THERE was a lively sensation during the Christmas holiday week, 1880, when brief cablegrams were received in New York City announcing that a skillful and desperate gang of American counterfeiters and forgers, with their wives, had been arrested in Milan and Florence, Italy. The names of Willis and Burns and Hamilton were given as those of the ringleaders, and it was said that they had swindled, or tried to swindle, a large number of bankers in Europe.
While in prison one of the culprits, the leader and arch conspirator, Henry W. Wilkes, alias Willis, was led to make a full confession. It was reduced to writing before the United States Consular representative, Colonel J. Schuyler Crosby, and filed among the police archives, only a brief reference to it being permitted to go to the press.
The story, which is here given in full, is one of the most extraordinary chapters of crime ever printed.
HENRY WADE WILKES, alias George Wilkes, alias Willis, the chief of the only international band of bond forgers and counterfeiters ever organized, with his boon companion, the notorious “Pete” Burns, alias James Joy Julius, fell into the hands of the Italian criminal authorities at Florence on Christmas Day, 1880, just after “Shell” Hamilton, alias Colbert, had been apprehended at Milan. Wilkes was, after several months, quietly released, and he returned to New York. Burns while in prison became aware for the first time of Wilkes’s duplicity in making a confession, and knowing that he had been betrayed, choked himself to death with a prayer-book. His three widows are at present engaged in a litigation over his estate, which is said to be worth about $400,000. This money was Burns’s share of the profits of the operations of the gang of which he was one of the leading spirits and Wilkes was the acknowledged chief. The band was composed of none but professional forgers, counterfeiters, and first-class “check raisers,” and they operated with wonderful success in almost every city of North America and Europe. They were not concerned in any paltry schemes, but only took part in well planned and gigantic plots. They realized altogether by their forgeries perhaps millions, and the lion’s share of their plunder was afterwards squandered at the gaming table. The members of the international gang made New York, London and Paris in turn their headquarters, and flooded the two continents with their worthless bonds and securities.
Wilkes’s standing among criminals may be imagined when it is known that “Andy” Roberts and Valentine Gleason sought his advice before they attempted to dispose of any of the Buffalo and Erie Railroad bonds. George Engles (now dead) and Charles Becker, astute forgers as they were, were really only Wilkes’s tools. In fact, during the past fifteen years forgers and counterfeiters of all grades sought his advice in all dangerous transactions. He was the power behind the throne in all stupendous swindling schemes.
It was under his advice that Becker succeeded in carrying out the $64,000 check forgery on the Union Trust Company which bore the unauthorized indorsement of the New York Life Insurance Company. It was through influence that Wilkes succeeded in getting out of prison in Italy, and since his return here he has been shunned by his old associates in crime.
The capture of Wilkes and the consequent breaking up of his gang, was owing to information furnished by the authorities of New York City to the various police officials in Europe, that Wilkes and his gang had sailed from America for the purpose of flooding the Continent with counterfeit circular notes, checks, etc.
The confession alluded to was made at Florino, and is as follows:
“I, Henry W. Wilkes, alias George Wilkes, was born in Highland Mills, Orange County, N. Y., on May 25, 1837. From the age of twenty to twenty-seven years I was employed in different occupations by the Erie Railroad Company. I left the employ of that corporation for the purpose of becoming a professional gambler, and I followed that profession for many years. My first gambling house was situated at the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street, New York. I was in partnership with John Sollmon and Charles Schaeffer, and for two years and a half I devoted all my time to playing cards.
“It was in the latter part of 1869 or the beginning of 1870 that I was first arrested by the New York police for forgery. A man named Sudlass was arrested with me. We were arrested for forging a check upon the Board of Education, and were also accused of other forgeries of minor importance. After being kept in prison for three days we were brought before Judge Gunning S. Bedford and discharged. My next deed was to induce several merchants and makers of brandies of New York and the West into a scheme by which they could introduce their liquors into New York at fifty cents a gallon. We succeeded in doing so by the aid of the Office of Appraisement of the Thirty-second District. That was at the time that the duty upon brandy was $2 per gallon. James Black, John Sudlass and I were the principals in the ‘brandy ring,’ as we used to call it. James Pike, of Cincinnati, came to see us, and he had a talk with John Sudlass at the Fifth Avenue Hotel·, but we declined to do business with him. We told the merchants to give us the names of the brandies that they wanted to introduce, and we would pledge ourselves to fulfil the bargain. By means of that swindling scheme we each made about $40,000.
“Afterwards, in company with Joseph Chapman, of Fourth Street and Washington Square (who is now in prison in Munich for passing and forging a greenback bill of $50 of the Tradesmen’s National Bank of New York), and one Deneran, an Englishman, then temporarily living in New York, I went to Chicago, where I remained one day, and then we started for St. Joseph, Mo., where we stopped three days, trying to pass a forged draft for $6,000. We had the books of drafts made in New York by order of Chapman and regularly stamped. These drafts were upon a bank of Louisville, Ky., and others on a bank of Galveston, Texas. I do not remember the names of the banks. We were not lucky at St. Joseph. From there we went to Council Bluffs, and thence to Cheyenne. The Union Pacific Railroad then only ran to Green River. N. V. Clinton, a native of Indiana, was also with us, and was engaged in the same operations.
“At Cheyenne Chapman cashed a draft for $3,000 by means of letters of introduction he had secured from small banks in that locality. We proceeded to San Francisco, and upon arriving there I stopped at a hotel in the ‘Bend’ of Bush Street. The others took residences in different hotels. On account of a telegram alluding to the exposure of the other forged drafts business with us was poor in San Francisco. We only disposed of a draft for $2,300.
“Clinton obtained in San Francisco a letter of credit from the British Bank of North America on the same bank of New York City. I did not know the amount of the draft because Clinton refused to show it to me. He set out for Acapulco, where we joined him in a week, and then we all went to Panama. At Acapulco Clinton cheated several bankers, but I never knew how much he realized. On the steamer between Acapulco and Panama Clinton robbed a cabin mate of a letter of credit, upon which he got $600 at Panama. This letter was addressed to Duncan, Sherman & Co., and their agent paid the amount, but had Clinton arrested before the steamer could leave. He was arrested while I was en route to New York, having left Chapman, Denevan and Clinton behind. I reached New York in October, 1871, where I remained one day, starting on the next to Boston to visit my wife, who was living with the family of a coffin maker. Returning to New York, I stopped for two weeks at the house of Mrs. Sartorio, in West Twenty-first Street, near Sixth Avenue.
“Next I proceeded to New Orleans with my wife and thence to Havana, for the purpose of meeting Chapman, according to an agreement we made in Panama. He was anxious to get rid of the others. While we were in San Francisco Chapman had obtained a draft for a small sum from the British Bank of North America. This draft was raised and altered by me to $5,000, and was negotiated by Chapman by means of a false letter of introduction from Panama.
“Upon rejoining Chapman he came with us back to Boston, where we took up a residence at the St. James Hotel. Then we went to Norwich, Conn., where I left my wife with the Peakes family. Chapman and I then set out for Philadelphia, where we were joined by George Barlow, and then we set out for Chicago. We supplied ourselves with money by altering and raising a small draft to the sum of $1,600, which Chapman collected. Barlow also bought a small draft in Chicago, which I raised to $5,000. From Chicago we went to Louisville, Ky., and there Chapman disposed of the latter draft to the Trades Bank of that city. We paid another visit to Boston, where I passed a month with the Peakes family.
“From Boston Chapman, Barlow and I went to Montreal, Canada, where we took rooms at a hotel. We tried to effect some business, but could not. From Canada we hastened to New York, where Barlow and wife, I and mine, hired a small house at Thirty-seventh Street and Seventh Avenue.
“Chapman followed us a week later. Knowing that the police were looking for us, we remained idle. Meanwhile Clinton succeeded in escaping from the prison at Panama by corrupting his keepers. He joined us in New York. During the five months that we were idle we were preparing for new operations.
“We succeeded in securing several certificates of deposit from Duncan, Sherman & Co., and we had note paper printed with the same heading as theirs, also envelopes. This work was done by order of Chapman or Clinton. We obtained other certificates from other bankers in New York—one on Alexander Bronson & Son, which certificate we tried to use in Richmond, Va. I altered that certificate from $15 or $16 to $1,500 or $1,600. I set out for Mobile, Ala., to await the arrival of my associates there. Chapman presented his certificate of deposit in Richmond, got the money, but was arrested before he could leave the city. When captured he had all the money on him, which was confiscated. Clinton left before Chapman was arrested, with several certificates of deposit, and he was arrested in Virginia while attempting to dispose of some of them. Barlow was the only one who joined me in Mobile. This was in the winter of 1874, and during that time I again became a professional gambler.
“Barlow went back to Philadelphia, and thence to Indiana, where his wife was living on an estate. On his way he stopped at Richmond to leave money collected for Chapman, who was still in prison awaiting trial. Within eight months Clinton returned to New York, and during all that period I was living at the house of Mrs. Sartorio, on Twenty-first Street. Barlow, upon coming back, joined Clinton and myself, and we went to Cincinnati, where Barlow lived with me in a small hotel. There we became acquainted with Eph Holland, Pat Riley, and one Hogan. We easily obtained there drafts of small denominations from several bankers, which we altered and raised to large sums. Barlow ‘laid down’ one of these raised drafts. He bought a horse and collected the balance of $1,300 or $1,400. We went to Cedar Falls, but being unable to pass any drafts returned to Cincinnati. Barlow and Clinton proceeded to Kentucky. I remained in Cincinnati.
“Barlow presented a draft for $6,000 in Kentucky, received the money, and was arrested. I heard of the arrest from Clinton, and set out at once for New York, where I remained all winter. Clinton remained behind. My next transactions were with Webb, an Englishman, with whom I forged several small checks on banks, using the name of Hunt & Co., Broad Street. It was ‘Tall’ Barlow, the brother of George, who obtained the small checks. He used to live opposite the Greenwich Bank, on Hudson Street. By these checks we made between $8,000 and $10,000. In the winter of 1876 we went to Chicago with Phil Hargraves, an old time forger, of Charlton Street, between Hudson and Greenwich Streets.
“In Chicago we stopped at the St. James Hotel. We intended doing business with Milwaukee from Chicago. Our plan of operation was: We would go to some banker in Chicago and buy drafts payable in New York, and would request them to send our signatures to their correspondents in Milwaukee, or to such places as we intended working. We thus gained their confidence. After two or three genuine transactions we would send out a false draft. Webb bought a small draft, which I raised to $3,000, which was paid in Milwaukee.
“After an absence of six weeks Hargraves, Webb and myself returned to New York, where we met Chapman. Then the four of us made a trip to New Orleans. We bought paper there and worked in the same manner. Webb, after several attempts, did defraud a banker of Galveston out of $4,000. Chapman worked Vicksburg, where he got $2,000. Then we all went back to New York and thence directly to Sacramento, Cal., with Hargraves and wife and I with mine. At the latter place I engaged a furnished house on I or K Street, and Hargraves proceeded to San Francisco to await us. We began operations in Sacramento by buying genuine drafts from D. O. Mills & Co. from Sacramento to New York, making the same demand to forward our signatures to Portland, Oregon.
“Chapman made two journeys there, but did not succeed in making anything. I then changed our plans. Chapman went to St. Louis and Hargraves and Webb remained in San Francisco. We took all the money that we could control (about $10,000) to St. Louis, and there bought a draft for that amount from the Planters’ Bank, and we sent the same by express to Webb in San Francisco. He deposited the draft in the Bank of California and obtained blank checks, thus gaining an introduction.
“He then sent us a draft bought of Hiscock, or Hitchcock & Co., of San Francisco, and Chapman presented it to their correspondent in St. Louis. We sent the money again by draft to Webb, and he collected it through the Bank of California. Webb also sent us a second draft while there was one in existence on the firm of Hiscock & Co. One was for a small amount and the second fora large one. Chapman collected the latter, and subsequently took a small draft from the Planters’ Bank of St. Louis. The two small drafts were raised to $8,500, the other for $7,500 or thereabouts. These were sent to Webb, in San Francisco, and he obtained the money. The draft to Chapman by Webb was presented to a correspondent of Hiscock & Co., but he being unable to answer some few questions satisfactorily it was not cashed. Our operations finished, we all met by arrangement in Springfield, Mass. Chapman preceded us. From there we went to New York. Hargraves started business with ‘Jem’ Mace, the pugilist, in West Twenty-third Street, near the Masonic Temple. Webb returned to his home in England, Chapman and myself remained and worked together in Boston.
“My next transaction was in Central Pacific bonds that Chapman received from some of his friends in Williamsburg, N. Y., one of them being Charles Becker. We went to Chicago, where we readily disposed of $10,000 worth of the bonds. Chapman gave fifty per cent, to the forgers, and the rest was divided equally between him and me. These bonds were of the value of $1,000 each, and I wanted to take some of them to Europe in company with a certain Joseph Spencer. We sailed to Liverpool, England, having in our possession seventeen bonds of $1,000 each. We stopped at the Adelphia Hotel, and we cautioned Chapman to cable us in case the scheme should be discovered before we reached England. We offered one of the bonds to a broker in Liverpool, but as he seemed to think that there was something wrong I left it with him, and on my arrival at the hotel I found a cable message from Chapman, stating that everything had been discovered. We had only time to jump into a coach and drive out of the city, where I destroyed the remainder of the bonds and threw the fragments into the River Mersey.
“From Liverpool we went to London, but discovering that the police were on the lookout for us we sailed back to America by the steamer City of London, having first spent a week in the Inns of Court Hotel. Upon our return to the United States Spencer and I went to Baltimore. Separating from Spencer I joined Chapman, Joseph Reilly, alias ‘Little Joe,’ and Oscar Decker, a professional bank burglar, who at the time were in Baltimore.
“We started business in Philadelphia in this manner. We would write to some bank in Philadelphia, receiving an answer on their form of printed envelope and note paper, also their handwriting, which we familiarized ourselves with, also obtaining a list of their correspondents in Chicago and Cincinnati. Then we would buy drafts for small sums, raise them to larger amounts, and send them to the correspondents with a forged letter of introduction to the correspondents, and they would cash them. Chapman and Decker presented drafts in Chicago and Cincinnati, obtaining $13,500. I disagreed with Chapman and Reilly as to their mode of doing business, and left them for New York. I there became acquainted with John Phillips, who had just been liberated from Moyamensing prison after serving a term for burglary.
“Decker, Phillips and wife, and myself and wife took passage on the steamer Adriatic for England. We had with us several bonds that had been stolen from the Bank of Trenton, N. J. They consisted of thirteen bonds of the Northern New Jersey Railroad of $1,000 each, one of the Oregon Central Railroad, one of the Central Pacific Railroad, three of Iowa City and other bonds which we sold to our friends.
“On reaching England Decker and I lived with the family of John Carr, at Pimlico. Phillips took up quarters at the East End of London, and there Phillips disposed of the bonds to his friends for £900. Before starting for England we had decided with some of our confederates to make a letter of credit on Bosrole Brothers. One of the confederates was the notorious ‘Andy’ Roberts. I returned with my wife to New York. Phillips and Decker followed me. They immediately returned to England and Roberts and I sailed after them on the steamer City of London. As soon as we got there we went to work lively, but during our stay of a month we were unable to do any business, although we had a genuine letter of credit for 500 on Bosrole Brothers. On the next trip of the City of London we returned to New York, and went to live on Third Avenue, four doors above Twenty-fifth Street.
“We remained a little while in New York and then made up the combination of Decker, Phillips, Roberts and myself to take to England forged bonds of the Buffalo and Erie Railroad, which, if properly filed and collected, would amount to the value of $200,000. We obtained them from Roberts in an unfinished state.
“I went with Roberts to London by the steamer City of Brooklyn, Phillips and Decker following. I first resided with Decker and his wife at Chelsea. There we were joined by others—Joseph Reilly, alias ‘Little Joe,” Joseph Chapman, Samuel Perry, alias ‘Worcester Sam,’and Walter Sheridan. They came for the same business, having with them forged bonds of the Chicago, Western and Southern Railroad to the amount of about $150,000. We had a consultation and decided to join issue with each other. ‘Andy’ Roberts prepared the Buffalo and Erie bonds, and Walter Sheridan the Chicago, Western and Southern Railroad bonds.
“Amsterdam was the place selected for the starting of operations. Sam Perry made an attempt there to sell $50,000 worth of the forged Chicago, Western and Southern Railroad bonds by means of frauds on the United States Consulate. The entire scheme failed, as there were no bonds of that sort yet on the foreign market. While we were traveling from place to place endeavoring to dispose of these bonds, Phillips’ brother-in-law, who lived in Gravesend, hearing that the police were about to search his house, destroyed all the models and blanks of the Buffalo and Erie bonds.
“I then cut off all business relationship with them and returned to New York alone. I had saved a large sum of money and for two years did nothing, during which time my wife died. It was during my first voyage to California that I first became acquainted with my present wife.
“I next conspired with John Donohue, Charles King, James Green and Philip Hargraves to buy $50,000 worth of counterfeit greenbacks and take them to Europe. Hargraves bought them from Charles E. Ulrich aud William E. Gray, paying twelve and one-half per cent, of their nominal value. (Ulrich and Gray were afterward arrested and convicted.) I sailed for Europe on the steamer Donan with Green, stopping in England in a house on Tottenham Court Road. King went to the house of some friends, and Donohue took up quarters in a small hotel on the Strand. Our first meeting took place, according to agreement, at St. John’s Wood Station, Marlborough Road. We met there every day. Our plan was to send out two gangs, one to start from Naples and the other from Vienna, and try to dispose of the counterfeit greenbacks along the road. Green and King, who were to start from Naples, took with them $20,000 worth of that money. Not knowing the language and customs of the country they became scared and did no business. They returned to Paris, where I met them at the Hôtel du Louvre.
“Chapman and Donohue started business in Vienna and there sold $5,000 worth of forged bank-notes of the Tradesmen’s National Bank and of the Broadway National Bank of New York, of the denomination of $50. They were on their way from Vienna to Munich when Chapman was arrested. Donohue telegraphed me at the Hôtel du Louvre that ‘the family was ill.’
“I informed my associates Green and King, and we immediately went to London. I met Green and Donohue several times after. The latter took passage for Canada, where he sold $15,000 worth of forged bank-notes at fifteen per cent, of their face value. During the first week of the Paris Exposition we disposed of a large quantity of the forged bank-notes. I returned to New York by the steamer Adriatic and joined my wife, who was stopping at the Maison Cortoni.
“My next speculation was the putting in circulation of forged letters of credit of the London County Bank. The genuine letter was bought by me from Frank or Valentine Gleason in London. It was a certificate and letter of identification for £10. I gave him £20 for it. I gave it to John Quinn, who was then living in Twentv- seventh Street, near Lexington Avenue. He gave it to one of his confederates, who raised it to £600 in bank-notes and 100 letters of identification.
“Quinn, Hargraves, John Conn and an Englishman named William Griffis, alias ‘Lord Ashburton,’ alias ‘Saville,’ then went to work. Quinn, Hargraves and Griffis proceeded to Canada. There Griffis presented a bank-note for £ 1,200, and received the money from the Bank of Montreal. He gave Hargraves and Quinn £900 in these notes, keeping £1,000 of them, with which he went to Quebec. There he said that the fraud had been discovered, and we all left for New York by different routes. This statement was afterwards found to be untrue, and we later on learned that he sold a portion of the bank-notes and purchased jewelry with the balance at Kirkpatrick’s, Nineteenth Street and Broadway.
“Griffis, upon ascertaining that we had unearthed his duplicity, suddenly left for San Francisco, where he was arrested. Jack Cannon (now dead), who was in the habit of only handling stolen bonds, and William Bartlett, alias ‘Big Bill,’ of Brooklyn, were afterwards sent out with the bank-notes. They were given £1,000 in counterfeit money of the Bank of England, which was disposed of in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cincinnati. I remained all this time in New York, superintending the forged bank-note business.
“I next entered into partnership with George Engles and Peter Burns. They proposed that we should go to Europe and study the way Seligman & Co., of New York, did business with their agents in London. Engles had a genuine draft of Seligman & Co., and he was to counterfeit the blanks during our absence. Peter Burns and wife and myself and wife left New York in February, 1879, for England on the steamer Germanic. Arriving in London we took rooms in the Inns of Court Hotel. Before leaving New York we bought a draft for not less than £1,000 from Seligman & Co. on their agents in London, and one of £10. Burns collected the big draft and I the small one.
“When presented to Seligman’s agent the drafts were certified and stamped with the signature of thé firm and the stamp on the back. I took a copy of the certificate and a drawing of the stamp, with which Burns and I returned to New York. Burns left his wife in London, on Oxford Street, near Hyde Park. We gave George Engles the drawing of the stamp and the copy of the signature. He made a good cut of the stamp on wood and also of the signature. We then sailed back to London on the steamer Wieland. I took my wife. In London we took quarters in a house on George Street. Burns went to his wife on Oxford Street. The rest of the party consisted of Decker, Edward Howard, ‘A1’ Wilson, who was known as ‘the Jew,’ and a man named Connor.
“Before commencing operations I presented a draft of Seligman & Co., in London, for £2,000, to see if they would make any difference between drafts representing big sums or small ones. The forged drafts were all prepared in New York by Engles before we left America, with the exception of the number that was to be added by me upon the back. Two days after this draft was presented and collected three forged drafts were presented in succession payable by Smith, Payne & Smith, of Lombard Street, for a total of £8,000.
“I had perhaps better explain more fully how these operations were conducted. We bought also, in New York, three small drafts at the same time that we bought the one for £2,000, with the intent to present them to Seligman & Co., to obtain the number to put upon the backs of the forged drafts. The forged drafts were presented by Howard, Cannon and Wilson, and were all paid by Smith, Payne & Smith. Edward Howard was once in prison for forgery, in which Barlow had a hand. His residence is New York, where he was once a policeman. Cannon and Wilson both live in New York.
“All of these people were found by Engles, and I was unknown to them. Decker acted as middle-man between them and me. Howard, Cannon and Wilson, after collecting their share, left the same evening for the Continent, thence to New York.
“One week later Burns and I left for Paris, and after five or six weeks I returned with my wife to New York by the steamer Pereire, via Havre. That was in June, 1879. Burns lived in Paris and Decker in London. Upon my return to New York I boarded at the Belvedere House for two months and then went to board in a private house opposite Washington Square.
“During this time I was conspiring with Burns and Decker, who were in London. One day I received a cable message from Burns saying that he wanted to see me. In a letter which preceded it he told me that he had something good on hand, and I was to share it with him. I sailed with my wife and a friend on the steamer City of Berlin. In London we took rooms on Southampton Street, and on arriving we communicated with Burns and Decker. This was in the latter part of 1879. They explained that they had found two Frenchmen, one named Picou or Pick and the other a Dr. Hammel. The latter had received a druggist’s diploma. They said that they could forge and alter three per cent. French certificates. The work was done entirely by Picou and Dr. Hammel.
“It took them three weeks, during which Burns, Decker, myself and our wives went to Paris. I stopped at the Hôtel de Russie and Burns at the Hôtel du Louvre. Decker and Burns took a flying trip to Brussels for the purpose of passing a few notes of the Bank of England, obtained from the forgeries made against Seligman & Co. Decker was arrested and- is now serving his sentence in the prison of Grand Belgium under the name of John Mills. Burns rejoined me. While in Paris in the early part of that year Oscar Decker came to me and said that he had a stolen letter of credit which was issued by Brown Brothers, of New York. He then made a voyage to Madrid to dispose of the remaining forgeries on Seligman & Co. He stopped at Biarritz and another adjoining city, and collected in all 6,ooof. The letter he spoke of had been altered by him while in New York.
“The French certificates were now ready, having been made in John Phillip’s house, at No. 3 St. James Place, Forrest Lane.
“I put the signature on them. We then decided to send Picou and Hammel to Naples to meet there a certain Baron (a Frenchman who had a bank account). We also decided that the Baron should dispose of the certificates in Naples, or where- ever he could. I think he sold one in Rome and nine or ten in different other localities. In this journey they went as far as Vienna. They told Phillips, who was with them, that the police were after him. He fled to London, leaving them all the valuables— about twenty certificates. Those that could not be disposed of were sent by express to Dr. Hammel, who made his headquarters at Munich. About nine were sent back and eighteen or nineteen, of the value of io.ooof., were kept. There were twenty-nine documents forged, of the nominal value of 240,000. In 1880 Dr. Hammel and his wife disappeared, and it is supposed that the pair joined Picou and the Baron.
“I next became associated with George Engles, Charles Becker, Shell Hamilton, William Bartlett, Edward Burns, Edward Cleary, ‘A1’ Wilson, ‘the Jew,’ George Bell, and an old man known only to me as ‘Andy.’ They all came from America, and were under the management of Engles. Decker and Engles brought with them a letter of credit on the Société Générale of Brussels. It was their intention to take five different directions on the Continent and to defraud all the bankers that they met in their way. Before they proceeded they decided to try places with genuine letters of credit, which they were unable to get, and abandoned for the time being. During this time Engles and wife went to Paris to see some relatives, and to procure rooms where we could safely talk business. He changed his mind and returned to London.
“Our next move was to send Bartlett, Cleary and Wilson to Toulon, Brussels, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen, with instructions to procure: drafts from bankers on their correspondents in London. They had to make several trips before they could study the way and means of doing business of the bankers. The last voyage was made to Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle, when we heard that Inspector Byrnes, the chief of detectives, had cabled to the London police all the names of the individuals that had left New York. Fearing arrest, we abandoned the scheme and paid the passage of the men back to America. Hamilton, Engles and Becker remained to do other business. We had previously engaged rooms at No. 5 Fincheley Road, where Hamilton, alias Neilson, resided with us. I went to Brussels with a Mr. Coswell, whom I made believe that I could buy gutta percha, for the purpose of getting a letter of credit and to learn a figure which was in a letter of credit of the Société Générale of Brussels. I got the letter from Mr. Coswell and collected in Rotterdam i3,ooof., returning directly to London, where the balance of the letter of credit was drawn. My voyage in other respects was fruitless. I did not learn the figure, and abandoned the project. In my absence Becker and Engles had been working upon Italian bonds, at No. 7 Leamington Road.
“Small certificates of Italian incomes were bought from Baronoff in Milan and Turin. They consisted of twenty-five bonds bearing an income of 5b These Engles and Becker worked upon. They erased by instruments and acids the indication of their value and restored their original color. The process was only known to Becker. All I knew was the printed denomination. The figures were substituted by a woodcut made by Becker. In the second voyage there were thirty-five certificates of income of the value of soof. each, paying five per cent. They were taken to Engles and Becker, who made the alterations advancing their value to 30,ooof. income, or equal to a capital of 6oo,ooof. Several of these certificates were of 500b income. The first lot used by Baronoff was for i,ooof. income. He disposed of them with the Crédit Lyonnais and with the Caisse Générale of Paris. They were the certificates tied up under the name of H. G. or G. H. Hendel, who received seventy-five per cent, by advancement. Another lot was disposed of in the same way to the Parisian Bank, the interest collected amounting to io,ooof. A third lot of n,ooof. income was sold at the principal office of the Société Générale at the Stock Exchange and at the Crédit Lyonnais.
“Those who took part in that line of work were Peter Burns, alias Colbert, John Carr, James Pasvell, George Engles, alias Hilgor, Charles Becker and myself. Charles Baronoff received twenty-five per cent, and the rest of the money, 40o,ooof., was divided among ourselves in equal shares. Hendel, or Baronoff, ordered the sale of the bonds. He sent a man called ' Cranky Jimmy,’ with a check to the Société Générale.
“He obtained 4,ooof. by means of a hotel messenger, and upon discovering that there was no trouble to dispose of the certificates he went himself and presented a check for more than 40,ooof. He had to wait a long time, and, getting scared, ran away from the bank.
“Some time afterward he wrote a letter to the Société Générale or the Crédit Lyonnais, either from Belgium or Holland, saying he had sent his clerk to Paris with a check for the purpose of paying notes, and that he had not received any news either from the clerk or of the check, and that he would go himself to Paris as soon as possible to find out what had become of them. This was to explain his hasty departure from the bank after presenting the check for 4o,ooof. Baronoff lived in Paris, Boulevard Malesherbes, under the name of Hendel.
“My first introduction to that gang traveling in Italy was on the occasion of the sending out of the letters of credit of the Société Générale of Brussels. ‘Al’ Wilson was introduced to me by John Phillips. The men who operated extensively in Italy were Phillips, Wilson and Shell Hamilton.
“They started by Geneva, Switzerland, where they were rejoined by Charles Silvio Bixio, who had been living in that city during the summer. They went to Torino, where they separated, Bixio and Hamilton going together to Naples, and Phillips, Wilson and myself going to Venice, where they were to wait for a telegram before beginning operations.
“An attempt was made in Moscow, Russia, by Baronoff and James Pasvell, but the job failed for the reason that the figure and the key kept by the bankers there did not correspond with the forged notes. Learning this I telegraphed for them to come home. This took place when we were working on the Italian certificates of income, altering and filling letters of credit, which were accompanied by forged Prench passports. All this work was done by Engles and Becker.
“After his return from Italy I was informed that Bixio had the means of disposing of all sorts of forged paper. I sent Hamilton and Wilson, whose alias was ‘Lewis,’ to Geneva to meet him. They had $3,000 in counterfeit bank-notes on the Tradesmen’s and Broadway Banks of New York. The counterfeit money was obtained by Hamilton from a man named Megath. I advanced the money to buy it. They also took a three per cent. Prench certificate of income (forged), which was not sold on account of some misunderstanding about the price. They came back to London, remaining several weeks, and then took again $2,500 in greenbacks, six or seven three per cent. Prench certificates of income and $200 in bonds of the Bank of Canada.
“The latter bonds were stolen in Canada about four years before. One bond of Lombardy came from a robbery on the Calais and Dover steamboat. It was of the value of ioof. With these valuables, assisted by a certain Strogella, of Torino, Bixio sold the American bank-notes, and Wilson, alias Lewis, sold the certificates for $ 1,000 in all. They also disposed of the bond of Lombardy in Torino and operated in Geneva and Switzerland.
“They borrowed from different Jews, with the aid of a man now in prison with Bixio, some French three per cent, income certificates of the denomination of ¿oof. The person mentioned as the owner of the bonds was a certain Count Corradino, a notorious thief, well known, who was supposed to live in Torino. He was called count by both Strogella and Bixio. They sold two other forged three per cent. French certificates of income in two different places. These certificates were some of those that Picou and Baron sent back from Naples that had remained in Burns’ hands. Hamilton made a trip to London, and after his arrival there Bixio telegraphed for more French certificates, and they were sent to him by registered letter. Wilson, alias Lewis, also went back, but kept up a constant correspondence with Strogella, of Torino. Hamilton and Wilson desired very much to have more bonds, either stolen or forged, of the five per cent. Italian income.
“We set out together, and during the crossing of the sea Burns persuaded me to accompany him in a voyage after we should end our business. We were to go to Naples, Rome, Livorno and back to Paris by way of Nizza. Upon our arrival in Torino we met Hamilton, who took us to a café and there told us that he had sold the bonds of Lombardy and the poof, of Italian incomfe, with the aid of Strogella, to the latter’s brother-in-law, who was a broker in Torino. We then gave him more French and Italian certificates of income. Hamilton said that he could not dispose of the French or Russian bonds, but said that the Italian bonds were all right. He brought us next day the money for the i,ooof. Italian certificate and gave us 25,ooof. for the bonds sold in Torino.
“We then combined to go to Milan with Strogella and Wilson, alias Lewis, carrying with us two French certificates of ¿oof. each, and two forged Italian certificates of income of i,ooof. and ¿oof. each, which had been examined and approved by Strogella and Wilson, alias Lewis. They set out for Milan and were there arrested. We decided not to see any one in Torino except Hamilton.
“Burns and I did not know Strogella. We went to Florence, stopping at the Hôtel di Nuova York. Our plan was to meet Hamilton only. I was to prepare him a letter of credit, and Lewis or Wilson was to come with us, and we would decide where it would be best to try it. The scheme was frustrated by our arrest—that is Burns, alias Julius, and his wife and I and my wife—at Florence.
“I forgot to say that Baronoff was accompanied in his first and second voyages by Carr and Pasvell, but in the third only Carr was with him. They introduced themselves to the Société Générale, Crédit Lyonnais and Banque Parisienne, and sold them different certificates which they bought from other bankers. Megotti, or Megath, sold me the seventeen bonds of Lombardy, Italian and French certificates of income, the Russian bonds and a bond of the Crédit Foncier of France, knowing that it was all stolen property. All the certificates were sold by Strogella to his brother-in-law. Strogella gave the money to Hamilton and the latter gave it to me. The entire quantity of bonds were bought at forty-five or fifty per cent, of their real value, and were sold by Strogella for their real value.
“The amount of these sales was equally divided among Strogella, Lewis, Hamilton, Burns and myself. James Coswell was introduced to me by James Pasvell, and was deceived by me by telling him that I could buy remnants of gutta percha on the Continent—that is, in Brussells, Colmar, Aix-la-Chapelle and Rotterdam. We made two voyages to Brussels, and there he obtained for me two letters of credit on the Société Générale by means of introductions from his correspondents in London. These letters were for 20,ooof. and 25,ooof.”
Wilkes’ confession is the most interesting criminal document in existence to-day. It details nearly all his plots and schemes, and tells just how the men under him succeeded in duping the best financiers of Europe and America, and also gives the names of the men who took part in the several conspiracies with him.
JOE CHAPMAN, one of Wilkes’ early companions, is at present in prison in Munich.
IVAN, or CARLO, SISCOVITCH is serving out a term of imprisonment, under the alias of John Smith, in the penitentiary at Cleveland, Ohio.
PHIL HARGRAVES, who still lingers about New York City, has been more fortunate than others of the gang. This is due to the fact that he is a very guarded operator.
WILLIAM GRIFFIS, alias “Lord Ashburton,” was released in the spring of 1884, after serving out a term at the prison of San Quentin, Cal., and on his return to New York was arrested for the Kirkpatrick affair. He pleaded guilty, and as he was quite low in health he was released and allowed to go to his home at Dartmouth, Devonshire, England, to die.
ENGLES is dead.
BECKER is now serving a sentence of six years and six months in the Kings County Penitentiary, Brooklyn, N. Y., for counterfeiting a 1,000-franc note of the Bank of France. (See record of No. 18.)
JOHN CARR is a notorious English criminal. After the robbery of the Northampton, Mass., Bank, the proceeds were taken to England, and remained in Carr’s house until the negotiations were completed for their return.
BELL is at present serving out a ten years’ sentence in Maryland for forgery. (See record of No. 193.)
AL. WILSON finished a term in Baltimore, Md., for forgery, and is now serving a twelve years’ sentence in Canada. (See record of No. 37.)
CLEARY, who was also implicated with Bell and Wilson in the Baltimore forgeries, has just completed a five years’ sentence there. (See record of No. 193.)
ELLIOTT is serving an eighteen-year sentence at Rochester, N. Y. (See record of No. 16.)
STEVE RAYMOND, another associate of Wilkes, is serving out a life imprisonment for forgery, the first and only man ever sentenced under the new law. (See record of No. 55.)
For further particulars of George Wilkes see records of Nos. 18 and 26.