I have tried to study them—to see wherein they differed from other men—and that is no ordinary task. Whether I succeeded or not remains to be seen. In some cases, after many patient interviews I was able to draw them out of the dark and gloomy past, where I could read their character in its true light. Although many of this class are exceedingly interesting as conversationalists and unusually intelligent on the great questions of the day, I find they are never willing to disclose their true identity or explain their inner life. And they wilfully conceal the past and refuse to come out clearly into the light of day. Henry A. Leonard, a Wall Street messenger boy, single and alone, was able to forge a check on the Hanover National Bank, (September, 1905) and have it certified, by which he secured $359,000 in negotiable bonds. It is very doubtful if a stranger could have done the same thing. Leonard was known to the banks as a broker’s messenger boy and all the paper he brought to the various banks was received without question. Leonard’s plea afterwards was that he did this work to show how _easy_ the banks could be swindled. There may be much truth in the statement that many of the Wall Street banks do business in a slipshod manner, but whether that was a good reason why he should attempt to secure such a large amount of valuable securities for nothing is quite another question. We believe that Leonard was only a simple minded boy and had no intention of wronging any person. If he had been a crook he could have negotiated half the bonds in an hour and left the city to parts unknown before any one would have known it. Another noted forger, whose doings have extended over a quarter of a century, was Ned Stoddard. In manners Stoddard is a perfect gentleman and his scholarship allows him to converse with anybody in the land. With a pen in his hand he becomes a perfect genius and can reproduce any written name he has ever seen on paper. Stoddard has performed some wonderful feats in the line of forgery. It was “booze” that brought about this man’s ruin. He was a typical Yankee, tall and slender, measuring over six feet in height. A man of more than ordinary intelligence, a good speaker, a brilliant conversationalist who threw into his arguments two keen gray eyes that danced with delight while he told you some interesting anecdote or fairy tale! Three of a Kind