SPRING, Robert, forger, born in England in 1S13; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 14 December, 1876. He gained notoriety by his fabrication of autograph letters of Washington, Franklin, and Lord Nelson. Of his life prior to the time when he came to the United States nothing is known. Settling in Philadelphia about 1858, he began to deal in a small way in books relating to America, autographs, and prints, frequently obtaining literary rarities. Finding himself unable to supply the demand for genuine autograph letters of eminent men of the Revolution, he began to make and sell counterfeits. Being an expert penman, he soon acquired great facility in imitating the handwriting of Washington, Franklin, and others. These counterfeits were written on paper of the period, with ink prepared so as to give the appearance of age to the writing, and readily deceived those who were not experts. He was frequently arrested by the civil authorities for obtaining money under false presences, but always escaped punishment by confessing his guilt and expressing contrition for his offence. Most of his counterfeit letters of Franklin and Nelson were sold in Canada and England. To sell his forgeries he resorted to various devices, finally pretending in his letters that he was a daughter of Gem Thomas J. Jackson, who was compelled by poverty to part with family papers. By these means he sold many counterfeit autographs to Confederate bond-holders in England. At the time of his death he was an imnate of a hospital and in poverty. See " The American Antiquarian" for May, 1888.