, 1876-07-09
THE SECRET SERVICE.
it's EaYtv Career under Col. w. z.
Wood,
Wnitlcy's Administration --- Its
Results and Difficulties.
Col. Washburn's Adyent---His Qualifce-
tions for the Position.
The New Policy OF No Com
promise with Crin1i-
nails"

The Ne" fO1lEy GA 1No |O111-
promise with Crir11i-
nails"
Practical Breaking Up Of the Counter
feiting Business III this
Country.
Although the Secret Service Of the United
States has reached the highest degree OF cfli-
ctcncy under the present Chief, Elmer Wash
hurn, the Bureau Is Of recent origin, and its or
gau.zatton was compelled hy the quantity Of
counterfeit money with which the country was
flooded during and after the War. In 1865, Sec
rotary h1cCplloch appointed William, I. Wood,
who had been Superintendent of the old Capitol
Prison In Washington. to be Chief OF the dc
tccttyc force OF the Treasury Department, unucr
the direction Of the Solicitor Of the Treasury.
The specific work assigned Wood and Ills assist
ants was to detect aud procure the punish
mcnt Of persons engaged fn counterfeit
ing United States securities. Wood had
already become somewhat fu1niliar with the
duties, having acted under Assistant Sccrc~
tary Of War Dana, and In 1864 had discovered
and broken up gang OF coInferftiters who
were doing considerable mischief BY making
and circulating bogus notes Mr.: Wood CT
pended considerable time and diligence In col
lecting Information rcganliny the operations
then going on In various parts of the country,
and found thirteen persons earning livelihood
hY cpuutcrfcitiug In Ncw York, tliirty-thrce In
Pennsylvania, three tn Delaware, eight In Ken
lucky, tfrc, In -Tcnncsseu, forty~onc IN Ohio,
thirty-one In Indiana, two ln Michigan, twenty
seven In Illinois, hfty-two In Missouri, five lu
Iowa,-an all Two hundred ant1 twrnty-usp.
DURING THE Foun YEARS OF WOODS SERVICE
he arrested about one thousand persons, Of
whom about thrca hundred were convicted or
confessed and went tt the Pcnitcntfary. He
captured ss0o,nD In spurious notes and bonds
Que hundred sets Of plates, and thirty sets Of
dies for making cUfn.
Wood WAS saccc,lcd By Il. C. Whitley. whose
name IS still familiar In connection With the cx-
posures OF the safe-burglary operation III WASH
lugton, the Davenport Investigation by Gaui-
fields Committee. aud tho Dabcock cu1nI'!tea-
tinne. Whitley devoted himself with lntcllf-
..c,,cc a,ni zeal to the breaktng-np OF counter
fcittng, which was constantly increasing. His
tnctllDtI, like WpD1's, was to tusluc. Ac<UMpliccS
to turn Statc's evidence. with the expectation
Of immunity. and he found convictions difficult,
even where the testimony was perfectly clear,
on ac.uunt Of tho suspicious which 1urics enter
tanned ton'2Td the Government Witnesses, md
the rulings Of Judges: while the Hight sentences
imposed did little towari striking tcrT.'r into
the nun1crnus ciiqucs who were carrring on
their dangerous traffic with considerable i'm
puntty-
ONE FAMOUS TRIAL,
which took place in New York something over
three years :sc Is st:ll we'll remembered, bDth
On uct1,.ni nj the startliug features wlfcl, were
lvsd s"1:,E; It's 1r"sress ana 1as:,o ths c'n'or t,
Coar:. Oh t'sc night Of Oct. 3, 1871. Henry
& Colo, .,s,-acr for ceuntertctt:Eg, went
to the house Of Iosl,11a u. Mt,ur, believed to
accordance with plan formed t'y Whitley, to
purchase OF him q set Of counterfeit plntts for
$1,5D Thrru Secret ecrstco officers followed
Cole, who emerged with Miner from Miners
house Miner 1eff Cole and walked aeross the
sst sssr to and nee. sasrartn one OF b'ss t oss t;
5ssssa a ssx1ea them to do3e In tne @ ae, Of n aeiv
ering them and receiving the money. Miner vas
arrested the t1rco officers llavtng witnessed the
countcrfcIter, and had served a sentence in
Ohio. Whitley had personal knowledge OF his
Is professional" !" character, and had received
Miners confession mere than year previously.
The defense SGT up the theory that It Was con
spisacy by Cole and the Government officers to
ruin an innoccat man n,-and the Cuurt, Judge
Benedict, United States Ciscuit- New York City,
instructed the jury that the tin: testimony Of
detectives rs class WIS to he cautiously sc1n-
ttnlzcd; that their business compelled them to
live life ef deceit; that they were necessarily
engaged in manufacturing theories and invent
inJ hypothcscs; and that their evidence on tie
stand wae not entitled to the same weight as
that of other mvn not similarly engaged. How
cycr partisan tll. view, and however unjust to
many OF the men thus engaged it had decisive
effect upon the Jury, and Miner was acquitted,
the record Of the trial showing the most as
founding perjury on ont side or the other.
Whitley wrote pamphlet regarding t],c case,
in which he puncturei Judge Benedtct's judicial
prctcnscs, and demonstrated that the perjury
was not on the si1c Of the Government 60 far
Us the officers were concerned, to whom all t9,e
parties implicated were strangers, and who were
not entitled to any compensation or fees for ar
would receive II they foilcd in either or both.
WHITLEY DEFENDED HIS Foley
with considerable forrc. lie said:
The use Of couute1feiters against their cnnfci-
craes I'M certain way is atysolute1y necessary for
the purposes Of detection It a selling the guns of
the enemy and turning them nsainst himself: and
long experience has demonstrated the fact that
spy IN the camp, or defective confederate fa nor
than all the other machinery Of detection combined.
II is Impossible to dctec: leading counter:ctters
without the uso, as entering Wcdgp, Of men tar
nshcd with the same crime III lesser degree, az
none others can 20 fully have the c0nNdcncc Of The
The criminal who has had dozen illegal trnns-
actions With his confederate enters uron the t],i.
tecnth with tho same good fifth which cliaTacfcr-
lied the previous twr}ve, and finds himself within
the ncshc: OF the law through the detection Of the
party will, whom lsc has bt~en dealing. Is thte
wrong dune to the criminal ora right done to So
cieiy?
This mode Of detection has received the sanction
Of the most cn1:.,cnt lurtsts OF the country and
hence the we'll settled rule OF evidence that, lscrp
the necessities Of the case co1iel the of the
accontpiics Witness suCfl q course is jnettdcd
the ground tut it would bc impossible to bring
The principal odcnder to 5uHtfce without him; and
general rule III relation to connterfc1ting, the
Testimony OF III accompfice, co1Tuhorated BIZ the
detectives is the very best OF which the case Ia i8
nature is susceptible, and can ece nothing in the
profcteion ct the true detective that can. In any
degree, hac hs testimony against the criminal
Untt1 the tire OF his retirement, Sept. 30,
1871, Whitley made 1,2O arrests. one-half Of
which resulted in pcnitentary sentences. He
recovered $7uU, 600 in counterfeit money, eighty
sets OF plates, and twenty-five sets OF dies.
It was extremely difficult, however, If not
Impossible, IN most cases, TO conyict upon ac-
complies testimony, when immunity mas to
follow the evidence far the State; and when the
present Chief, Elmer Washburn, accepted the
post rear and I half ago, he resolved to COLI
duct tue Bureau upon
ARADsCALLr DIFFERENT rLAN,
OF witch the dominant principle should be that
10 guilty man should escape, no mattcr what
course he chose to pursue after being found
ost Washburn had been Warden of the ILL.,