Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-11-20

| the nanuS o. tne government Ouclals at
the Pine street entrance to the build
ing. II is then taken to the counting
room and weighed by the bagful after
being passed through the hands of an
expert who can instantly tell il the
coins have been tampered with. 1t
was formerly required by law that ev.
cry piece should be weighed separate
ly, and that old coins which, by natural
abrasion or sweating, had lost one.ha.f
of | per cent. should be rejected. For
this purpose scales were provided of
such delicate mechanism that an eye
lash would turn the balance"
"How do we detect bad pieces?
Well, I can't tell you. It's instinct, |
guess" said an old expert in answer
to the reporters question.
"Can't you generally tell by the
weight or size'"
"Oh, pshaw, no! A composition OF
lead and platinum is made that weighs
and rings exactly like gold. Look
here; there is piece that almost any
man in New York would as soon have
as any that was ever coined" He
tossed in front of the reporter $50
piece that looked, weighed and rang
like gold.
"Well, what's the matter with it?"
ats only worth $40. 1t has been
cut into, followed out. filed with COM
position and struck together again. I
rather think my eyes are the best aids
in detecting, though I can pick out
bad coin when handling pile blind
folded
care many spurious coins brought
here?"
"Oh, quantities. Most of them are
so bunglingly done that it is easy to
spot them. Once when an investiga-
ting committee was here ] was asked
to pick very cleverly 'doctored' piece
from bag-ful They we're all coined
at the same time, and exactly alike. |
picked it out for them all right, and
then the committee pretended to be so
interested that they wanted to see it
done again. The second time they
quietly changed the bad piece for
good one and were sure Of catching
me. They got left,' though, as the
boys say. Counter-felts Can always
be detected by the milling, No one
has yet succeeded in reaching the per-
fection with which the government
employees do it,
"What is done with the counter
feits that are presented2"
"We are not allowed to destroy
them, but we put on mark so that it
is impossible to pass them afterward
This big pair of shears is used to cut
spurious dimes In two"
"How about mutilated coins?"
''They are simply returned. The
government won't buy them, and we
have no more right to mark them than
any one else"
(Which are counterfeited most, bills
or coins?"
"Blls, by large majority; national
bank notes generally. They are
branded and returned. The latest |
dodge is a little scheme we dropped |
on short time ago A sharper will
take, say FIVE good bills, cut them up
into small pieces and shorten them so
that he can present the fragments as
those of six different bills. The law
requires that three-ffths of bill be
presented to get good one in return,
All sorts of touching and amusing in
cidents occur every day in this branch
This morning poor woman came to
the window, with big tears in her eyes
and two burned one-dollar bills in her
hand. She said the baby had thrown
them into the fire. The corners of her
mouth went up like flash when she
was given new money in return. There
is another little trick that / must tell
you-that is. to burn a counterfeit |
note to crisp and bring it here for
redemption; but, strange as it may
seem, they can be detected even when
reduced to ashes.