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Show LIGHT ON SUICIDE. WAS THI9 LAWYER A COUNTERFEITER? COUN-TERFEITER? ll.alh of Alfrad C. Krt of I In.. by III Owa Uaad a Tor Ago AumIiM -fllb, DltoaTary of Coaatartallliif Nil When tho Home Safety Dsposlt company o Toledo, Ohio, opened one of lu etrong boxes recently, on which tho rent was orerdue, a most startling revelation wai made In It win found 1(0,000 In silver certificates, the plates etched on line from which they were Iiiade, alio the numbering type, extra paper, Ink, etc. (The company Immediately tele-graphed tele-graphed CLIet Wllkla of the secret service, ser-vice, asking for Inilructtona An agent of thetscrvlco was directed to Ret all possible particulars In tho case and end tho materials found on to Washington, Wash-ington, Investigation brought out the fact that a man calling himself Alfred Kent, a book agent at Tirfln Ohio, had rented the box on Dec 10, 1197, pre-i pre-i aumably fir the purpose of depositing valuable books, proofs and plates He was described as being lx feet In height, weight 155 pounds, dark complexion, com-plexion, hair nnd mustache; ace about 25 yean, Aa soon as a description of the bllla was received Sir. Wllkle com pared them with those In an album kept for counterfeit bills nnd coins. It tattled oxictly with a $10 silver ccr-tlOcato ccr-tlOcato that was received In January 1893. The history of this certificate was looked up and the fact revealed that on Jan, 4, 1SD3, n well-dressed law)cr i named Alfred O Krcps of a reputable Arm In Lima, Ohio, had tried to pass n $10 silver certificate. In Lorensburg, I Ind, Ills actions becoming suspicious, tho matter was referred to Mr. Wllkle who ordered his ngent at Grcensburg to make an lnestlf!atlon. This was dons and Lawyer Krcps was arrested and taken before tho commissioner. Aa all other bills found on Krcps' person worn gctiulno he was dismissed, liJs friends believing him to have been duped by a counterfeiter, Tho certificate certifi-cate was allll fresh from the hands of the axent, ro effort having been made to ago It further than b n little crushing crush-ing nnd handling After Krcps' acquittal he brooded over tho publicity of hla arrest and ono week later startled his friends by I shooting himself They believed his , mind had become unbalanced by hla troubles and because of his dissolute habits and neglect of his legal profession. pro-fession. He was given to Inexplicable departures depar-tures and long absences, played cards and drank, but wss considered a bright Iswjcr and Incapabln of crime, and many frlenda mourned his sudden anJ awful death, Mr. Wllkle's agents for the time gave " up looking for tho maker of tho 110 silver certificate, knowing that In time, as Is always the case somo clew would crop out b) the effort of some ono to float another, but until tho safety deposit de-posit vault was opened tho series seemed seem-ed to have entirely disappeared The description of Alfred Kent, the book agent of Tlllln, Ohio, who rented the box, nnd that of Alfred C. Kreps, the lawyer, green goods man and suicide, sui-cide, wora compared, and tho Identification Identifi-cation was beyond dispute. Tho surmlia Is that Kreps either secretly se-cretly learned the nrt of etching on line, and mado nnd printed the bills himself, or that he negotiated and purchased pur-chased tho samo from soma nmateur counterfeiter. The bills and plates havo Just been received at tho secret service department. The entire $ 10,000 was crisp and new, showing no effort of aging by tho pro-ccssis pro-ccssis known to counterfeiting, tin treatment often rendering far worse counterfeits dlfllcult to detect. Agents are on the alert and expect ., ALFRED C KHEP3. further deelopments as to the real counterfeiter, as Kreps Is not known to havo been capable of undertaking tho work fui (her than bis effort to pass , tho goods, Ills friends now know far the first tlmo that his attempted ' crime drove, him to suicide. |
