The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-08-19
THE ROMANCE OF CRIME.
Some Interesting Facts about Counter
feiting and COunterfeiters - sharp
Work of the Detectives.

Some Interesting Facts about Counter
! feitfng and COunterfeiters - SHARP
/ Work of the Detectives.
/ correspondence Of the Chicago Times.
ST. LOUIS, August Ain the war ex
element tue counterfeiters found their op
portunity, and from ocean 10 ocean they
flooded the country with 'queer" of the
easily-imitated currency of the State banks
and private scrip. The first issue of "de-
mand notes" was hasty, and the engrav-
| ing exceeding simple and crude, compared
with the Treasury or national bark note
of to-day. These notes were susceptible OF
| speedy cOunterfeting. The Treasury De
partment had then developed none of the
| ingenious and costly devices in paper,
printing, or engraving which now exist to
| thwart the maker of queer" The shin
| plasters disappeared like snow of spring
morning before the greenbacks, and the
cOney" mems occupation was not gone,
/ but changed. Once cOunterteiter always
n cOunterfeiter. So, when Chase's green
backs appeared there was hasty conven
ton of the most dangerous counterfeiting
strength in the country to grapple with
the new financial problem. The rendez-
vOus was St Ouis, the home of Biebush,
| WOOkey, Sleight. DIR. Parker. and the fire.
quent retreat of Nelson Dwiggs, Pete Nc
Cartney. and his brother-in-law Ben Bond,
Matt Hathaway and Jim Casey, all OF
whom are known to the Secret Service as
the leaders, past and present, of ''queer'
manufacture and " showing" in the States.
| Had these men, nearly all of whom were
directly or indirectly in the plot, escaped
detection a month longer, half million in
spurious greenbackS would have been
Lei, . b., foll rraFh hx-
more of the same as fast as the press could
work them. What the effect would have
been at that critical period in blighting
the gradually increasing public conf
dence and depreciatlng the new national
currency may be imagined. The spurious
issue, so far as it was completed when the
plot was thwarted, would have detied de-
lection.
THE CAPTURE OF THE GANG
constituted an unusual Y fine piece of de-
tecIive work, and was remarkable for the
fact that it was accomplished clean and
complete without the questionable aid of
a spOtter, and without any assistance from
the Government. St. Louis, in its dis
turbed and continually shifting pOpula-
ton ofthe earlier months of the war, con-
stituted an excellent hiding place for
criminals of all classes, and was the favor
ite rendezvous of counterfeiters. Harri-
gan, the present Chief of Police here, and
Eagan, who afterward became famous for
his two captures and safe delivery to jail
of the notorious Pete Mccartney, were
| the detectives on the st. Louis force. In
the spring of 1862, on his way home from
the East with a fOrger, Eagan learned in
Cleveland that Harvey Walker, alias Char
| ley Hill, was supposed TO be hiding in st.
LOUIS, and that $40 1000 in admirably imi-
lated ones on the Terre Haute Branch OF
| the Indiana State Bank had just been
showed" Hill and Scotchman named
Ritchie were the
TWO LEADING ENGRAVERS
of counterfeit plates in those days, and
were recognized all over the country as
such. The founders of the American
Bank Nete Company had for several years
standing offer of $4,000 for the capture
of Hill.
The presence Of this dangerous man in
| st. Louis was news to Eagan. The last
| that the St. Louis detectives had heard OF
| Hill was his sudden departure from Mon
roe, Wis, where he had been engaged
| during part of the winter o. 1872 making
plate on the Wisconsin State Bank foI
Bone" LaLta, a noted ''COney" dealer
OF the Northwest. Hill, the story ran as
it came to the detectives, had made the
plate, received $500 for it, then stolen it
| from Latia a and run away.
When Eagan got back to st. Louis he
reported his news TO the Chief of Police,
and he and Harrigan at once set to work
to look for Hid. There was no good
description of the man. He was known
personally Only to the four or five men for
whom he made and worked the plates.
The most of those dealing in the "queer
| knew him only by reputation, and could
tell nothing of his appearance 1t was his
custom to stop in a place tHy until he
could finish a job and then slip away,
| leaving no trail, not even to the men with
whom he had been working. However,
the detective felt confident of the infOrma-
ton that Hill was in the city, and there
was nothing to do but TO look for blind
trail and follow it up. They set about
dOgging and shadOwing two or three men
suspected of showing counterfeit money In
a small way. A week or two CT this kind
of work revealed a suspicious circum-
stance. IT, was discovered that a young
man named
GEORGE wOOKEY
was on familiar terms with the showers
Wookey was a new one to the st. Louis
tluCGISs lIC uhu UCCL iAl tllC NilJ Ollly q
few weeks. Tracing up his anteeedents
it was learned that he had formerly kept a
clearinghouse in Kansas City, but, break
ing up that, he had come down to St
Louis with his wife, Kansas girl of mag
niticent personal appearance, and Was
| living in good style at No. l Targee Street,
the two occupying gOod-sized residence
entirely alone, and WOokey apparently
having little to do beyond loafiug about
town with the boys and keeping himself
posted 1t was determined to put watch
on the place.
Targee Street is short and narrow anC
opens out upon Market street, between
Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets. On
Market Street, facing Targee, in those
days, was marble-yard, and in this Har-
rigan and a companion
COMMENCED THEIR vIGILs.
All day they were obliged TO lie stretched
out upon the ground, peeping through the
cracks in the fence. At night, by turns
they would come down town for supplies
| The supposition had been formed thai
WOokey's house was the receptacle for the
g queer" " as it came from the engraver anC
printer, and a distributing point to tht
''shOvers." The detectives had "shad
owed" =" the house ten days, and had no
made a point except the confirmation
which long reflection brought, that ther,
was something wrong. Nobody appeared
to go in and out except WOOkey, and ht
always seemed to look about him guard
edly every time he passed in and out. A
Sunday evening came, and Harrigan haC
been down town. About 10 O'Clock ht
was on his way up Market, and, in reck
less mood. stopped under gas lamp anC
stood looking down Targee. He haC
hardly come to halt when WOokey, t
whom Harrigan was known by sight, cam'
hastily oat of the house and to the corner
At Wookey's first appearance in the door
the detective, lying behind the fence, haC
coughed, warningly. Harrigan, however
saw that he was gone, and it would be use
less to try to escape recognition. HestoO'
still while the muttered curses of his part
ner fell on his ear, until Wookey reached
the corner, and then sprang across tn
street, clapped his hand on the man.
shoulder, and told him, in low voice, t
come along. AS they moved. the officer