The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1865-11-16
= Short Storw.
THE C0INERS.
FROM THE DIARY OF A DETECTIVE

FROM THE DIARY OF A DETECTIVE
During the year of 1917 the Yves
was flooded with Il counterfeit coir
1t was SO well manufactured thu
= it passed readily. The ev,l Mt las
, became SO great that the Unitet
States authorities requested that
skilltul detective might be sent t,
ferret cut the nest of coincrs.
was fixed upon to perform that du
ty.
| had nothing to guide me. Th
fact, however, that Chicago wa
the city where the counterfeit wa,
the most abundant, led me to suS
pect that the manu- actorv wa,
somewhere within its limits. II
was. therefore, b. the capital OF tn,
West that l proceeded. | spent
| five weeks in the city without gain
! ing tie slightest clue to the coun.
ter, tiers
ocsan to grow discouraged.
and really thought shouId have
to return homo without hav;n-.
achieved any result. Ono day |
received u letter from my wife re.
questing me to send some money,
as she was ont of funds. | wen
to the bank and asked Tor a draft,
at the same time handing u sum OF
money to pay FIR it, in which there
were several half dollars. Tn
clerk pushed three OF them back to
me, saying "count rleit."
" What 2" said |, "you don't
mean to tell me those half dollars
are counterfeit 2"
" Ar you certain 2"
9 Perfectly certain. They are
remarkably executed, but thel ar,
deficient in weight, Sec for your
self"
lie placed one Of them in the
balance against u genuine halfdol
lar, and the latter brought up the
lOrEcr
T" This is the best counterfeit
coin i ever saw in my lile," ex-
claimed, examining them closely.
" Is al! the counterfeit monev in
circulation here of the same char
acter as this 2"
so dear no." said the clerk "if)
is not nearly so well dono. These
are the work of the famous New
York counterleiter, Ned Willet.-
| know them we |, for | have hand |
led great many of them in my
time. Here is some of the money |
that is circulating here" he added. |
taking half doller from the draw.
er. " You see that the milling is
not so we. done as Willet's, though |
this is good too"
! compared the two and found
that he was right. | supplied tn
place of the three counrerieits with
good coin and returned the other
to my pocket.
A few days after this received
in ormation that canscd me to take
a journey to small village about
thirty miles from Chicago. ar,
rived there at night and took up
my quarters at the only tavern in
he place. 1t was wretched
iwelling, and kept by an old man
md woman, the surliest couple, |
hink, it has ever boen my lot to
meet In answer as to whether |
'ould have lodg ng there that tight
noticed the host give a partcu
ar look at his wife, and after some
whispering, ! was informed in a
most ungracious manner that
ould have a bed.
l have frequently in the course
II my life boen obliged 70 put NJ
With wretched accommodations. so ,
did not allow my eqnanimity of
emper to be destroyed by the mis-
rablc. sleeping apartments into q
'hich | was ushered after finish.
y my repast
The chamber was Of small size,
nd certainly well ventilated, for I :
)uld sees the stars through the roof.
he bed was simply bag of straw "
lrown into one corner of the room.
ithou' sheet or covering of any
nd. The last fact. however, was !, =
,t OF much consequence, as it was - =
Immcr and oppressively hot y
| stood for more than an hour
'zing ont Of the opening which
rv,d for a window. Before me th
is an immense prairie, the limits OF
which could not see. The tav ~
n in which had taken mp my al
ode, appeared TO be isolated from
othe dwellings, and cave the al
aak Of the tree-toad and the hum
mo- of tha locuat NOT a aonn1 90