Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-14
THE COUNTERFEITER.

LIE JUUN IEHf Eli Eli.
TALK WITH BRocKWAY, TIE FA-
NOUS MAKER OF "QUEER."
Successful Imitation of the Famous 81
housekeeping tine Elaborate Lathe
Work on the Greenback-Counterfe :
Foreign nIoneys-Bank Notes.
Among the men who have been classed as
great criminals no one has had wider fame
than William E. Brockway. He has been a
very rich man, he is very clever one, his
years approach 20, he is just ending short
sentence in Sing Sing. Is he a great crooks
do not know. | have been accustomed to
meet him in a journalistic way at intervals
reaching over ten years, and once | asked
him if he was great rascal. He said no.
am not bound to believe him, nor are you :;
but | never knew him to lie in anything, and
am bound to believe that he does not re-
gard himself as a bad man.
Brockway is credited with the counterfeit
ing of the famous 81 bonds. 1t was not his
biggest job by any means. but it was success
full They were bonds issued by the govern
ment early in 1881, and the treasury depart
ment redeemed no end of the bogus ones be-
fore accident betrayed them. These bonds
We're not registered, and the plates from
which they were taken were never found.
Indeed, the superstition almost takes the
power of positive statement that the original
plates We're used with the guilty knowledge Of
then official who lives now in great splendOr
in London and is frequent guest in Marlboro
house and at Sandringham However that
may be, the fact remains that the United
States treasury did buy bogus bonds under
the administration of Salmon P. Chase, and
these bonds, if not counterfeit, were illegal
WON'T TELL IT ALL.
1t is something more than can reasonably
be expected that Brockway will tell all ne
knows, and even if he did he would, as is
customary with his guild, hint at so much un-
revealed that his interviewer could never
know when he had pumped him dry. For
example, he says that the white line which
encircles the seal of scroll work, called the
counter, on the national currency is named as
one of the actual projections against counter
feiting-aS matter of fact the skillful coun-
terfeiter has no difficulty in printing that line
white. ! asked him how they did it, but he
said there were enough who didn't know how
to make the knowledge too valuable for news
paper columns. | asked him for his opinion
as an expert of the security of the paper cur
rency.
"There are no experts" he said; "there are
good judges of paper money. | used TO be
fair judge, but no expert can tell the differ
ence between two lines made by ruling ma
chine. The geometrical lathe work which is
the great security on bank work is mechanic
ally cut with a lathe that costs from s, 900 to
$1,000. Witnesses, called rs experts, have
sworn that this work can't be initiated, but
there are a dozen men in New York who can
make so perfect a copy of it that he who mace
the original can't tell it, and the imitator
need not be an artist either. But that is not
q great danger to paper money. The differ
ent styles of chemical engraving are now
almost familiar knowledge, and it is well
known that by such processes the elaborate
lathe work on the greenback can be copied as
accurately as manuscript can be copied photo
and when printed in carbon or
colored inks are about equal to the original
INITIATING SCROLL WORK.
"The fact is man cannot make that which
q less able man cannot counterfeit, although
he could not create the original. For exam
pie, if you viii examine the scroll cut by the !
lathe you will see in the seal that
some eight parts are all duplicates Of the |
other, that in these divisions there is simply a |
Of the same forms and intersec- |
tons The iuitator in cutting his plate |
would certainly never go TO the trouble Of /
cutting a complete circle He would make /
one of the divisions and then repeat it in the |
printing The most difficult thing |
10 make in counterfeiting are the likenesses. /
The infinite variety Of human expression,
which can be created by line, the faintest |
shadow, the merest deviation in the angie OF /
3 curve Of the lip. the set Of the nostrils, are /
80 far from arbitrary that one can only be |
copied with infinite pains"
what is an approximate figure represent
ing the amount of foreign moneys counter
feited herel7
at is enormous. have the authority Of
the Brazilian minister for the statement that
Zoo, oco.oc0 Of counterfeit money is circu-
ated in Brazil Money for the South Amer
can countries has al teen literally counter
feited, and even Bank of England notes Bet
: Is a curious fact that the counterfeited
money Of foreign countries ernanatinz from
here Is nearly exclusively CT those who have
,oCe here 70 have their monev made.
Bank note couaterfeiting was most preva-
ent during the reign Of the state banks, bu:
be boys had to hurry I'd CT the bank would
all before they could gat tbeir stuff CUT
Tas caught twice in that way and had no re-
iress. as The banks he'd no Assets. Tie coun-
'e-feits then were generally poor and there
Vas seldom su attempt e. imitation Wien
IN imitation was attempted by sn amateur,
rho had picked Up engraving, BE wo7id ~
ecs his note. oil u TO make II Transparent,
'aste il on plate face down, and With frs
ieedle using microscope, he would prick
trough the lines On the note and then follow
be dots With grsver, which would repro
luce the lines o. course TIE exquixs.e etch-
ng q tie landscape, tie beautiful lines Of
he portraits and the delicate ruling we're ios.,
=. thare we're very few Of ths dear pubic
RIO could tell hawk from kandxaw.r-
sew Toyk Cor. Pall2deiphia Times
Fraaoe's Mounted Infantry Corps
Ihe corps Of mounted infantry chAszezrs