In February, 1888, he purchased a fine residence on one of the most fashionable streets of Baltimore and paid for it with a draft on a New Orleans bank which had been raised from $180 to $18,000. Before the fraud was discovered he had sold the property for $16,000 cash and left the city. In March, 1899, he purchased a farm in Talbot County, Maryland, tendering as payment therefor a draft on a Philadelphia bank upon which he had raised the figures from $120 to $12,000. The farm was valued at $8,000. Hence he received $4,000 in change besides the $7,500 he was paid for the farm the second day after it was deeded to him. He is smooth, oily and ingratiating—well-nigh as slick in speech as he is with his pen. His manner is more that of a Frenchman than a German. He talks rapidly, and his gestures are almost Jew-like. He once remarked that if he had been born dumb he would have been able to make himself fully understood by his gestures. He cuts the air, shrugs his shoulders, shakes his head, and assumes all the airs of a tragedian in order to convince his hearers of his honesty and earnestness. His home training could not have been better, scion of high-class German parents who seriously sought to imbue him with a love for God, and due regard for the property and rights of his fellow beings. He was sent to the best school in Germany and graduated at the head of his class. He was then, by his own choice, apprenticed to an engraver and early developed marvelous skill at the trade. He was obliged to leave Germany because of his attempt to too closely imitate “the coin of the realm.” Another noted American crook is R—— R——, now living a straight life. The annals of crime do not furnish another like him. When he began crime he was a man of fine physique, good address, suave in manner, well educated and an accomplished writer for the press. What led him to become a crook is not known. R—— first came into prominence in 1882. At that time he played a bold game to fleece several Yale College professors by means of bogus checks which he desired cashed. He introduced himself to them as an Irish nobleman named Lord Rossa, who wished to found a college in the United States and sought their advice in the matter. He was not only a perfect gentleman in manners but he was so scholarly that he readily threw them off their guard. But the scheme fell through when they would not cash his checks.