Value Retail (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Near Fine. The clamshell case has bumped corners. Book.

No Binding. Condition: Good. Wanted Poster 323 x 168 mm. In acid free Mylar sleeve. Will be shipped flat between heavy cardboard layers, never rolled. Top and bottom blank margins clipped. [Transcription:] "POLICE DEPARTMENT Office of Marshal BALTIMORE, MD., October 9th, 1906. WANTED FOR FALSE PRETENSES. [Mugshot Images: ID 1949] JAMES HARTRAY LANGDON. WE HOLD WARRANT AND INDICTMENT for the arrest of JAMES HARTRAY LANGDON on the charge of obtaining a Gold Open Watch and Chain, valued at $215.00, by means of False Pretenses (Bogus Check), from John W. Mealy, Sons and Co., of this city, on October 1st, 1906. Description of Watch: Gold Open Face, size No. 12, 18 karat, minute repeater, gold hands, made by Tuchon & Co., Geneva, No. 7909; also Gold Rope Chain. Description of Langdon: Age about 29 years, height 5 ft. 5 in., weight about 115 lbs., slender build, smooth face, dark chestnut hair, medium fair complexion, violet blue eyes; when last seen was dressed in light grey or light large plaid suit; wears handkerchief in coat pocket, puff tie with scarf pin in it. Kindly have thorough search made at all Pawn-brokers and Dealers for the above described Watch, and if located advise me at once; also keep sharp lookout for Langdon, and if located arrest and wire me, and an officer will be sent with papers for him. Very respectfully, TH[OMAS] F. FARNAN, Marshal of Police. On October 1, 1906, Langdon entered John W. Mealy, Sons & Co. jewelers in Baltimore and purchased a high-end luxury watch and chain valued at $215 (equivalent to roughly $7,500 today). He paid with a bad check drawn from the Corn Exchange Bank of New York, where he held no account. The police department distributed this circular on October 9, and Langdon was quickly apprehended. On November 15, 1906, there was a formal arraignment before Judge Harlan. During the process of entering a plea, Langdon was permitted to address the court. Langdon used this opportunity to make a statement in mitigation. He didn't deny taking the watch or passing the check, but he attempted to convince the judge that his intent wasn't criminal. He claimed he acted in "good faith" and fully intended to deposit funds into the New York bank to cover it (an excuse he used in other cases). His excuse was a legal impossibility because the prosecution proved he did not even hold an account at that bank to deposit money into. Once Langdon realized his "good faith" story was dismantled, he pled guilty. To try to garner leniency, he falsely claimed he was 24 years old when in fact he was c. 29. Judge Harlan accepted the guilty plea and based on Langdon's dishonest statements and his history of deception, he sentenced him to 3 years of hard labor in the Maryland Penitentiary. Langdon's criminal career did not start or stop in Baltimore in 1906. He had been a traveling con artist along the East Coast and parts of the Midwest. His favorite tactic was traveling to small town banks, presenting himself as a respectable businessman, and passing forged certified checks. To build trust, he signed the bogus checks using the name of his actual father, Samuel P. Langdon, an apparently reputable figure from Philadelphia. In a major incident prior to Baltimore, a cashier named A.H. Beatty at the Saltsburg Bank in Pennsylvania hesitated over one of Langdon's large Philadelphia checks. Beatty looked up the bank directory, realized the forgery, and had a constable arrest Langdon on the spot. When police locked him up in Pennsylvania, it was learned that Langdon was already a wanted fugitive, with police warrants for identical check fraud schemes in Tyrone (PA), Latrobe (PA), and Youngstown (OH). The watch was probably stripped for its 18-karat gold value, sold under a completely different black-market identity, or sits unrecognized in a private family collection. During the Great Depression and various gold booms of the 20th century, thousands of vintage pocket watches were stripped of their gold. . . and gongs. It rings separate tones for the hours, quarter-hours, and individual minutes. In 1906, before illuminated dials, a minute repeater allowed a wealthy owner to audibly check the time in darkness (such as inside a theater or a horse-drawn carriage (illustrator).…