The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1884-04-02
THESECRETS ERVICE CORPS.
OPERATIONS OF OFFICIALS WHO
HUNT COUNTERFEITERs.
4 Book Which Contains the Histories
and Photographs Of 2,3OO Crihi-
inaIS-AnccdOtcS and CurtOsltlcS'

4 Book Which Contains the Histories
and Photographs of $500 Crime
inaIs-AnccdOtcS n CuriOsitics'
4 Washington correspondent of the
Boston 7iurcler visited the headquarters
of the Secret Service officials i'll the
United States treasury building. Mr..
Knight, one of the officials, said: "Thc
operations of the corps of secret service
| detectives extend all over the country.
There is not a city or hamlet in the
United States which is not liable to
receive Il visit from one or more OF the
forty men who are constantly on tho
watch to suppress the counterfcitlng OF
the coin and paper money. The move
mcnts OF our officers are, OF course, from
the very nature and danger of the work
in which they arc engaged, kept in the
s~trictcst secrecy. They wear no badge,
nor do they wei carry a document show
ing that they arc in any way connected
with the service. Oftcntimes months
and months are taken in the detection of
a single case. and when Il man has been
convicted of countcrfeiting, orof passing
counterfeit money, he never is out from
nnUtT llt IclCll vi O"l 'liS. l " ohc"
how successful We have been in suppress
inc countcrfcits, | can tell you that we
have not seen Il new issue of bad money
for over two years and u half. In that
safe which YOU sec there there are 81 ,O0O,-
600 in counterfeit money and about
5000, 600 in bad coin. This sample book,
in which you see pasted blnk and ma
tional notes, with the word ''bad'
punched out in each. contains S25, 600,
and we have here the histories and photo
graphs of $500 criminals, perhaps ten
per cent. of whom arc m William
l.. Brockway is the most notable person
in the collection. lie is called the liking
of countcrfcitcrs, and occupies the first
place in this album. Next to him are his
two pals, Doyle, who passed the money,
and Charles +. Smith, the most expert
cnrravcr of "crookcd" work in the coun.
try. In all their operations Brockway
furnished the money, laid out the plans,
and was the brains of the gang. Doyle
passed the ~"stutf," and Smith was the
%engraycr. Doyle is now serving a
twelve years sentence in the Illinois
State prison. Brockway was captured
some weeks ago on the charge Of II
tcrfciting some railroad bonds, samples
of which We have here in this office. and
Smith is living with his family in Brook
lyn, n. y. Smith engraved the
famous plate from which the
81, 600 scvcn-thTty bond Of the issue
of 1865 was printed. and $50, 900 worth
of it were actually redeemed ut the treas
ury department before it was discovered
to be Il counterfeit. The impression was
so good that the experts were unable to
determine whether the bonds were genuine
or counterfeit, and the matter was only
decided when the government issue bear
ing the duplicate numbers came back for
redemption. Smith also engraved what
is known as the Hamilton $50 grecnback,
and the 800 note on different banks,
which are the finest known Of these
series.
Several years age a very shrcwd dodge
was played by n of Smiths confcder-
atcs on X. II. White & Co., Of Boston.
4 woman entered their store and looked
at some very expensive shawls. Finally
she made up her mind 10 take one, and
rendered a 81, 900 bill in payment. The
clerk took the money to the cashier, who
sent it to the bank to find out whether
it was genuine or not. The answer came
that the bill was good beyond the shadow
of a doubt. Then the clerk said that
the shawl would be sent to the woman's
address, but she proceeded to get very
angry, and said that if they could not
take her money without question that she
would 90 elsewhere, and she tlounccd
out OF the store in great rage. About
an hour aftcrward she returned. and told
the clerk that she had visited several
other large firms, Int that she
had been unable to find a shawl
which suited her as we'll as the
one she left in their establishment.
She said she would take it with her, and
rendered a 81, 600 bill in payment. The
shawl was valued at 5000, and the woman
took it away with her, together with
$500 in change. The bill first rendered
was genuine, the second was a counter
felt, and the firm was just 81, 900 out of
pocket. Smith engraved the plate from
which this counterfeit note was printed,
and it was so nearly perfect that only Il
minute examination would have caused
detection. Smith also engraved the plate
from which the 81, 900 six per cent. bonds
were printed, but VIC captured the entire
issue on Doyle in Chicago, amounting i'll
all to $2O4, 600. a curious .hing about
his arrest by our detectives was the fact
that they took him, suspccting that he
1,,l Ihn old ,p,,ptnrfpIt S10n hills IN his
possession, when, imagine their surprise,
they found q new bond. 1t will be sew
cral years before We shall have to look
after Mr.. Doyle again.
Next to Smith, the best cngravcr Of
counterfeit money is Charles Clrich, who
served Il term of nine years in one of our
Northern prisons. He is now in Ger
many. George White is another expert
of note. He stands accredited with the
best counterfeit s. bank note ever issued
and but few people arc able to detect
them. The counterfeit IS on the
Merchants national bank Of New Bed
ford, Mass. Here is a picture of George
Albert Mason, a noted countcrfcitcr who
came from England to this country and
engaged in this business. He was ar
rested, tried, convicted and served nine
years in prison, but he is now at liberty
and has sued the government for $50, 600
for false imprisonment. His papers arc in
the hands of British Minister West, but
wouldn't care to gamble that he will re-
cover ANYTHING. NowI wish to call your
attention to two curious facts. Counter
fciting runs in families, and without cX-
ccption the men engaged in it are all
poor. For instance, take the Ballard
family. Thomas, Benjamin, George and
John, four brothers, all in our clutches,
together with an aunt. There is one
brother out of Jail, but we arc satisfied
that he is an honest man. Thomas Bal
lard is IA wonderful fellow. Hc is the
only person. 50 far as VIC know, who
has succeeded in initiating the fiber
paper upon which the genuine
notes and bonds arc printed. At present
he IS serving a thirty years sentence rs Il
reward for his discovery. lie is a chem
list of no ordinary attainmcnts. and he
invented a process by which he was able
to take Il genuine 50 or 81 bill, and COM
| plctcly rcmovc all the traces of ink from
its surface. Then, with Il counterfeit
plate of a higher denomination, he would
print upon the genuine paper, and thus
raise the note. Speaking about raising
notes, here is Il check on the Third
national bank of New York, which was
raised from $451 to SEQ, 0GS, and paid,
in 1876. The perpetrators worked of
with chemicals all that was written in
the check except the signature, and
regret to say that VIC have never been
able to discover who did it. Here are
three steel plates which were engraved
by Clrich for Il S. issue. The engraving
is done on soft steel, and when rom
plctcd the plate is hardened. TO give