A Young Man Whose Craze Was In Slashing Ladies’ Dresses
In one of my early experiences with criminals it was my fortune, or misfortune, to have met a young man named Max Krebs who was a rank destructionist. He was a German by birth, and had only been in this country about a year. He must have been shipped away from the Fatherland by his own people as a degenerate or the black sheep of the family. He was a good looking young man, well dressed, light hair, brown eyes, and a florid complexion. He was fairly well educated, pleasant in manners and must have come from a respectable home.
I am satisfied now that his people must have been well to do for they sent him regular monthly allowances to pay his board and to keep him in clothing. But he was a degenerate and clearly insane when in a crowd of ladies. Whenever the opportunity came to him he sought to cut their dresses with a pen knife or sometimes a small pair of shears. He knew his business so well that hundreds of elegant silk and satin dresses were cut and destroyed on the street but were not discovered till the owners returned home. In giving their testimony these ladies always remembered that they saw a young man who looked like a Teuton “crowd up” against them on the street. And while they could not identify him positively, the defendant looked very much like the dress slasher. On several occasions Max missed imprisonment by the skin of his teeth simply because he could not be identified.
In December, 1898, he was arrested on Fourteenth Street, near Fifth Avenue, charged with cutting ladies’ dresses; the technical charge was malicious mischief. The crime was committed around the holidays when the streets in the shopping district were densely crowded. Many complaints had been made to the police that such a man was at large—whose only business was to ruin female attire. He was the victim of some insane delusion, although he never showed it in his speech. I questioned Max many times and tried to look him straight in the eye but he could not stand that—his eyes were not honest and, alas, like many another young degenerate he could not be depended on. As a first-class liar Max would have carried off the prize anywhere, and this was his main stock in trade in securing sympathy from Christian people and at the same time deceiving them. From first to last I entertained grave doubts respecting this boy as I was not sure what was the best thing to do in his case. I simply gave him the benefit of the doubt.
In the early part of January, 1899, Max called me to his cell in the Boys’ Prison and told me confidentially a sad tale of police persecution as the cause of his incarceration. He positively affirmed that he was innocent of the charge placed against him and he had not cut any dresses, oh, not he. I questioned him several times, but could not shake his testimony. He maintained his accusers were mistaken. As the complainant who was a lady, weakened on his identification I thought she might be mistaken, so I aided him all I could and became interested in his case. I went to the German Consulate and pleaded for him and afterwards to the Legal Aid Society. A kind hearted lawyer named Granger was assigned as his counsel, who took hold of his case with a will. He called to see him at the Tombs and tried to find the trouble, as the charge was a most unusual one for a boy of nineteen. He afterwards told me that he thought the boy was guilty but was deranged and his trouble he thought was caused by self-abuse. But deranged he was, for every opportunity he had he used in slashing ladies’ dresses. It was his mania.
On January 12th the case went to trial. The main issue turned on the identity of the prisoner. The ladies that took the stand could not positively swear that Krebs was the one that cut their dresses. And as he had such a good face both judge and prosecuting attorney felt kindly towards him, and the jury gave him the benefit of the doubt and he was discharged. But there was really no defence. He was simply saved by the skin of his teeth.
A few days after the trial one of the jurors wrote me asking for Krebs’ address, saying he took such a deep interest in him as to believe in his innocence and he was willing to give him a position. I sent it to him but whether he gave Krebs a position or not I cannot tell, as I never heard from him afterwards, but one thing I know, this young man was a notorious liar and as I understand, had been exiled from Germany because of his audacious criminality as a dress slasher.
This case shows how easy one may be deceived. All the labor and sympathy expended on him was wasted. As far as crookedness was concerned this young degenerate could (to use a slang phrase) give clubs and spades to men twice his years and in the end beat them.
The worst thing that could have been done for Max Krebs that day was to save him from prison. He ought to have been sent to Elmira Reformatory and placed under the care of Superintendent Brockway and watched and then made to toe the mark.
After a few weeks New York became too hot for him; then he was compelled to beat a hasty retreat to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington in succession, where he continued his old insane delusion, viz.: cutting ladies’ dresses for the fun of it! He was finally arrested in Washington, D. C., caught in the very act!
When he was brought to trial there must have been fifty charges against him. In Washington his offence only called for a fine and if it amounted to $100 he could plead the Debtors’ Act and go scot free. What became of Max and his insane delusions I do not know as I afterwards lost all track of him.
CHAPTER XI
NOTED EXPERTS IN FORGERY
America has furnished some of the most noted, nervy, brainy experts in the line of forgery that the annals of crime have known.
Authorities agree that forgery is a crime of the highest order, that needs patience, a cool head and the skill of a genius. At the present day it requires several persons to carry out every well laid scheme of this kind. Most of the great forgeries of the past forty years were the work of gangs who owned printing, engraving and lithographic plants. According to the Pinkertons, who have been running down forgery-crooks for the American Bankers Association for half a century, every well laid scheme of forgery, by which banks and corporations have been robbed of millions of dollars, was the work of at least four persons.
These consist of the following: (1) The forger or tracer, who is an experienced penman and ready at all times to carry out the will of the gang; (2) The capitalist, who advances money to open accounts in the various banks where business is to be done; (3) The middle man between the forger and the capitalist; and (4) The business manager or advance agent of the gang.
The bold single forger who passes one or two checks is discovered as soon as his paper reaches the clearing house or the bank. But a gang of forgers can work their schemes for months before they are discovered. By that time they are able to get to the ends of the earth where they are beyond the reach of the police, at least for a season.
The roll call at midnight at a New York station house.
Men’s prison.
Women’s prison.
Some of the brightest and brainiest men that ever lived belonged to this class. In private life they were kind and loving and tender and would scorn to do a mean act. And I have wondered often why such men would commit crime and bring shame and remorse on themselves and their relatives, if they were not partly insane.
I have tried to study them—to see wherein they differed from other men—and that is no ordinary task. Whether I succeeded or not remains to be seen. In some cases, after many patient interviews I was able to draw them out of the dark and gloomy past, where I could read their character in its true light. Although many of this class are exceedingly interesting as conversationalists and unusually intelligent on the great questions of the day, I find they are never willing to disclose their true identity or explain their inner life. And they wilfully conceal the past and refuse to come out clearly into the light of day.
Henry A. Leonard, a Wall Street messenger boy, single and alone, was able to forge a check on the Hanover National Bank, (September, 1905) and have it certified, by which he secured $359,000 in negotiable bonds. It is very doubtful if a stranger could have done the same thing. Leonard was known to the banks as a broker’s messenger boy and all the paper he brought to the various banks was received without question.
Leonard’s plea afterwards was that he did this work to show how easy the banks could be swindled. There may be much truth in the statement that many of the Wall Street banks do business in a slipshod manner, but whether that was a good reason why he should attempt to secure such a large amount of valuable securities for nothing is quite another question.
We believe that Leonard was only a simple minded boy and had no intention of wronging any person. If he had been a crook he could have negotiated half the bonds in an hour and left the city to parts unknown before any one would have known it.
Another noted forger, whose doings have extended over a quarter of a century, was Ned Stoddard. In manners Stoddard is a perfect gentleman and his scholarship allows him to converse with anybody in the land. With a pen in his hand he becomes a perfect genius and can reproduce any written name he has ever seen on paper. Stoddard has performed some wonderful feats in the line of forgery.
It was “booze” that brought about this man’s ruin. He was a typical Yankee, tall and slender, measuring over six feet in height. A man of more than ordinary intelligence, a good speaker, a brilliant conversationalist who threw into his arguments two keen gray eyes that danced with delight while he told you some interesting anecdote or fairy tale!