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.