The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-01-02
COUNTERFEIT MONEY.
Paper Money Easily Countcrfcitcd and
Easily Detected.

When the cxigeucics Of the war caus.
cd the old State banhs 10 gv out of skis
tencc and the new notes of the national
banks and the grcenbacks took their
place, q general relief was experienced
by the absence of counterfeit, spurious,
! and altered notes. The forms Of fraudu.
lent money had become so numerous that
the counterfeit detcctor had got to be
| almost rs large rs the family Bible. A
| long period elapsed after the issue of the
new notes before the countericits made
| their appearance, and 50 great WAS the
/ rclcI IN this respect that the new notes
found few opponents.
But the security against countcrfcits
WAS short l;.cd. The enormous quanti-
ties of each denomination of the new
issues proved al irresistible temptation
TO the cOunterlcitcrs, so that now the
annoyance from fraudulent notcs is al
most rs great rs it WAS during the issue
of the old State bank money This iS
signally illustrated by the growth Of the
counterfeit detcct0rs. For short time
these publications. almost went out Of cx-
istcncc, but lOw they are ilourishng, aud
present an appalling exhibit hf the cx-
tent of countcriciiing. In UndcrwOod's
Counterfeit Dc,ccior for December u
table appears showing that 562 different
kinds of counterfeit money nave been
received. Every State in the Union il
represented in this list, and so great have
been the numbers Of counterieits on some
banks that in some cases the issue has
been entirely called in and further issue
Of like denomination has been suppress.
cd. Some idea Of The cx,cnt oi these
countcriei:s may be obtained by the fact
that the same coun cr.cit is found in cir
cuIation in man places. Thus the
counterfeit fvcs on the Merchants Ma
tional Banl: Of New Bedford were sen,
TO the Bureau of Redemption from Iii
places. The counterfeit five, on the
Iiampdcn National Bank OF Wcs,iicld,
Mass, appeared 1T II places, including
places in Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota,
Iowa, Florida. Oregon, South Carolina.
Georgia, North Carolina. Virginia and
Mainc--in short, all over llin United
States. Under tie old State bank system
| c0untcricl's "crc somewhat circuniscrb-
ed in circulation, but mow they 60 uii-
suspected from one end Of the country
to the other. The similarity of 50 many
| good notes makes ii profitable for the
conntcrcitcrs to pay cnOrmOu. suns 20
procure one good plate, knowing that
| when once obtained they may use this
one plate, with but sii.ht alterations, for
many countrrlcits. The fortunate fact
that the countrrIcitcrs have omitted To
notice the slight variations in the gcnu-
inc nctcs-thc different styles of num-
bcrs and check ct,crs--las been the
principal means for the detection Of
often put on the name of United States
,,-I,,
Office "hen the note was issued.
Underwood publishes curious list Of
about $50 notes OF various denomna.
tions thut were stolen from banks before
they were signed by the bank officers
In such cnscs, tli, nnirs would be rrncer-
iy numbered, and would defy detection.
But, in the case of most counterfeit
notes, the chances of getting the right
numbers md check letters are very re-
mote. One method of detecting frali,lu-
lent United States notes is very simple. |
1t is rs follows:
United States notes are printed in |
sheets Of four No - of one denonina- |
sion on each sheet. Those notes are let. |
tered, respectively, in the nprcr and
lower corners dingonally opposite a. B,
g, and ID. Each United States note has
q distinct number, and the notes are al-
why's numbered in their order on the
sheets; thus n!l notes of letter A will be
!, or n number, which, if divided by 4, !
would leave remainder; Is, 2; G, 3, and
ID, 4, or the number will be divided by
four without Il remainder This test,
while not by any means certain, will en-
able any one to detect onc.lhird of the
countcrfcits in circulation. Any United
States note, upon which the number can
not be divided by four, without showing
the above result, is n counterfeit. Bear
in mind that all genuine notes with let
ters A and G. will have odd numbers,
and with Is and ID, even numbers"
If note will not stand this test, it |
should be rejected. Nevertheless, il is
possible that n note that would stand
the test may be counterfeit, But it is
hardly safe for any one 60 receive sus-
pectcd money without strict comparison
with the detailed description of known
counterfeits.-Nc,Uf York ,Sun.