The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1884-03-20
THE SECRET SERVICE.
headquarters in WashinHton-Ansodo
and Curdosit1eB.
n. o., Doa&o Tnnxx

On the floor of the treasury building
are the headquarters of the Secret Ser.
vice officers. I called there yesterday
afternoon and had an interesting chat
with Mr.. knight, a Massachusetts man,
by the way, and one of the most capa-
bic and efficient officials in the service.
He took me into small room, around
which were hung the trophies captured
from counterfeiters. In one corner was
an immense sectional "jimmy" used by
burglars, and near by small press
used in the printing of bank and Nation
al notes. Said he: "The operations OF
the corps of Secret Service detectives
extend all over the country.
"There is not city or hamlet in the
United States which is not liable to re-
ceive visit from one or more of the
forty men who are constantly on the
watch to suppress the counterfeiting of
the coin and paper money. The move
ments of our officers are of course, from
the very nature and danger of the work
they are engaged, kept in the strictest
secrecy. They wear no badge, nor do
they even carry document showing
that they are in any way connected with
the service. Oftentimes months and
months are taken in the detection of q
single case, and when q man has once
been convicted of counterfeiting, or of
passing counterfeit money, he is never
out of the reach of our eyes.
'"To show how successful we have
been in suppressing counterfeits, can
tell you that we have not seen a new is
sue of bad money for over two years
and half In that safe which you see
there, there are one million dollars in
counterfeit paper money, and about
$1,000 in bad COIN This sample book
in which you see pasted bank and
national notes, with the word bad
punched out in each, contains $25, 900,
and we have here the histories and pho
togpaphs of $500 criminals, perhaps
ten per cent. of which are women.
William E. Brockway is the most not
able person in the entire collection.
He is called the King of Counterfeiters,
and occupies the first place in the
album.
Next to him are his two pals, Doyle,
the man who passes the money, and
Charles E. Smith, the most expert en-.
graver of ''crooked" work in the coun-
try. In all their operations Brockway
furnished the money, laid out the plans
and was the brains of the gang. Doyl4
passed the 'staff," and Smith was The
engraver. Doyle is now serving a
twelve years sentence in the Illinois
state prison. Brockway was captured
some eight weeks ago on the charge OF
counterfeiting some railroad bonds,
samples of which we have here in this
office. Smith engraved the famous
plate from which the 81, 900 seven-thir-
ty bond of the issue of IS was printed,
and $4,000 worth of it was actually
redeemed at the treasury department
before it was discovered to be coun-
terfeit.
1.-THE impression was so good that the
experts were unable to determine weth-
cr the bonds were genuine or counterfeit,
md the matter was only decided when
the Government issue bearing the du-
plicate numbers came back for redemp-
tion Smith also engraved what is
known as the Hamilton ffty-dollar
greenback, and the one hundred-dollar
note on different banks, which are the
finest known of these series. Several
years agoa very shrewd dodge was
played by one Of Smiths confederates
on f. A. White & Co., of Boston. A
woman entered their store and looked
at some very expensive shawls. Final
ly, she made up her mind to take one,
and rendered tEousand-dollar bill in
payment.
foThe 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 be-
yond the shadow of doubt. Then the
clerk said that the shawl would be sent
to the woman's address but she proceed
ed to get very angry, and said If they
could not take her money without ques-
ton that she would go elsewhere, and
she founced out of the store in great
rage. About an hour afterward she re-
turned and told the clerk that she visit
ed other places, but that she had been
unable to find shawl which suited her
as we'll as the one she had left in their
establishment. She said she would take
i. with her, and rendered a one
thousand dollar bill in payment. The
shawl was valued at $500, and the
woman took it away with her, together
with $500 in changA. The bill first
rendered was genuine, the second was q
counterfeit, and the firm was just a
Thousand dollars out Of pocket. Smith
engraved the plate from which this
counterfeit note was printed, and it
was so nearly perfect that only a min
ute examination would have caused de-
lection. Smith also engraved the plate
from which the one thousanddollar
six per cent. bonds were printed, but we
captured the entire issue on Doyle in
Chicago, amounting in all to two hun
dred and four thousand dollars. A
curious thing about his arrest by our
detectives was the fact that they took
him suspecting that he had the old
. counterfeit one-hundred dollar bills in
his possession, when imagine their sur
prise they found a new bond. It will
abe several years before we shall have to
looR after Mr.. Doyle again. Next to
Smith the best engraver of counterfeit
money is Charles Ulrich, who served
term of nine years in one of our North
ern prisons He is now in Germany.
George White is another expert of note.
He stands accredited with the best
counterfeit fve-dollar bank note issued,
and but few people are able to detect
them. The counterfeit is on the
Merchants National Bank
of New Bedford, Mass.
Here is picture of George Albert
Mason, noted counterfeiter who came
from England to this country and en-
gagged in his business. He was arrested,
ried, 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 are in
the hands of British Minister West, but
I wouldn't care to gamble that he will
recover anything. Now wish to call
your attention to two curious facts.
Gounterfeiting runs in families, and
without exception the men engaged in
it are all poor. For instance, take the
Billiard 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 are satisfied that he is an honest
man. J. Thomas Ballard is a wonderful
fellow. He is the only person, so far
as we know, who has succeeded in imi-
tating the fibre paper upon which the
genuine notes and bonds are printed.
At present he is serving a thirty years
sentence as reward for his discovery.