up S12,50O In Springfield, Mass.
was a cinch and now, with sever
friends, he was anxious to try It on
larger scale. ROedel, the man we
on, had the freedom Of the building
which Is the Capitol theater.
knew OF the Offices Of the Moredi
Realty corporation. All that he "
s to do, in return for $4,000, was
admit them to the offices Of the c,
pOratiOn. The whole thing was to
done on a high plane-nO safe-blOwiI
robbery or gun-play.
"YOu're the kind Of a man that col
use money" they told him. "Y
ought to be a heavy spender-nOt j.
a S28-a-week elevator pusher. W
fifteen grand you can have a sw
4 time. Haven't you got a girl that c
help you have a good timer"
4 The picture was too alluring
. s Roedel, as he thought OF the luxu
loving Nancy Kirby. and he gave
He. closed his eyes,. The sign pain
and his associates went into the Mo
dali Realty corporation offices {
3 night, got out the company's ch'
5 book and wrote two checks-each