Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 April 1859 — A Long Series of Bold and Successful Forgeries—Arrest of The Forger. [ARTICLE]

A Long Series of Bold and Successful Forgeries—Arrest of The Forger.

On the 30th ol November last, a mannamed R. S. Monroe sold a draft ‘o W: L. P. Little, of Saginaw, for SBOO. The draft wasdriwn by the Bank of Galena, lII'., on the M irket Bank of New York. The) draft wis forwarded to New York, and credited to Mr. Little. In due course of time it returned to Galena and was then passed to the credit of the New York correspondent by the Bank of Galena. On the 16th of December, Monroe negotiated another draft for the same am unit, drawn by the same Bank on the M irket Bank, to tile Exchange Bank of Aubtr n. New York, where he formerly resided, and imme-diately-disappeared, no one knew w-hither. This [draft. like the previous one. went through the usual routine, was credited to the, Exchange Bank by tin- New Yo k B ink, and by the Bank of Galena to the M:nk -t’ Bank, without any suspicion on the part of any one whose hands it had passed, that all was not right. But in making up their accounts or striking their balances in January the Galena Bunk discovered a deficiency or discrepency in their cash account, amounting to nearly sl,600. Of course they set themselves about the agreable duly to discover where the trouble was, and upon comparing heir drafts the secret burst upon them. It turned out that some weeks previously they had sold at different, times two drafts of some ten dollars each. A further scrutiny showed that the ink in which the original amount of the drafts was writte >, had been extracted by an injenioui chemical pr.-ci,*ss, and eight hundred dollars substituted in its stead. Sa admirably bad this been do lel that the fraud; had not been suspected even- by th • Galena Bank themselves by whom they were origiDaily drawn.

As soon as the forgeries were discovered, the draffs we-e of course forwarded to the Banks by whom they ha.J been purchased ol Monroe. Immediately upoti receiving notice of the forgery, Mr. Little of Saginaw, repaired to Detroit, about the first <>f February, and placed the whole mutter in the hands of private detective Champ with instruc ions to spare no' expense in ferreting out and bringing to justice the forger. M•. Chimp entered upon an investigation of the subject, and by a proc -ss which none [mt the shrewdest detectives would have thought of adopting and which none others w uld h..ve thought ' f adopting, and which no others would understand were it necessary to explain it, he a length satisfied himself that i man by the n nn ■, or passing by the name of S. M. Hoyt, residing at Waupucca, VV.iupacca county, in the ■ orthern part of Wisconsin, in a comparatively u isettled part of the State, 250 miles or so north-west of Milwau ee, was the forger. Having no doubt hat he’had got on the track of his man, and that Hoyt was the alias of Monroe, Mr. Champ started in pursuit. At Milwaukee he consulted with Chief of Police Beck, who detained Wm. Garlie to accompany Mr. Champ, to Waupacca. Upon arriving there they found Hoyt without difficulty, and arrested him without the slightest resistance on his part. He was taken to the hotel and! given an hour in which to tike leave of his! wife, and make such arrangements as that! brief period permi ted for his long and melan-j choly journey. His interview with his wife, a young, intelligent and innocent women, to whom he[ had been married but a few weeks, is described as most heart-rending, and moved to tears all who witnessed it. She seems to have been warmly attached to him, and hud not the most remote suspicion that he had ever been or could be guilty of any er me. much Jess that of a forger, and a stil, ba-rr one against him, of which more directly. She hung about lijm in the, greatest agony,

and w uld not believe him a criminal, and finally had to be torn fron him and left alone among“strangers in a new and strange country, hundreds of miles f- om her father’s house and far from all friends. Monroe, alias Hoyt was taken to Milwaukee by the officers where they met several bankers, upon whom he had committed his forgeries, and amongst others, Mr. C. Birdsley. Esq., President ofthe Exchange Bank, of Auburn, by whom the forger was recognized, and by I. H. Burch of Chicago. By comparing notes it was ascertained that Monroe had been carrying o.n his operations on an extensive scale throughout the whole Western Country, and ’.y the sam° process as we have described above, that is bj' buying dralts for ten dollars, or so, extracting original amount, and filling in such sums as he thought safe, or as his plans required, and m every instance with the most perfect success, and without exciting th? least suspicion. Amongst others it was ascertained that he had purchased a draft on the Bank of Commerce, New York, for $lO of I. 11. Burch, of Chic go, on the sth of April, 1858, then altered it to SSOO and sold it to the Prairie du Chien Bank; and on the 2d of August he sold one altered in the same wav to the Bank of Milwaukee, on the Ocean Bank of New York. From the information obtained there is no doubt that Monroe’s forgeries a ount to fifteen thousand dollars at least; and as bankers do not like to confess to having been defrauded so successfully, as it is 4in impeachment of their shrewdness and vigilance, the amount may mu h exceed that sum. At any rate Monroe has proved himself One of the most shrewd, skillful, and successful forgers of' the day, and of course one of the most dangerous. There seems to be no limits to his f rauds, except the moderation of his desires. No one ever hesitated to take his drafts, and the forgeries would probably never have been discovered but. for the difficulty bankers who had sold him the dr..lts which he had so ingeniously altered, found in balancing their accounts. His operations might as easily ha'e extended to hundreds of thousands of dollars, as to fifteen thousand. Bankers and the public will therefore understand the importance of the arrest of this most skillful and most dangerous financier. Monroe's permanent residence was tit Walkerville, St. Joseph county, Indiana, where he has a wife living at. the l present time, and several children; and this fact will explain our reference to the crime greater than forgery which he had committed against the innocent woman living with him at the time of his arrest, and to whom he had been married, thus being a bigamist as well as a forger. Alter his forgery tit Auburn, he returned to his family in Indiana, confessed all to his wile, told her he must leave her, and oo to Pike’s Peak or somewhere else, to await arrest. She consented, advising him to look out for himself, and assuring him that she Would endeavor to support herself and the children. B t instead of going to Pike's he went to Jasper county, Indi.in.i. where he became acquaint: d with and married Martha Wilcox, the daughter of Jesse Wilcox, an old a"d most estimible man, and took her to the wild and sparsely inhabited region of Northern Wiscmsin, where his career of crime was so suddenly brought to a close on Saturday last. Hoyt, we understand, before marrying Mr. Wilcox’s daughter, purchased a pieeeot land in his neiglib irhood, expressing the intention of settling there, and thus introduced himself among .unsuspecting people as an honest man. ;