The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-26
MILLIONS OF BAD MONEY.

A Counterfeit Expert Talks of the I'M
nense Amount N low in Circulation.
Mr.. c. H. Torrey of Washington, D. c.,
one of the best counterfeit experts in the
country, is in the city on business, says the
Louisville CoatYier-Journdl There is a
vast amount of bad currency in use in the
country" said he to reporter, "and some
OF it is well calculated to deceive. Most of
the bills are the Grant IS bills and the Mar
tina Washington 81 bills of late issue.
There will, however, from a little point
of information l heard Monday night, soon
be a large issue of the tens and
twenties of the old silver bill of the 1880
series, and the public could well be on its
guard. Two parties left Jersey City at 6 80
o'clock Monday night for Cincinnati, Pitts
burg and Columbus with great sackful of
the money, and Louisville will, no doubt,
be given its share. The bills are better by
far than the old issue of the same notes,
made by the famous old counterfeiter,
Miles Ogle, who, three winters ago, spent
some time in the Louisville jail awaiting
trial. He was one of the boldest men ever
In the business, and is now serving long
term.
Zone difficulty" said Mr.. Torrey, sin
handling money in this country is the num-
Der of different kinds circulated by the gov
eminent. The Office represent, as well as
many others like it, is firmly impressed with
the idea that only one class of bills should
be issued by the government. Those bills
should be a simple promise to pay on
paper made Of the scrub palmetto or some
similar substance, with a water mark
representing the denomination in each
bill, and also containing the thread and
fiber which were in the issue of 1880 to 1886,
inclusive. All pictures and engravings of
every sort, barring the simple promise to
pay, should be discarded, and the seal of
the government, instead of being printed in
cold ink and in different shapes, should he
in the water-mark slso. With such bills in
circulation the amount of counterfeit money
afoet would be at minimum"
From what do you get your impress
sion~
From the English bauk-note and from
my own ideas of such notes and an expert
ence in counterfeit detecting. A great
many people have an idea that they kno -
all about counterfeit money. This is very
erroneous. Many people have what | call
bull-headed luck in not being stuck to
any great extent. Very fe v men could tell
good counterfeit if handled in the way OF
ordinary trade without any particular rea-
son to call their attention to it. But The
moment a man approaches them to instruct
them in counterfeit money, showing them a
COLLECTION of couhterfeits, they are on their
guard, and naturally find lots of fault with
the bills shown which they never would
otherwise. u .+-.
What of silver counterfeitsP'
"All denominations from the Scent piece
up are in circulation. The best have ever
seen was a piece of silver worth moro than
the real dollar, as it had SO 797-1000 pure
silver, nearly per cent. more than the gen
| uine. l discovered it by the merest accl-
| dent
1.-THE halves and quarters are, as a rule,
very poor and are easily detected. There il
gold out to the amount of several million
dollars which has the full standard of gold
on the outside to the depth of nearly one
fifth of the thickness of the piece The in
side is spelter and platina. These pieces it
is impossible to tell by any ordinary expert.
No acid will touch them, and the only clew
that one has to them is the hghtness of
color caused by the extra heat required
putting in the platina. These pieces were
made in a branch of the United States
mint many years ago.
"Do you think there is much counterfeit
ing Iow carried ong"
"There is. most decidedly. More in the
last two years than in eight years before.
1t is estimated that there have been in New
York city alone, in the last ten months,
over 1900 pieces of the Grant SIS of the
four different issues. Italians have been
credited with working off the bills, but no
Italians have ever yet been arrested there
who were capable of the gigantic fraud that
this has been.n