The Grand Haven news., 1865-12-06
THE coINERs.
FROM THE DIARY OF A DETEcrIvE.

During the year of l847 the West was
flooded with counterfeit coin. 1t was
so well manufactured that it passed read
lily. The evil at last became so great
that the Uuited States authorities re-
quested that skilful detective might be
sent TO ferret out the nest of coiners. ]
was fixed upon TO perform that duty.
had nothing to guide me. The fact,
however, tb.N Chicago was the city where
the counterfeit coin was most abundant
led me 10 suspect that the manufactory
was somewhere within its limits. twas,
therefore, to the capital Of the west that
/ proceeded.
4 spent FIVE weeks 10 the city without
gaining the slightest clue to the counter
feiters.
began to grow discouraged, and real
ly thought shonld have to return bome
without having achieved any result. One
day | received letter from my wife re-
questing me to send her some money, as
she was out Of funds. ] went to the
bank and asked for draft, at the same
time handing sum Of money to pay for
it, in which were several half dollars
The clerk pushed three of them back to
me, saying, counterfeit"
WhalT' said /, you don't mean to
tell me those half dollars are countetfeitY
81 do"
"Are YOU certain 7"
Perfectly certain. They are remark
ably executed but are deficient in weight.
See for yourself"
And he placed one of'them in the bal
auce agsinst a genuine halfdoIlaH and
the latter brought up the former.
"This is the best counterfeit coin ey-
er saw in my life" exclaimed, examin-
ing them closely. "Is all the counter
felt coin in circulation here of the same
character
"Oh, dear, no." the clerk replied, ait
is not nearly so well done. These are
the work of the famous New York couu-
lerfeiter, Ned Wilet. / know them well,
for | have handled great many Of them
in my time. Here is some of the money
that is circulated here" he added, taking
half dollars from drawer. You see
that the milling is not SO well done as
Ned Willet's, altho' this is pretty good
too"
compared the two and found that he
was right. supplied the place of the
counterfeit with good coin, and returned
the former to my pocket.
A few days after this l received inlor-
nation which caused me to make jour
ney to small village about thirty miles
from Chicago. | arrived there at night,
and took up my quarters in tho only tav-
ern in the place. 1t was wretched
dwelling, and kept by an old man and
woman, the surliest couple, / think, il has
ever been my lot TO meet. In answer to
whether could have lodging there that
night, noticed the host gave a particu-
lar look at bis wife, and after some whis-
pering, was informed in the most I'M
gracious manner possible that | could
have bed. l
have frequently, 10 the course Of my
life, been obliged to put up with wretch
ed accommodations, SO did not allow
my equanimity Of temper to be destroy
ed by the miserable sleeping apartments
into which ! was ushered after finishing
my repast.
The chamber was Of small size and
certainly well ventilated, for l could see
the stars through the roof The bed was
simply bag Of straw thrown into one
corner Of the room, without sheet or GOV.
eriug of any kind. This last fact, howev.
eS was not Of much consequences, as il
was summer, and oppressively hot. '