Exploits of a Forger.

      One of the most expert forgers that ever appeared in this country was caught in Massachusetts lately, convicted and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. He had not been in prison more than three months when, to the astonishment of the jailor, a pardon came for him, in due form, all signed by the governor, and properly countersigned. There was nothing to be done but liberate the prisoner, and he walked out. But he had not been gone long before the jailor discovered that the prisoner had managed through his friends, to get a blank pardon from the governor's office, had filled it out himself, and cleverly forged the signatures, and had then passed it out to his friends again, to be mailed to the jailor in proper shape: The clever forger had not got far enough away to escape, and he was arrested and sent back to prison.

      He employed a young New York lawyer, whose name is familiar through the fame of his father, and told him the story. "They have no right to lock you up again," said the lawyer, "having once liberated you, without legally proving that the pardon is a forgery. I can get you out, but it will cost you $1500."

      "Go ahead," said the forger.

      The lawyer went ahead, gained his case, and liberated the prisoner.

      "I am going out West immediately," said the forger, as, soon as he was free.

      "My father, who is a wealthy man, owns a thirty thousand dollar farm in Kansas, and he has just sent me this letter, begging me to come home and lead an honest life, and telling me to draw on him for $2000 to pay my bills. I am his only son, and I have almost broken his heart, but this life is coming to an end, I shall settle down on my father's farm and be an honest man," and he showed the letter, a pathetic production from an afflicted parent. "I shall need $1000 of the money to pay some little bills," continued the forger, "and here is a draft I have made on my father for $2000. If you can give me a check for $1000 I will give you the draft, and will send you the other $500 as soon as I get home."

      The lawyer read the letter carefully, drew a check for $1000 and handed it to his client, and received the draft for $2000. About ten days after the draft was deposited in a bank for collection, it came back with the message that the man on whom it was drawn had been dead for eight years, and wasn't worth a cent when he was alive.
—[A Detective Story