The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-10-12
4 REMARKABLE COUNTERFEIT.

There Is in existence a rem 4rkable
counterfeit OF the 1869 issue of tl,e 81.
900 Greeibacks. OF these. seven bi l.
lave been disco vered by the Secret
Service officers, but no clue has as yet
appear d 70 tie operators who made
them. These counterfeits are SO good,
that in one instance when one of these
bills was az the office of Redemption
ia Washington, it came within an ace
of passing as genuine. Speculation is
rite, as to who the engraver eau be. It
is evident that he is u man of higher
talent than any one now in the Gov
ernment employ, for he has succPed-d,
without the aid of the perfected pro-
cesees of the Government, in making
so perfect a copy of the bill as to de-
ceive ali the experts not specially warn
ed with reg ard 70 il. Whoevtr this
person il. he seems well Informed of
the movements of the Treasury. Re
CT ntiy this Department sent warning
circular abroad describing the weak
points of the bill. Among those stat
ed was the fact, that the flourish at
the end of Mr. Chitrenden's name was
larger than the original, . and that il
had the appaa.ance of a serpent's head.
Sb -rtIy after this the fifth bill which
wss discovered at Chicago, made its
sppaarance. when it was found, that
the flourish had been picked out to
conform to the original. TIE un-
known engraver is better workman
than the fauous Tom Ballard, now III
the penitentiary at Al any for the pro
duction of the $500 note that was re
caived at the Sub-Trea- -ury Office OF
New York. The indications are, thar
he works without associates, Issuing
only one bill AT time; that bis social
standing is good. as his means OF get
ting these into circulation must be by
mediums above suspicion. and IN this
way is battling every attempt 70 obtain
q clue TO him from his respectable as
so 'iates. This is regarded as one of
the most Difficult cases ever undertak
en- by the Government service. The
history of each of these bills is remark
able. The statement of the Treasury
Department is that he one frs, passed
is traced TO Springfield. ILL.,, where it
was offered and taken by one of the
banks from customer. The man who
offered it was able TO show, after the
bill was found to be bogus, that he had
received it from a bank in Lexington,
Kentucky, and as this Kentucky bank
could not tell where it got it, it had to
suffer the loss The first three of these
bills fnunn to be bogus. were discover
ed through St. i uis courtezan. who
took them from the clothes OF visi-
tor, whom she robbed IN the night
She supposed they were ouly sl00 bills.
and the next dsy she sent out three
negroes TO get them changed. Two of
these went to the Custom House and
also to the Sub Treasury, but discov
ering the denomination Of the bills.
they we're afraid TO offer them without
a question. and prevented them re-
que-ting to know if The bills were good
This matter soon p s--d into the
of a Secret Service agent.
who obtained the bills AID placed them
ia the hands of an exorTt who pro
nouuced them counterfeit The wo
man did not know the name of the
man she robbed, and that he never ap
oeafed to make complaint, shows tina
he was well aware of rhe character of
the money stolen from him. Th-. IF b
bill capfur d was received from Chico
20. willie the two others were found at
the Sub b-Trpasary az New York. The
three last discoveries are Re- cent.