Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1875-09-09
The Romance of Crime.
Some Interesting Facts about
COunterfeiting and Counterfeit
ers-Sharp Work of the Detect

COunterfeiting and Counterfeit
ers-Sharp Work of the Detect
} ives.
Correspondence Of the Chicago Times.
st. Lonis, August An the
I war excitement the counterfeitere
found their opportunity, and from
ocean to ocean they flooded the
country with "queer" Of the easily.
initiated currency of the State
banks and private scrip. The
first issue Of "demand notes" was
hasty, and the engraving exceed
ing simple and crude, compared
with the Treasury or national
bank note of to day. These notes
were susceptible Of speedy coun-
terfeiting The Treasury Depart
ment had .hen developed none of
the ingenious and costly devices
in paper, printing, or engraving
which now exist to thwart the
maker of "queer" The shinplas-
ters disappeared like snow of a
spring morning before the green
backs, and the "coney" mems oc-
cupation was not gone, but chang
ed. Once counterfeiter always
a counterfeiter. S., when Chase's
qreenbacks appeared there was a
hasty convention of the most dan
gerous counterfeiting strength in
the country to grapl le with the
new financial problem, The rem
devious was St. Louis. the home
of Biebush, Wookey, Slcight, DR.,
Parker, and the frequent retreat
of Nelson Dwiggs, Pete Mozart
ney, and his brother in-law Ben
Bond, Matt Hathaway and Jim
Casey, all of whom Are known to
the Secret Service as the LADDERS,
past and present, OF "queer" man.
ufacture and "shovlng" in the
States. Had these men, nearly
all of whom were directly or indi-e
rectly in the plot, escaped d. tee.
ton a month longer, half Il mil
lion in spurious greenbacks would
have been thrown Hpon tHe coun
try, followed by more Of the same
as fast as the press could work
them. What the effect would
have been at that critical period
in blighting and gradually decreas
ing puSlic conf lence and deprecia-
ting the new national currency
may be imagined. The spurious
issue, so far as it was comp'et, I'd
when the plot was thwarted,
would have defed detection.
THE CAPTURE OF THE GANG
constituted an unusually fine piece
of detective work, and was re
markable for the fact that it was
accomplished clean and complete
without the questionable aid of
a spotter, and without amy assist
ance from the Government. st.
Louis, in its disturbed and contin-
ually shifting population of the
earlier months of the war, consti-
tuted an excellent hiding place
for criminals of all classes, and
was the favorite rendezvous of
countelfeiters. Ilarrigan, the
present Chief of Police here, and |
Eagan, who afterward became IA
nous for his two captures and safe |
delivery to Jail of the notorious
Pete Mccartney, were the detect
ives 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
Harry Walker, alias Charley Hill,
was supposed to be hiding in ST.
Louis, and that $4,000 in ad-
nirably initiated ones on the Terre
Haute Branch of the Indiana
State Bank had just been "shov-
I'd" Hill and Scotchman NAM
ID Ritchie were the
TWO LEADING ENGRAvERS
IF counterfeit plates in those days,
and were recognized all over the
as such. The founders
IF the American Bank Note Com
oany had for several years a stand
ng offer of 5000 for the capture
IF Hill.
The presence of this dangerous
nan in St. Louis was news to Ea-
5an. The last that tie st. Louis
detectives had heard of Hill was
lis sudden departure from Non.
zoe, Wis, where he had been en-
jagged during part of the winter of
1872 making a plate on the Wis
,onsin State Bank for "Bone" Lat
"a, a noted "Coney" dealer of the
Northwest. Hill, the story ran as
t came to the detectives, had made
he plate, received $500 for it,
hen stolen it from Latta and run
Iway.
When Eagan got back to St.
louis he reported his news to
he Chief of Police, and he and