St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-08-22
Bristol Bill and His Exploits.

Mr.. Richardson in one of his letters
home, thus refers to matter which
caused great excitement in this county
at the time:
The only great excitement l ever
heard of in Groton was the magnificent
counterfeit money scheme that WAS or
gained for this location i'll 1913. 1t
was the biggest thing of the sort | ever
heard of-would have been worthy of
much larger place-WaShingtOn for
instance. For some good reasons,
cannot relate the minute details of the
affair, but it will do in the rough.
"Bristol Bill was one of the most
notorious burglars that England ever
produced, and he came over to curse
America. Christian Meadows was Il
most ingenious banknOte engraver, in
the employ of the American Banknotc
Engraving Co., of Boston. Ephraim
Low was Groton merchant, none too
honest. Low had somewhere fallen in
with Bristol Bill, and Meadows was
induced to leave his employers after
first stealing some thirty or forty gen
uime bank note dies. which he was sue
cessful i'll getting away with. Now
these dies were the genuine engraving
of the principal features of a large share
of the bauknotc circulation of the cOUn
try. Bank bills made from them would
he in Il mechanical sense. strictly gen
uine. except as to the usual autograph
signatures of the bank officers. In the
possession of dishonest men they were
the most dangerous agents imaginable
t,, th. financial ,.nn1iti,,,, - tb.
try. Public safety in money matters.
and the reputation of the engraving
company. as well. demanded the appre-
henSion of the theft and the recovery
of the stolen dies. Energetic steps
were ut once taken to that effect. The
police authorities of the entire country
were notified. large rewards offered.
and sharp scented detectives had their
sharp eyes and sharp wits constantly at
work. To write up the history of the
affair in detail-the search of wears. the
arrest, the dcHOHemeHt. and the trial
would require the space of il large vol
ume. Bristol Bill and Meadows were
hunted down. They were found with
their several accOmpliceS in and near
this village in the winter of lSl9-iO.
the dies recovered. likewise heavy
transfer press used by engravers to i'm
print the engraving on the round dies
upon plates of soft stuff from which the
bank notes are printed. also a bank |
note printing press, together with plates
ready for the press: likewise Il large |
account of burglars tools of every de |
Scription. That these counterfciters |
might issue money with genuine sigma
lures as well as mechanically genuine
printing, they had secured from the |
bank at Danville a package of one
thousand dollars in one dollar bills. By |
1 process known to these experts in vii
Amy the denOminational engraving to
be removed by chemical process. and
higher denominational value printed in .
transforming the genuine one
dollar note into Il ten, Il fifty, Il
or any other figure that suited.
Upon the market, and scarcely in the
hands of the signcrs of these bills, could
he fraud he detected. The paper, the
printing. the signatures would he gen
nine: the one dollar bill mentioned had
never been in circulation-hence no
difference in printing could he d3tcct-
ed. But just in the nick of time, be-
fore any bill had been raised or any
printing done. the parties were all ar
rested and imprisoned. Two accom-
plices, then residents of this place. but /
whose names | have omitted. turned .
states cvidcnce-thc whole affair from
to end was brought to light
how the game had been worked up,
how the dies had been shipped to Lows
store in axe boxes, how the transfer and
printing paraphernalia had been SNUG
gled into town 10y various ways. how
the new building opposite to Lows
store, with Il deep sub-cellar and under
ground culvert to the cellar of Lows
store had been nearly completed for a
den; how one party and
another had been roped in for various
the whole matter of form
ar suspicious fully explained. Bill and
Meadows went to the penitentiary for
ong terms Low died in Danville Just
before trial; one of the state witnesses
5 dead the other is still living. 1t
vas an incident in the annals of crime
hat will never he forgotten in GrotOn-
me that is rarely ever mentioned with
'ut sdudder of thrilling interest.