Connecticut western news., 1888-05-23
BOGUS MONEY.
The Work of Counterfeiters Dur
 ing the Last Eleven Years.
Two Million Dollars in Bad Money Captured.

MOney CaptufoQs
 "There is money enough there to make you and rich for the rest of our lives" said secret service official to a Washington correspondent of the New York Herald.
 Tie conversation took place in one of the rooms of the secret service division in the treasury department, and "there" was vault ~ from which messengers were carrying little canvas bags and packages done up in Manila paper and sealel with red wax.
 "But I am afraid" the official con- tinuel, "that it wouldn't do u, much good. Thero are couple of million dollars there, but every cent of it is bo- gus."
 The "queer' was being taken out of the secret service vaults to be exami ned by a committee appointed by the sec. rotary of the treasury for that purpose, previous to being destroyed. It is eleven years ago since the last counter felt money in the treasury was de- stroyed, and these $2, 900, 900 represent the work of the counterfeiting fraternity since that time Whenever shower of the queer is captured with any bogus stuff on him tho money is sent to Wash ington, where it lies in vault until enough has accumulated, when it is de- stroyed. Each capture is kept separate from the others and the bogus coin is treated just tho same as if it were United States money ju't issued from the mint.
 The number and the lctter A refer to record and complete inventory which is kept of every case.
 "Wc have in that collection" said the Secret Service man, 'tgold and sill yer and everything in the shap, of pa- per from one cent revenue stamp up to 5000 government bond, which is the largest bond that has evor been counterfeited. There are 20s of the 5000 bonds which were made by the great firm of Brockway Smith & Doyle, probably the threo greatest men in their business we have ever known. Some of the work on these bonds is finer than the genuine, but that is accounted for when you remember that Smith was the engraver who did the.1vork for the gov ernmcnt, and when he went into busi- ness for himself he improved on his first effort.
 ''Stories connected with this money? Well, l Ishould say. Here is some stuff (and here he picked up a bag of half dol lars), which was taken from a gang of eighteen that operated in West Virginia in 1882 and 1883 Their leader was a member of the State Legislature, and when we Jagged him at last he boasted of shaving spoken on tho floor of the House with counterfeit money in his pockets. No, I can't tell you his namo because since his release from prison, where we sent him, he has been living a respectable life and is now in business in West Virginia and is doing woll.
 ''Therc's some stuff we captured at Oswego, N. Y., in 1880. The brains of that gang was Mrs. Ingersoll, and a pretty bad woman she was, too. Two of her daughters were with her, and as they were very pretty girls the old woman found them very useful in fas- ciuating young men of a certain class, so that at last they were willing to do anything that the girls wanted.
 'This package recalls tragedy. It was made by a big gang in Indiana some years ago, and when our men went to arrest them ono of the fellows shot an officer through the hand, and he promptly returned the fire and shot the man through the heart"
 '1s there much counterfeiting going on at the present timea'
 'No, very little. You see it takes a good deal of money to counterfeit notes. There must be good engraver, a man who knows his business thoroughly, and a first class printer It takes from six months to a year to cngrave the plates, and during that time the men havo to live"
 Besides the $2,000, 900 of bogus money there are millions of dollars in what are known as flash" notes. These limitations arc green backs used for advertising purposes, and although they were not got up for fraudulent | purpos es it is violation of the law to make any colorab!e imitation of United States currency or any government obl1- | gation. Theso fash notes are often passed off on the negroes of the south as good money by confidence men. The secret service people at a rough guess believe they have $50, 900, 900 worth of flash notes il their possession. All this bogus money will be counted by the Treasury Committee. The notes will be. sent to the macerator anl ground into pulp, and come to light again in the shape of slightly looking g pug dogs or busts of Garfield or Cleve- land, while tho coin will be melted down at tho navy yard, and perhaps eventually become part of the new navy.
 Flower Pots.
 l Mr. E l,. of