Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1876-09-30

ganization, in 1875, I obtained an Office
of distinction, but already in 1876 ]
publicly and solemnly declared that,
as soon as it became as corrupt as the
Democratic party was at that time, !
would fight against it with the same
energy with which I fought its oppo-
COUNTERFEIT NOTES OF THE BANK OF
| ENGLAND.
'How is 1t, asks some person in the
Query column of a Sunday paper, "that
the Bank of England notes are never
counterfaited? In comparison with our
gorgeous bank-bills they are simplic-
ity ITSELF" The question and state
ment both imply misapprehension.
Bank of England notes are counterfeited
have been counterfeited ever since
they began to be used; and, in the nu-
merical proportions of the two, are as
often successfully counterfeited as our
own bank-notes. In spite of every pre-
caution of the Bank of England; of the
manufacture of its own paper within
the walls of the great building; of the
printing, water-lining, numbering, reg
istering, marking, signing aud counter
signing under the vigilant eyes of ever
present officials; in spite of the most
perfect machinery, peculiar ink, precise
cutting, methodical adjustment of parts
OF every note to its whole, lettering, pri-
vate indenting, stamping, and impress
ing,-tbe public is continually defraud-
ed by counterfeits. Nothing shows
this more certainly than the common
English custom, we'll known, of the hold
er of bank-note indorsing his name on
it's back. AS to tie simplicity of the
stiff Bank Of England notes when COM
pared with our own flexible bank-bills,
1 submit that the question admits of
two opinions. I class the former with
the lumpering wheels of English We
hicles, the ponderous carriages on Eng
lish railways, the cramped accommoda-
tions on English river and channel
steamboats,, the cumbrous make of Eng
lish harness, the droning responses of
English parish clerks, and the terrible
dullness of English sermons.
The day on which forged note was
first presented at the Bank of England
forms an era in its history. 1t was in
1853, and from that day until now, dur
ing this period of one hundred and ff-
teen years, there has passed no decade
in which more than $50, 900 have not
been refused payment at the bank on
the plea of forgery. Sometimes the
amount greatly exceeds this. In the
first ten years of the present century
it rose to 9101 ,661, and from 1850 to
1860, 978,44 were stamped "forged"
at the bank counter. In fact, the losses
occurring to that institution from forged
notes are, and always have been, COM
mensurate with the greatness of it's
transactions. Some of the more curious
of these forgeries are perhaps worth
narrating.
John Mathison was q man of great
mechanical capacity, who, becoming ac-
quainted with an engraver, unhappily
acquired that art which ultimately
proved his ruin. A yet more danger
GUS qualification was his of initiating
signatures with inconceivable accuracy.
Tempted by the hope of sudden wealth,
his first forgeries were the notes of a
country bank. Scorning, however, to
confne his talents within so narrow
bounds, he came up to London, and in
less than one month had engraved, fab
ricated, forged, printed, and negoti-
ated several twenty-pound notes of the
Bank of England. When he had made
a sufficient number, he travelled from
one end of the kingdom to the other,
disposing Of them. Having been in
the habit of procuring notes from the
bank-the more accurately to copy
them-he CHANGED to be there when q
clerk from the excise Office paid in sew
en- thousand guineas in gold, one of
which was scrupled. Mattison, from
a distance, said it was good one.
Then" said the bank clerk, on the
trial, L" recollected him." The fire.
quent visits of Mattison, who was very
incautious, together with other circum-
stances created a suspicion that he
might be connected with forged notes
that were being continually presented.
One day he was detained, taken to the
bank-parlor, and confronted with the
directors. To every question put to
him, he had but solitary answer.
"I decline to reply. I know not
how I came into this world, nor how I
shall go out OF it."
Sir John Fielding then. read de-
scription of his (Mathison's) appearance
from q country newspaper, when the
fellow broke down Immediately, and
confessed. He offered to explain the
secret of his discovery of the water
mark; provided his life were spared;
but his proposal was rejected, and he
paid the penalty of his crime.
Some nine years ago, Solomon Ba.
con, well-known merchant in London,
received letter from his correspondent
in Hamburg, which grieved and troubled
him. It stated that the writer had
been defrauded by his nephew, son of
widowed sister, of 910, 1000, and had
fled to London with the money. There
was reluctance to make the matter
public, and Mr.. Bacon was desired to
keep silence; "but," the letter went on
to say, if you would invite John to
dinner, and, when alone, tax him with
the crime, he might, perhaps refund
the money. Should he do so, you may
give him $780," The London mer-
chant found the young German, took
him home, and, when the ladies had
withdrawn from the dinner table, he
acquainted his visitor with his knowl-
edge of the fraud. Alarm was depicted
on the countenance of his guest.
You will not make this public, MIR.
Bacon ?" he asked.
Not if you return me the money
now and here"
"But ] lost FL 900 last night at
Crockford,s and haua not the no,uor -