Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1860-11-07
Boone County BanK-sharp Finan=

cling.
A few weeks ago Bank was organized
under the genoral banking Law of tbi.
State, by the title of the Boone County
Bank. and Lebanon was selected as the oS,
tensible place for the transaction of busi
ness. A New York broker furnished SIS
600 in Tennessee and Virginia bounds IA
s'cure The bills Of the Bank, and the Aud.
itor i-suei upon this security s45 600 Of
circulating notes We believe thst S2I 900
Of The bills thus obtained have been put
in circulaton-the balance are on depo.it
with tbe Branch Of the Bank of the State
10 this city as collateral of security for the
amount due opon the bonds. The bills
were engraved by a concern called "The
New York Bank Mute Company and are
of inferior appearance. The individuals
engaged in the enterprise are unknown TO
our bankers and merchants, end they
brought with them no evidence Of their ahll
ity to safely and successfully carry on the
business of banking.
The only question with those who had
given the matter any attention, was as TO
the way our Boone county bankers intend
ed TO make the institution paw A few
days ago the mOdus Operandi developed it
self Several bills made their appearance
but upon inspection they were found to be
frauds The genuine and fraudulent notes
were dnu htiess stricken from the same
plate. but the filling up of The latter is an
imiiation-s counterfeit, not only the
names OF the Auditor and Register, but ais,
the President aud Cashier. So close i the
resemblance that it requires some little
skill 10 detect the spurious notes. The
impression of The latter is not quite a.
heavy as the genuine. and the paper is of
lighter color and poorer quality. The Au
d'tor and Register pronounce their sigma
lures upon the latter described bills as
Counterfeit. There il 20 doubt that large
amount has been put in circulation. One
of our bankers yesterday received letter
from Iowa inqniring rs 10 the standing of
the bank. statng That a large amount of
the bills were In circulation in that State.
And our banks yesterday received from
their correspondents more OF the spurious
than the genuine bills. One received SITS
from Chicago, Si40 of which was the coun
terfet.
The officers Of the Bank yesterday made
no distinction in the redemption of the gen.
uIne and the spurious notes $3.50 was
sent from here for redemption, S45 of which
The Register pronounced counterfeit; but
the entire amount, good aud bad, was re-
deemed 10 gold We do not believe the
Bank will continue this kind of redemption
tor any length of time.
This is free banking with a vengeance
Ii is well laid scheme for gigantic fraud
upon the public. but the necessities of the
bankers have developed the fraud sooner
'han they intended it should be. The
plan was admirably devised, and if the
operators had had sufficient capital to
have first given the genuine notes good
credit, the spurious might have been put
out indefinitely, but the forcing of the
Irsndulsnt notes into circulation from the
start at once let daylight into the opera
tion As it is there is no knowing to what
extent tfe couBteIfeits have been put upon
the public, until the freud is generally ex
posed and published
This new species of fraud will have the
effect TO weaken confidence in all Stock
Bank notes The community have looked
alone to the securities of these banks for
proectios, and that has given them circu-
Ialion, but the frauds we have described
will taiut all with suspicion.
IL ls reported that the spurious notes
were filled up in this city. Ii so, the mat
ter should be thoroughly investigated and
the guilty parties brought to punishment.
il possible. and ihe same course should
be followed with ali who have paricipa
ted in the fraud, il the law provides any
penal les for thus defrauding the commu-
/ nlty-Sfate Sentinel.