Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-09-17

truly amazing. Indeed, We scarcely see
how the great public can be protected from
their almost superhuman ingenuity. On
this subject Mr.. Ashley, Of the sub-treas-
ury recently gave reporter of the New
York Times some valuable information
Referring to the practice of counterfeit
ing. MIR. Ashley remarked that there were
" filled coins of the denomination of twen-
ty dollars, and then added d" suppose
you don't know what filled coin Ii 2" On
receiving an affirmative response to his
query, Mr.. Ashley took from small draw
er double eagle, which, to all appearance
was perfectly genuine. The mlnutest ex-
animation of the surface and of the mliled
edge failed to disclose any marks of fraud
ulent manipulation the weight was cor
rect to the decimal of a grain, and when
struck on the counter the coin gave loud
clear ring, true as any which were taken
from neighboring pile of the genuine ar
tice. Nothing seemed wanting in this
skillful counterfeit but it was coulter
feit, neverthe less.
This is a filed coin," continued Mr..
Ashley, as be balanced it on the tips of his
fingers. The weight is correct, it appears
good, the acid test would fail on 1t, and
the sound is true. 1t Is one of the most
dangerous coun1erfeits ever made. Here
is another, cut through the center, to show
the filing. You Sec the inside of the CON
is filled with composition of platina.
To fill in this, the mlled edge is carefully
removed, the coin sliced into, and the in-
side of it pared away. leaving the two
faces intact An amount of the compost
tion of the same weight has been suostltu-
ted for the more valuable metal removed
and the several parts of the coin have been
skllfully joined together again; and none
but an expert can detect the signs OF the
work. From double eagle the amount
! of gold thus removed amounts to fo lrteen
dollars, SO you see man could make a
living If be only made one of these filled
COINS day"
In response to an inquiry how the fraud
ulent COINS we're detected, Mr.. Ashley
stated that there was clerk in the build
ing who could pick every one cut Of a heap
OF genuine coin as unerringy'' '' as mother
would pick her chldrn out of schoolful
of others. You shall see." be continued,
and, taking the f led piece. he placed it
edgewise among some forty or more pure
ones. Then laying the pile down, be call
ed from his place, some distance off, one of
the clerks, aud said: : " Mr.. Tandy. will
you p,ease separate the good from the bad
in these coins p The gentleman thus ad-
dres ed scrutnized the upturned edges OF
the coins, aud threw out the counterfeit IN
an instant. Mr.. Ashley then spread them
out on the counter and throughly mixed
them up. Again the counterfeit was de-
tected at glance. Twice the experiment
was made, and with the same result Some
one diverted Mr.. Tandy's attention for an
insta.t, and Mr.. Ashley quietly removed
the conterfet coin, and once more asked
the expert to search the mass. He did SO,
but was not deceived, though for moment
puzzled. He pronounced all the coins to
be genuine, and Mr.. Ashley triumphantly
threw down the counterfeit. Mr.. Tandy
could uot explain how he detected the false
pieces, farther that " they did not look
right )" and MIR. Ashley frankly confessed
he could not himself tell how it was done;
neither could he do it. Some of the flied
pieces were shown, which seemed absolute
ly perfect, particularly one five dollar
piece, which was pronounced a " marvel of
workmanship" To successfully fill coin
so small and thin as this, is naturally a
more difficult and delicate operation than
filling the thick and heavy douhle-eagles ;
bnt the perverse ingenuity of the counter
feiters is equal to 1t, and only the eye OF
SO skilltu an expert as the gentleman who
admiringly showed the coin to the reporter
Is competent to detect the fraud. Of course,
an assistant possessing such exceptional
skill is too valuable to be parted with. 1t
need scarcely be said that political changes
do not affect such as he. NJ Ashley
stated. however, that he had standing
offer of situation in one of the principal
banks at much higher salary than the
government paid-whIch was not munlf-
cent-and that he remained in the service
only because the sub treas .rer and be (Mr.
Ashley had personally agreed that his
salary should be the same as that offered
by the bank. 1t may be mentioned that
English sovereigns have been subjected to
the filling process, which the well-known
automatic weighing machine of the bank
Is totally useless to detect. The attention
OF the British authorities has doubtless
been called to this new fraud by this time,
and when the English detectives were over
here looking after the bank forgers, they
were shown several sovereigns which had
come to the sub treasury" filled" 1t was
a new revelation to the officers of the law,
and doubtless proved to be so to their en-
ployers.