The Forger Who Faked His Own Death
A swindler who planted a fake death notice in a Denver paper is arrested in Seattle and returned to Colorado to face forgery charges.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The man Montgomery, arrested last week in Seattle for forgeries committed on a bank in Pueblo, Colorado, and taken back by Captain C. F. Aull, a member of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s detective force, intended to go into business in New Tacoma, and to that end had leased in company with Mr. Karney, of Seattle, George B. Handle's new building on Pacific Avenue. Montgomery, before leaving Colorado, wrote and inserted in a Denver paper a paragraph which stated that he had died of pneumonia, and notifying all his friends of the fact. He then left for California, hoping that those who had suffered from his forgeries would take the publication as a fact, and abandon further search.
“He had died of pneumonia, and notifying all his friends of the fact.”
The Montgomery case is a reminder that identity fraud and flight from justice are not new. In an era before instant communication, a newspaper notice of death could be a useful disappearing act—until a Wells Fargo detective caught up.
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