Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1887 — TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION. [ARTICLE]

TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.

Strange Story of the Life of William Kissane, a California Millionaire. Indicted for Forgery in 1854, Tried for Incendiarism in 1857, Now a Prominent Business Man. The life of William K. Rogers, or William Kissane, a wealthy citizen of California, has been a strangely romantic one, and the circumstances or incidents surrounding it read more like the creative fancies of a fiction writer than actual occurrences in real life. The facts surrounding his strange career have just been brought to the surface by virtue of an effort by his attorneys to have an indictment for forgery against him quashed in a New York court. This indictment has been pending against him since 1854, thirty-three long years. Thp amount obtained by the forgery was $lB,000, the Chemical Bank being the victim. In 1857 he was a partner in one of the largest pork-packing establishments in Cincinnati. The record shows that in that year he was accused of being an accomplice in the burning of the steamer Martha Washington on the Mississippi River, by which some thirty passengers lost their lives. He was tried at Cincinnati in the United States Court, before Judge McLean, on an indictment for attempting to swindle insurance companies. The investigation was very exhaustive, and he was acquitted. Subsequently the judicial authorities of Helena, Ark., near which place the conflagration occurred, obtained the custody of his body, and tried him for murder. He was again acquitted. About this time Kissane went to California and assumed the name of William K. Rogers. His first venture in that State was the keeping of a store in Sacramento. Probably he made a little money at that, for afterward he engaged in mining at Gold Hill, Nev., with a partner, and together they achieved a great success. In a few years Kissane had amassed between $200,000 and $300,000. Twenty years ago he married a beautiful young lady, who was twenty years his junior. They have now either seven or eight children. The wife is about forty-five years old. She is amiable and beneticient of disposition, and is much loved by all who know her. Kissane bears his sixty-five years well, and is regarded by nearly all his neighbors as* a man of the very highest character. He lives in Sonoma County, not far from San Francisco.

A Cleveland paper prints an interesting chapter in the history of Kissane. It relates the circumstances of the burning of the Martha Washington, and the efforts of Sidney C. Burkin to run down and punish the gang in which he spent $50,000 and traveled 150,000 miles. It says that Mrs. Frances H. Bowman, now living in Cleveland, a daughter of Mr. Burton, has documentary evidence relating to the case, which includes a book written by Mr. Burton. It then says: “Few persons are aware that emissaries of Kissane were instrumental in causing Mr. Burton’s death. In the summer of 1855 he visited New York, and, as had been the case throughout his travels in the United States and Canada, his every movement was watched by Kissane’s agents. Early in the fall he became the victim of a mysterious illnesß and returned to his home here. He lingered a few months but never recovered, dying on Dec. 11, 1855. The fact was established at the time that Kissane’s friends had succeeded in smuggling a subtle poison into his food and his death resulted, despite the efforts of the best physicians to save him. Mr. Burton wrote during his travels a book giving a detailed account of the case, but it was never put in print. It was entitled ‘The Drama of Crime; or Tragedies in Real Life.’ According to the preface the book contains, among other things, a complete confession by William Kissane.”

Colonel C. W. Doubledav, of Cleveland, who was one of Filibuster Walker’s adjutants in Nicaragua, said that he knew Kissane when the latter was acting as commissary of the expedition.

Kissane’s Explanation. [New York telegram.] ♦ Kissane’s explanation of the New York forgeries is that he had made a large venture in sending goods to New York in the Martha Washington, and it was one which, if the steamer had gone through all right, would have made him rich. He insured the cargo and raised the money on the forged notes. He intended to have made them good, and would have done so but for the burning of the steamer. That is Kissane’s explanation. It does not excuse the act, but he was only 20 years old. He was rash, and ran the risk. After telling of Kissane’s experiences in Nicaragua after his discharge from prison, Mr. Hart, Kissane’s counsel, said: “In 1857 Kissane turned up in San Franoisco under an assumed name. He ultimately took a ranch some three miles from Sqnoma, Sonoma County, and went to raising grapes and manufacturing wine. He married an excellent woman, whom friends of mine know well. He led a perfectly straightforward life there, and his credit is such that Senator Hearst would, I believe, loan Rogers $500,000; so would half a dozen other San Francisco men. Kissane has a brother iin San Francisco under another name. He is older than William, an immense, ungainly, peculiar man, some 70 years old, who never speaks to anybody or has anything to do with anybody. He iB known as Kissane’s brother.”