The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-08-04

X'' job-an exact Thiel guilty. d u pile a te, ex- cept for the locale, of the crime for which MT. Campbell had been ar- rested and convicted.
 But nobody seemed to attach any significance to the gesture of crook who was as kind-hearted as he was alidacious and original. The sentence against an innocent man was car- ried out.
 MYSTERY UNSOLvED
 Today MT. X," whose name is Alexander D. L. Thiel, has confessed to the crime which sent MT. Camp bell to Sing Sing, and is under four year sentence for another of his numerous forgeries. Bethram Camp bell is exonerated after seven tragic, humiliating years of prison and pa- role.
 But the mystery of this amaz- ing case of mistaken identity and miscarried justice is not yet solved. It will not be until someone explains how man could have been convict ed and left with the stigma of guilt upon him while continuing and &C., cumulating evidence showed that he could not have been guilty.
 Long before the country's police knew Thieps name, they knew him as the cleverest forger in the busi- ness. His jobs were carried out with "a technique so unvarying as to al- most amount to trademark.
 After MT. Campbell had gone to prison, the same type of forgeries continued. In New York they con- tinued at their accustomed semi annual rate, as they had for at least seven years before the Campbell trial, and as they were to continue for the next five years.
 Thiel, who had become a heroin addict, was arrested in 1943 for il- legal possession of narcotics. Shortly after serving 8 years sentence he was again arrested and convicted. The charge was forgery-but of a narcotics prescription, not check.
 Az he WIS leaving prison. he was served with warrant by United States marshal and brought to New 'Yorsg.
 Born in Chicago in 1888, Thiel was first arrested in 1904 for receiving stcHen goods, and served IS months in reform school. In the ensuing 40 years he was arrested only six times and convicted four times. His last arrest was the only one for check forgery.
 Here is how Thiel worked, as de- scribed by Assistant United States Attorney John J. Donovan, Jr., who took charge after Thiels return to New York.
 Thiel's method never varied in the essentials, MT. Donovan says. He would begin by stealing checks from q business office, taking them from the back of the check book and writing on their stubs, "Void-~Im- perfect" or something similar. Whenever possible he took along some cancelled checks for the sig nature.
 TRADEMARK
 After a couple of months he would use these as deposits in open- ing an account in the name of a real person, with correct address. He would give this persons actual bank as reference.
 And here, MT. Donovan points out, was where Thiers unique and inim- atable trademark came in. For he was able to sign the alleged depos- itor's name to signature cards in Sy1a y,racaooa oF ho,,tr affinjale and do A so skillfully that they appear ed genuine to the victims real bank and even to the victim himself.
 During the process of opening the account - which was usually of four figures-Thiel would excuse himself, go to telephone, put in ten nickels, dial the number of the man whose name he used on the ac- count, and leave the receiver down. Thus if the bank became suspicious after Thiel left and tried to call the alleged depositor, they would get a busy signal.
 Thiel always opened these ac- counts on or near the first of the month. Later he would withdraw most of the money with one or two checks. In all but one instance he left some money in the account. All this was done quickly, usually within a few days. And by this time the swindled victim got his bank statement at the end of the month, Thiel would be out of town.
 The forgery for which MT. Camp bell was convicted occurred Nov. l9, 1887, at the Trust Go. of North AY,aerica hank Stories differ as tn