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!
Three of a Kind
One of the most startling forgeries of the last century took place in 1886. The principals in this deep laid scheme were William E. Brockway, Luther R. Martin and Nat. Foster, a trio of the most daring crooks that ever walked the streets of New York. They were so foxy in their movements that the police worked upon the case two months before they were able to trap them. One morning Detective Langan, (afterwards Inspector, now deceased), followed Brockway from his lodging house on West Eleventh Street to rooms on the corner of Division and Catherine Streets where he found a complete plant for printing railroad bonds and securities. Detective Cosgrove paid his attention to Martin who had rented a parlor on the corner of Lexington Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street. After his arrest and his rooms searched they found a complete lay-out of four different plates with a numbering machine. Nat. Foster lived in great style at the St. James Hotel on Broadway and Twenty-sixth Street. After his arrest George W. McClusky searched his rooms and captured $54,000 worth of forged bonds of the Morris and Essex Railroad all ready for the market with President Samuel Sloan’s name forged on them. The case against them was clear, all having been caught redhanded. Brockway being an old offender, plead guilty and was sentenced to ten years in State prison by Recorder Smythe. In the case of Martin, who was defended by Lawyer Peter Mitchell, the jury disagreed; he was remanded to the Tombs where he stayed two years. Then he became almost blind, and taking a plea to a minor offence he received a suspended sentence. Nat. Foster was also in the Tombs even longer than Martin, and, strange to say, he also became blind and plead to a smaller offence and he also was given a suspended sentence. How true is that old Bible passage, “The way of the transgressor is hard.”
The King of Forgers
Charles Becker, one of the cleverest forgers of the century, was born in Germany. He came to this country with his parents when young. He is known all over the United States as “The King of check raisers.” It would be impossible to mention all this man’s deeds of daring, nor do we believe it to be necessary.
In 1872 with a number of confederates he robbed the Third National Bank of Baltimore of something like $150,000 and then fled to Europe. They alternated their residences between London and Paris, committing some big forgeries in both cities. For these several of the gang were arrested and jailed.
During the summer of 1876 Gainsborough’s painting of the Duchess of Devonshire had just been sold in London on May 25th, for $10,000. In those days this was said to be a high priced picture. The gang thought that they ought to have this painting as it meant so much ready cash to them. Accordingly, one of their number, Adam Worth, stole the picture from the rooms of the auctioneer, where it was in storage, by cutting it from its frame. This theft caused such a sensation in England that Becker and Company thought it good for their health to return to the United States, which they did. This painting remained in Chicago for several years, but was afterwards sent to London where it was sold to J. P. Morgan for $25,000.