Arrest of a forger.
--The officers of the pay department of the secretary of the Treasury made the discovery, a few days since, that somebody had been intensively depleting the
National Treasury by means of forged cheese.
On looking, a number of the bogus documents calling for large sums of money, were discovered, and so skillfully were they excused that it required considerable ingenuity to separate the good from the bad. The services of detective
Washington Goodrick were brought into requisition and he was enjoined to use every exertion to ferret out the guilty parties Yesterday morning, about half-past 11 o'clock as
Goodrick was standing near the
Paymaster's office of the Treasury Department, an individual who was going in stopped and made some trivial inquiry, and turned off. In police parance
Goodrick "spotted" the man, and instituted a watch on his movements.
He afterwards proceeded to
Mr. Peter Wise, the disbursing clerk, described the stranger, hinted his suspicions and directed if he called again, which the officer felt certain he would do,
Mr. Wise must pay the check.--Sure enough the fellow came, and not seeing anything to alarm him presented a check for $1,590, payable to
Henry Turner.
Wise saw it was a forgery, but handed over the amount in large notes as requested; and
Mr. Turner was retiring, when he was seized by the Detective, who compelled him to restore the money, and then took him to C. S. Commissioner Watson's office, where he underwent an examination, outing which it was ascertained that the forger was a notorious this from New Orleans, who usually went by the name of
Tim O'Brien.
The name would indicate that he was of Irish descent but he looked like anything else rather than a genuine Muesish.
Major John Ambler, whose name was purported to be signed to the check, stated to the
Commissioner that his signature was forged, and the check did not come from his office, though gotten up in strict imitation of the genuine.
It had evidently been filled up by an expert, judging from the manner of its getting up. It was stated after the examination that
O'Brien had been arrested several times by the authorities of the Treasury Department for alleged forgeries but had always succeeded in getting off twice at least by running off from the guard appointed to convey him to prison.
The prisoner was committed for trial before the C. S. District Court on the 10th of May next, and the witnesses were recognized to appear and testify against him. He was a forwards conducted to the county jail and placed in the stone jug under guard.
O'Brien is thought to be only one of a gang of scoundrels now in our midst.
