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Late in 1937, when young District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey was adding a high score of convictions to his reputation as a gang buster, New York City banks were plagued by a series of big-money forgeries. The methods indicated the work of a master crook. The forger had been seen --by bank clerks who cashed the forged checks. But there were no clues, other than that the forger claimed to have an office at No. 39 Broadway.

Then the break came. At No. 39 Broadway detectives discovered a portly, florid, mustached man who seemed to be the spit & image of the forger bank tellers remembered.

The man was Bertram Campbell, 50, a British-born onetime customers man, then a truck salesman earning about $4,000 a year. He lived quietly and comfortably with his second wife and their two sons and daughter in suburban Freeport, L.I.

Blue-Ribbon Conviction. One day in 1938, Campbell got word to look in at District Attorney Dewey's office. He did. Three hours later he was in the Tombs, accused of a $4,160 forgery. In a few speedy weeks he had a speedy trial. Four witnesses from banks positively identified him as the check passer. The hand-picked "blue-ribbon" jury saw its duty and did it. It was only because Bertram Campbell had never been arrested for anything before that the judge gave him the minimum sentence--five to ten years.

Sobbing, protesting his innocence, Campbell was dragged off to prison. His family eventually went on relief. As Sing Sing Prisoner No. 95111, Campbell scrubbed floors, taught English, helped the prison psychiatrist. He gave up hope of ever proving his innocence. After three years and four months behind the grey walls, he was paroled. That was almost four years ago.

The Break. Last week Bertram Campbell, now a $50-a-week bookkeeper, was suddenly and dramatically cleared; proved, at last, was the fact that he had not been the forger. The culprit was none other than Alexander D. L. Thiel, the horseplaying, narcotic-spurred wizard of forgery who in some 40 years had left a $500,000 trail of bogus checks over the U.S. (TIME, April 9).

Forger Thiel and Bookkeeper Campbell did indeed resemble each other, a little. Now, sentenced for one of his crimes, Thiel confessed, in writing, that he had done the job for which Campbell served time. He knew about it at the time, he said, but he felt himself to be "in an unfavorable position" to give himself up.

Grade A Restitution. In his cheap little flat above a saloon in suburban Floral Park, L.I., "grey, 57-year-old Bertram Campbell happily posed for pictures with his happy family. Bertram Campbell was not ready to forgive everything. Said he: "It was Mr. Dewey's big clean-up campaign. All he wanted was a record of convictions."

In Albany, a full investigation was ordered, looking toward a full pardon, restoration of Campbell's civil rights, and a proposed $25,000 payment in restitution. Once again, the case was before Thomas E. Dewey, now Governor.

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