Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1879-11-12

aolf,
Rugg looked al the notes and replied
"Yes, indeed. they are all good,
while he hal noticed at q glance that
they were all new eoanterfeits Of the
kind most recently put into circul'
alton,
ut Il curious said Sam, ~ have
carried that stick more than twenty
years, II belonged once 70 my father
who II dead, and never In my liie
knew that the head would unscrew.
"Twenty years" stammercd Ragg,
"and you have had II all the time =
"Yes-it has never been ont Of my
possession,
ut seems to me-" remarked Rugg,
still ftigning drunkuess. shat your
notes were not printed at that time =
That was delicate question but
Sam went on as if he did not hear Il,
and when no had gathered together
all his notes, he said, "you wanted to
60 and buy something in the store ;
lot us 60 and do it, and then we will
move along together"
80 We will,' said Rugg, making
an effort to stand on his legs.
So they went TO the store. When
they had entered, Rugs asked the
store kecped whether the old man had
bought any calico OF him.
ayes about anohour ago." answered
the storekeepcr.
"And with what did he pay for it :
with this note" replied tho man,
showing Rugg the note he had receiv.
ed from Sam.
at is a bad one remarked Rugg,
quietly.
Bad cried Sam that is not possible.
Then will very soon take it back to
the place l received it from. | am an
old man and have not very good sight.
Is it not a shame to cheat an old man
like that p
Saying this he wiped the tears from
his eyes. Then he looked about his
pockets aud brought out ten good one
dollar bills, and laid them down ap-
parently very much enraged at being
cheated. He was on the point OF
going away, when Rugg who now
seemed to be sober again, asked
whether his money was all like this.
which to him seemed to closely resem.
hle that which he had in the stick,
to which Sam replied ; "Indeed | can
not say, for my eyes are very bad
"Now them" said Rugg, ''let us 60
over to the hotel and have somthing
to drink" to which Sam agreed, al
though he wished Rugg at Jericho.
Arriving at the hotel, Rugg called
tho landlord on one side and asked
for the ten dollar bill which Sam had
paid him. The'landlord gave 1t, and
Rugg at once said to him:
"Did that man give you this note 7"
eyes he is the man who gave it to
me-"
"How much did you give him in
change ?"
mime dollars and a half.'
In a moment Rugg took 4ame Sam
by the collar and began to search him.
First he found the publican's nine and
a half dollars, then his own ten dollar
bill for which Sam had given him the
two counterfeit FIVE dollar notes, aud
lastly he took $3.50 in counterfeit
notes from his stick.
"Whore did you get those from !"
asked Rugg, who was now perfectly
sober. l brought them from home, l
went to see my sick daughter. And
Sam was going into long explanation
but Rugg took off bis hat and false
beard and said: "That is played out.
I am a United States detective, and
you, you old rascal are now my prlso-
ner." And at these words he slipped
on the handouts, took him to
the railroad station, and soon brought
him to New York and before the
chief. After few words Of converse
ton, SaG, confessed he bought the
notes of man named Crosby, deal.
er in counterfeit money, and for years
he had been doing business by put
ting the notes into circulation in New
York and in the neighborhood OF New
Jersey and Maryland. Sam was pro-
secuted, he pleaded guilty and was
sent four years TO prison.