True Stories of Crime From the District Attorneys Office

True Stories of Crime From the
District
by Arthur Train

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Title: True Stories of Crime From the District Attorney's Office
Author: Arthur Train
Release Date: August 13, 2004 [EBook #13172]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CRIME STORIES ***

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With them and all they had, 'twas lightly come and lightly go; and

when we left them my master said to me: "This is thy first lesson, but
to-night we shall be at Hamburgh. Come with me to the 'rotboss' there,
and I'll show thee all our folk and their lays, and especially 'the
loseners,' 'the dutzers,' 'the schleppers.'" ... "Enow!" cried I, stopping
him, "art as gleesome as the evil one a-counting of his imps. I'll jot
down in my tablet all these caitiffs and their accursed names; for
knowledge is knowledge. But go among them alive or dead, that I will
not with my good will."
--THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH.

TRUE STORIES OF CRIME FROM THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S
OFFICE
BY ARTHUR TRAIN
FORMERLY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEW YORK COUNTY
1908

PREFACE
The narratives composing this book are literally true stories of crime. In
a majority of the cases the author conducted the prosecutions himself,
and therefore may claim to have a personal knowledge of that whereof
he speaks. While no confidence has been abused, no essential facts
have been omitted, distorted, or colored, and the accounts themselves,
being all matters of public record, may be easily verified.
The scenes recorded here are not literature but history, and the
characters who figure in them are not puppets of the imagination, but
men and women who lived and schemed, laughed, sinned and suffered,
and paid the price when the time came, most of them, without flinching.
A few of those who read these pages may profit perhaps by their
example; others may gain somewhat in their knowledge of life and

human nature; but all will agree that there are books in the running
brooks, even if the streams be turbid, and sermons in stones, though
these be the hearts of men. If in some instances the narratives savor in
treatment more of fiction than of fact, the writer must plead guilty to
having fallen under the spell of the romance of his subject, and he
proffers the excuse that, whereas such tales have lost nothing in
accuracy, they may have gained in the truth of their final impression.
ARTHUR TRAIN.
CRIMINAL COURTS BUILDING, NEW YORK CITY, April 20,
1908.

CONTENTS
I. THE WOMAN IN THE CASE II. FIVE HUNDRED MILLION
DOLLARS III. THE LOST STRADIVARIUS IV. THE LAST OF
THE WIRE-TAPPERS V. THE FRANKLIN SYNDICATE VI. A
STUDY IN FINANCE VII. THE "DUC DE NEVERS" VIII. A
FINDER OF MISSING HEIRS IX. A MURDER CONSPIRACY X. A
FLIGHT INTO TEXAS XI. A CASE OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL
EVIDENCE

ILLUSTRATIONS
Envelope on the back of which Parker's forged order was written
Parker's order on Rogers, Peet & Co., in the name of Lang A
letter-head "frill" of Mabel Parker's Examples of Mabel Parker's
penmanship, regular and forged Practice signatures of the name of
Alice Kauser The check on which the indictment for forgery was
brought Parker's copy of the signature of Alice Kauser One of the
sheets upon which Mabel Parker illustrated her skill One of Miller's
Franklin Syndicate Receipts. Ammon's deposit slips and a receipt
signed by Mrs. Ammon. A group of H. Huffman Browne's forgeries
Last page of the forged Rice will of 1900 The forged cremation letter

Forged assignment and Rice signatures First page of the "Black Hand"
letter written by Strollo

I
The Woman in the Case
On a sultry August afternoon in 1903, a dapper, if somewhat anaemic,
young man entered the Broadway store of Rogers, Peet & Company, in
New York City, and asked to be allowed to look at a suit of clothes.
Having selected one to his fancy and arranged for some alterations, he
produced from his wallet a check for $280, drawn to the order of
George B. Lang, and signed E. Bierstadt, and remarked to the attentive
salesman:
"I haven't got quite enough cash with me to pay for these, but I have
been intending to cash this check all the afternoon. Of course, you don't
know me or even that my name is Lang, but if you will forward the
check to the