Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-12-25

/ VISIT 20 IHE HOUSE or TON EALLAsp At
EUFFALo-A QUEER 'MANUTACroRY-wHAT
WAS SEEN AND LEARNED n TIE WORKSHOP
OF AN INGENIOUS RNAyE.
From the Ere Pa Despatch.
ApIopo- 20 the articles recently published
win reference TO c0unter.eiterS in general.
/ in which -pccigl mention is made Of the no.
t0rious Ton Ballard. any one who has seen
/ tho h11iiwork Of that master Of counter
/ ieIte7s, and visited bis workshop. could
/ easily perceive Why Assistant Chief ;. b.
/ Benson places crc1eucs in Tom BahardS
assertion that he has IL his possession Sc
/ crct of pepor-raking and printing that
/ would make countcrteitinE an impOssibili-
/ ty. lis home on Henry street. BuHIlO.
/ quiet and unpreteniing as it was in outer
/ appearance, was the laboratory OK a man
/ who could teach professors of chemistry
/ rev facts relative 10 anything in which hat
! science could be used t. AID his rasc;Illy art
J The diiapidated barn IN the rear OF the
/ house was the repository Of powerful ei9c-
/ tric batteries. none the less potent
( because they were not constructed accord
I ing 70 reyule ticrs. To nave purchased
glass lrs of sufficient size might have
created suspic ion, and 50 strongly hOOped
/ ha.;-baTrc. ale casks were substituted, ami
big open-mOu thed stone iars. such as house
i
were used, nd only chemist could guess
Al the conte ats. In touching q jar. one of
the exploring party had a few drops Oi the
c0lorless iQuI1-lOokIn. ike clear water
/ sprlnl.lcG on hIs coat, and 10 every SpO,
turned the cloth beautiful! crimson. The
visitors were glad u give This parapherna-
liza OF tie c0unterieiters good letting alone
! stick stirred us from the bottom OF one
OF these Jars lot of counterfeit electrotype
plates, which were partially eaten away.
I The house was his workshop and his
study. The windows were curtained with
white mlterial, and besides tine curtains
/ there were white screens that might be
I placed before them. Upon the table near
/ the centre pt the room was all the appara-
tCs nocossa ry for the engrayer, and here.
| when inter ruDted through the lnyestiga-
tion comm ,ncad by 5. Is. Benson, and 50
/ ably carried forward by his assistant. chi
/ bert K. Perkins, Tom Ballard was al work
/ ON the plate that was to have " bankrupted
/ Canada" " We saw the partly finished Plate
of the finest steel-under magnIiyinS
/ GAS, and comparison of 1t with other
/ plates from which cOunterieits have oeen
/ successfully printed leads US to believe that
/ Toms expression vas no idle boast, as IN
appelrar &C the others were 40 more to be
compared TO it in tineneSs OF execution than
an or1inary woOd-cut is to a fine steel Gu
craving. In this room, besides the cOun-
terieit plates, were the inks and dyes and
namclsss preparations in little gas bottles.
the uses Of which could only be guessed at
| Pieces IF chemically treated paper, which
to the feel could not be distinguished from
the nat j0nal bank currency, were 7lng
about. and here and there II rough proof
where tests had heel made of cOiors or IN
stamp ng. One bit bore several impresSlo ns
D. r.af
upon the scientifically prepared paper, v Is
- ex ac. that We could no, distinguish the
diff renee between them ami the genuine
The table was covered with books, treatises
on practical chemistry and metallurgy, eiec-
tri ;i:y. paper-,nakiug and photography
pT dominating. Catalogues oil books OF
ch emistry were there tnslOn OF metals ana
b loks of recDes, some of modern days ana
] ONE IN the inspection of which an anti
quar.an would have revele1. It was easy
to see that Ballard had applied himself par
ticularly to those branches ct chemistry
hch related 70 cOloring. ciectro-plating
. nd paper-making. There was little or
nothing IN the room that would distinguish
it from the sitting room OF a weil-to-do
mechanic. except in the exclusiv ely scienti-
fc character of the books and pc pers. Be
sides these rooms there were co uple OF or
binary sleeping rooms (Ben. L allard, his
| reputed wife. and an old wOma were the
other occupants), and a kitchen and wood
shed, but the counterfeiter's bI siness and
materials seemed to be confined 20 the two
rooms specified and to tb attic, which was
the printing departmer !.
There was no stairws Y to the attIc-slm-
ely scuttle-holc VIII. '.ch could be reached
by short ladder-aI ID mere the hoOr thai
was laid over the jo ,sts came against th'
rafteIs OF the roof either side. leaving
space ike an invert ed ! in which the oper
ators might work. Here the printing
press, and here we re the different eolore'
inks, prepared aDt tested in the laboratory
below Only under the centre u the roo
could man stand upright, and the Igh
from the single little window IN The gabl
end was dim, nd yet the amount .ot spuri
ous money issued from that press prove,
that it must hT We been used pretty hthiul
iy. An ''arti st proof Of the ba, * OF
fye-dollar note was among the rtlcie
found among .hc litter there, and coun
terfeit proof being a rarity-hovever pier
tiful counterf sits may bc-it is now IL ID
museum of CT .ricsities in this city. An 'on
the odds aud ends picked up was piet
something hat looked like mixture
putty and wi *, bronzed over aad beari
the figures - TO-" By ca reless handling
became bent.. but it was 'leverth eless hand
ed to Ballard (while his hearing before tn
United Stat IS commission, n was o progress
for explana tion as to it. uses. his mr.:
glance no ted the defect. and he SAID
= Why. you've spoiled it. When you iour
that it wa ready to have lad ju st as nice
$40 media lion (the figure aind be rider N 81