The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-03-10
The Leader of the Gang in custody.
Large Haul of Bogus Coins AID Materials.

We have already published an account
of the arrest of a large gang of counter
%feiters at Lafayette, Ia. The ring lea
der, 1T appears, resided at Chicago, and
the police of the latter place having
been advised of this fact, the Marshal
Immediately set to work to spot him and
his mandatory. The Chicago Jour
nal of Monday evening furnishes the
following particulars of the movements
and arrests
They worked for some time uusuccess-
fully in the meantime the bogus coin
was slowly being disseminated through
the city. Some of it was passed in
stores; but the most of it in ~omnibusses,
Shears handing the driver a bogus half
and receiving forty-ive cents of good
money. On Friday his place was spot
ted, and on Saturday morning Marshal
Seely arrived in this city. Saturday
evening, officer Smith went to his place,
No. 526 State street, and found him
eating supper with his wife and two
children, one about seven and the other
an lpfant. Shears and his wife looked
at each other steadily as much as to say
/" It's all up with us.n In an instant he
sprang for a window, but the officer was
too quick, and then, seeing that all at
tempts at escape were useless, he gave
himself quietly up. Upon leaving his
wife, he told her that he should proba-
bly, rot see her for eight years again, and
left instructions for h.r to GO to her faith
er's. lie was at once led away and
lodged in the Jail.
After his arrest, the rooms, which are
in the upper story of the tenement, were
thoroughly searched, and all the appur-
tenance of a bogus mint, besides a large
amount of counterfeitiag apparatus, were
found. A box full of bogus halves and
quarters, not yet galvanized, some fin
ished and ready for circulation, a frame
of plaster of Paris moulds, eight in num-
Der, and about half a bushel of broken
moulds, a jar of acid, tin and zinc, hold
ers, which, in conjunction with the acid
formed a galvapic battery, files, brushes,
chemicals and type metsl were among
the mint plumber. An impression was
first made upon the mould with the gen
ulne half or quarter, and the metal then
run in. After coming out, it was tho
roughly brushed with some chemical, ard
then exposed by a tin holder to the ac-
tion of the acid. In about four hours
the coin is ready for use. From the
impression upon the moulds, all the
pieces Iun in Thorn were quarters of 1858
halves of 1854, aud Spanish quarters IF
1881. These noulds will run from 800
to $l75 each.
Besides the mint-material, there was
found a complete countefeiting kit by
the Photographic process. 1t consisted
of a large camer obscurn, acids, chem
ical powders, four photographs, on glass
plates, of SIS notes on the Warren Co.
Monmouth, ILL.,, two plates of So notes
on the Agricultural Bank of Marion H.,
and a genuine So bill on the Marine
Bank, Milwaukee, pasted on glass, and
ready to be photographed. There we're.
also one OF two negatives of the Agri-
cultural Bank, a large quantity of bill
paper, a few remnants of the sewing
machine model, which be and McNitt
made in Lsfayeteo, aud several works
on chemistry and photography Some
bills already made, were in the room at
the time of the arrest but were undoubt-
edly concealed by his wife.
A secret alphabet was also found,
which is based upon the following cy-
pher, the same one which was used in
the secret correspondence of Aaron
Burr, and exposed at his trial.