A KING OF FORGERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4015, 18 January 1892, Page 3

A KING OF FORGERS.

The Olevorost Fraudulent Ponman oa KooorA. Henry Davis, alitu Stoddart, who is now in the Jersey city gaol await* ing trial for tho forgery of a telo> graphic order on the PittsKeld Bank of Matsachusotls, is probably the most clo7er, (laving and ingenious forger on record, A New York correspondent of tbe Tekgraqh relates that Davis is tbe only man who over, having been sent to prison for forgery, forged his way out again, The means by which lie came to bo pardoned by Governor Buclwnaj, of Tennessee, reveal ut skill and audacity unsurpassed in criminal annals. Davis was arrested in Memphis, Tcnneeseo, on several charges of forgery, the cheques Which he had written and passed having boon honoured by a number ol banks and mercantile houses. His skill was exceptional, and every one of the cheques had been paid without suspicion, the signatures being aiamliousin execution, His trial was made sensational through a nuuibei of letters from respectable people, some of them well known, which ho offered or exhibited in his own behalf, all of them ultimately turning out to bo forgeries, The result of his trul was a sentence of 10 years in tliej State penitentiary. Davis's attorney i worked hard for him, and made strenuous efforts to save him from the added punishment of hard labour. He did not succeed, however, and the prisoner was sent to Tracoy, While he was there Governor Buchanan received a petition for Davis's pardon, It was accompanied by a leltor from Mr Babtist, Davis's attorney, which was most iugeniously constructed and pathetically written. Tho petition was subscribed to by all the officials in the court in which Davis was tried, tho entire jury who found liiin guilty, and a large number of citizens of Tennessee, among them being many influential men who were intimate friends of Governor Buchanan, It was so ingenious and sympathetic that the governor, who rarely grants a pardon withoutconsultution with some of the signers, believed such a course to be unnecessary. He therefore issued a pardon, f nd Davis was set at libsrty, The Governor had him brought to Nashville, and personally presented him with a new suit of clothes and ut sum of money. Davis ikon disappeared, Two weeks afterwards tho Governor met Mr B:ibtisi, Davis' attorney, and congratulated him on tho success of his • efforts, Babtist was amazed, and could not understand what ho meant, Hi'b Excellency then spoke of the pardon, and found that Baptist knew nothing about it, Every name and letter were bare faced forgeries, and the entire petition had been written by Davis himself while in prison. How he managed the work it is not known, From that time nothing wns hoard of Davis until the Pittsfield Bank forgery came out and Stoddart was arrested. An officer found Stoddart and Davis to be one and tho same, and so the whole story has come to light.