The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-24
VERY IMPORTANT ARRESTS.
secret-seryice Officers Think They Have
Struck tha Trail Of Dangerous Gang

Tt has developed that the arrests of John
Balm and James Sapp. t he Newton county silver
certificate counterfeiters was Of
the greatest Importance. Not only was
fully 81, 900 OF the bogus bills distributed the
vicinity of Goodland, but il appears that the
criminals did some active distribution in Chica-
CO. The following dispatch WAS received from
Chicago Last night:
THE saotreasury officials here are con-
WINGED that the Loeansport, Ind. authorities
in arrestlng James Sa0p and his accompice,
Wednesday. the charge OF passing counter
felt monsy. struck trail which is likely to lead
80 the arrest of the gang that, within the last
month, has put fully So O,000in counterfeit money
into eireulation in this city. They
of the opinion that it is the same counter
feit-a So silver certificate of 18S6-and appear
ances at the government building indicate that
officers of the secret service have already start
ed for sLogansport The appearance of the
counterfeit so close to Chicago Immediately
after its circulation here is quite in accordance
with the methods used by countsrfeiters ic
floating the stuff y
Balm and Sanp are not supposed to be the
counterfetars, but are charged with circulating
the money. The former is merchant and the
latter o hveryman at Goodland. They came
morning. and asked TO have the amount of their
bond, 10000 each, reduced. but the Commits
sioner 8 refused. The counterfeit is pro-
nouneed a rarely good one by experts.
The front in general colorine and shading is
much lighter and greatly inferior 60 that of the
genuine. Especially is this noticeable in the
encircIing the numeral v and the figure '5."
The st1pple work surrounding the vignette is
not nearly artistically worked IS in the
genuine, nor is it so dark colored- TIE
hair-Iiness in Grants beard are also much
lighter than IN the genuine. The wreath be-
meath the vignette in the genuine is exceedingly
delicatey worked and will stand the test, so far
4 -ssSifzss are concerned, under the magnify1ng
glass, and show perfection, which the counter
felt will not. The scroll work around the v and
s;5H IN the genuine under q magnifying glass
vii <kn nd IN n n o. - f1na and mar
fecslya regular in its construction. and does
nos ointerlap as in the counterfeit. Experts
disagree to whether not the scroll work on
the counterfeit is by hand or lathe; however, it
is more irregular than in the genuine. The silk
threads running across tho face of the genuine
seem to be lacking in the counterfeit but IL
line is detected there it is ruled in ink, which
can readily be detected because of its being
heavier than the genuine silk thread. and in
o specimen seen yesterday 10 not thread
at ALL bat a line drawn straight from edge to
edge of the note.
The seal in the countsrseit is about q six
teenth of an inch nearer the edge of the bill
than the genuine, and in the key shown in the
seal insthes genuine bill the notch shows mp in
white as q letter 7, with the top against the
key bar, while in the counterfeit the white notch
locks the top wings. resembles a capital IT"
THIS difference can be readily detected by the
naked eye.9
. The rays OF white lines radiatine from the
Roman numera1 v, in which is technically
termed the engine-tu work. end in well de-
fined feathers arrow-shaped tips in the gen.
uine, " bile In the other they end in misty, I'M
defined manner. The wart appearing the
genuine at the side of General Grants nose is
wanting in the bogus bill, hence mo wart. no
good.p - s6Iae
1 On the back Of the counterfeit the execution
of the design is almost perfect, with the excep-
tion of the tight defective coloring. which is as
marked as ION the front. The shading of the
fgEzrehead3i in the center on the counterfeit runs
nearly the same over the entire five Enedallions
of silver dollars, while on the genuine the shad-
ing grows much heavier as il goes upward. The
lettering Yand figures the counterfeit are
almost perfect.