Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-04-21
ADANGER0US WOMAN.
The Narrative Of a Secret Ser
vice Detective.
A Oounterfeiter's Wife who Successfully
Assumed Numerous Disguises,

A Oounterfeiter's Wife who Successfully |
Assumed Numerous DISCUSSES
In January, 1868, the Secretary of the
Treasury was notified that a new and
dangerous counterfeit on Cincinnati
National bank had been put ahoat in
Boston. The Detective Bureau being no.
tilted in turn was detailed on the case
and left for Boston the same day, About
So, 900 of the queer had been foatcd in
one day, and the work had been done by
a woman. AT one place she had pur-
chased 5000 worth of diamonds; at an
other $3.50 gold watch at another dia-
mond bracelet, The goods in all cases
were such articles as could be sold again
for at least half their value.
Each victimzed party described her
differently. At the first place she was a
blonde, plainly dressed AT the next she
was brown-haired woman in mourning;
at the third she had black hair, was
showily dressed and claimed relationship
to well-known family. After a day
spent in taking notes and making deduc-
tions l came to the conclusion that there
was only one woman in the case, and that
she had assumed disguises. Boston was
thoroughly searched for her, and l had
not yet found clue when the chief telc-
graphed me that she had appeared in
Philadelphia, reached that city to find
that she had purchased $1,000 worth of
diamonds at one place and $500 worth at
another, paying, of course, in the coun-
tcrfeit bills. The first jewelcr described
her as snowy woman with gold in her
upper front teeth. The second jeweler
described her as very plain and demure,
and he was sure that she had no gold in
her teeth.
had set out under the belief that l
had only one woman to deal with, and I
would not now admit there were two. l
looked Philadelphia high and low for fc-
males bearing the description, and at the
end of four days received another tcle-
gram from headquarters. She had ap-
pcarcd in Pittsburgh, where she had
made three different purchases of jewel
ers. | fastened to the Smoky City as
soon as possible, and 10! the three de-
scriptions given were so entirely different
that one was almost sure there were three
women at work floating off the counter
feits.
One jcwclcr had been mashed OF h S
customer, and had therefore taken par
ticular notice that her eyes were blue,
her hair brown, and her height medium.
She had gold in her upper front tccth'
and was affected in her ways and speech.
The second jcwclcr wasn't mashed, but he
was an old detective, and he noticed that
she had brown eyes, dark hair, mole on
her chin, and plain, white teeth. There
was nothing affected about her. The
third jcwclcr could swear that she had
black hair, gold in her lower teeth, q
slight squint to one eye, and stammercd
bit us she talked.
HUNTED Pittsburgh for three days, but
met with no success. Believing she
would next turn up at Indianapolis, |
started for that city without orders, tax
ing sleeping car on night train. 1t
was woman who had the lower berth
next to mine, and as looked her over |
made up my mind that she was a school
teacher and an old maid. She had red
hair dressed plainly, aud paid not the
slightest attention to any one. When
the porter came to make her berth he
placed rather bulky satchcl belonging
to her on the scat at my feet, and she
found a temporary seat at the other end
of the car. The jar of the cars jostled
the satchel to the floor after Bit and,
as I stopped over to pick it up, found
the floor covered with wigs, cosmetics,
small brushes, pieces OF crayon and false
teeth. There were three wigs of differ
ent colors, and two upper and two under
sets of teeth. In one the gold was in the
upper; in the other it was in the lower.
Well, you may believe that with my
mind full of the mysterious woman and
her disguise, Twas not long in concluding
that had stumbled upon the person
wanted. l replaced the articles
in the satchcl and walked over to
her and made know my crrand. She
gave me terrible tongue lashing and
called on the passengers for protection,
but when revealed my identity ana
empticd the contents of the satchel on 4
seat, she gave in. We got off at stcu-
bcnville, and, when had her searched,
over $4,000 in the countcrfeits was
brought to light, but her purchases were
not to be found, she having shipped them
to confederates. She was the wife of the
notorious "Black Dan" and the pair were
the most dangerous couple in America
at that time. We got her husband in Il
week or two, and, while he got SEN
tcnce of twenty-five years, she got of
with en.-Det,OH Free Press.
A Hard Question in Arithmetic.
A teacher in the public schools had