Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-30
THE SECRET SERVICE.
Condensed History of It's Origin
 and Development


 and Development. Some of the Extraordinary Feats Per
 formed by Lafayette c. Baker, the
 Founder of thf Sorvice-The Sup
 pression of Counterfeiting. Treasury, Chief Bell, of the Secret Serv- ice, says, according to the Washington Capital:
 The wars of the revolution and of 1872 doubtless brought forth something corresponding in it's general features to the Secret Service organized by the United States Government during the late civil war, but no records have been preserved.
 The Secret Service, as we know it, may be said to have it's origin in June, 1861, when Lafayette c. Baker rendered his services to Secretary Seward as a sort of police scout to gather informa- ton of the condition of the affairs in the Southern Confederacy; his proposal was accepted and he was passed through the lines and began his work. He repre- sented himself as a Southerner, with interests which attached him unaltera- bly, to the cause of the seeding States. At first he was regarded with suspicion and was arrested and taken before Jef- ferson Davis himself for examination. . He was imprisoned for some time and tested by his captors in various ways, even to the point of being threat ened with hanging as spy; but he played his part well, and his ready wit and unfailing nerve not only carried him through this ordeal in safety, but caused him subsequently, to be made confidential agent of the Con- federacy, and sent North in quest of special information for MT. Davis and his advisers. In his dual capacity he performed some extraordinary feats, and gathered about him set of men after his own heart.
 The scope of their joint labors grad ually enlarged to such an extent that it was deemed better for the War Depart ment to direct their operations; so early in 1862 the transfer was made, and the organization took their orders thence forward from Secretary Stanton till after the close of the war and the death of President Lincoln.
 The crime of counterfeiting was so appallingly on the increase that in 1864 Congress appropriated S3O0,000 to sup press it. This money was placed in tho custody of the Secretary of the Treasury, and Solicitor Jordan was commissioned to oversee it's expenditure. MT. William P. Wood was relieved from duty as 1 keeper of the old Capitol Prison in order | to give his attention to the suppression n 1 of counterfeiting.
 In July, 1865, Secretary McCulloch 1 created the Secret Service division and placed MT. Wood at the head as chief. i He surrounded himself with a larger body of men than Baker ever had, but i their tenure of office was slight. They were appointed, as rule, to look after special cases, and dropped from the rolls when such cases were finished. l Much of the appropriation was paid to outsiders for information, other large sums were expended in the forms of re. wards; tho balance for the per diem pay and incidental expenses of the agents.
 But Congress did not continue this lavish outlay. For a number of years afterward only about S15O, 900 was appro- priated, though sometimes deficiencies were allowed which carried the totals tC considerably higher figures.
 At that time the work continued, iT many respects, on the same lines that | MT. Baker had marked out. The serv ice laid it's hands on every thing of g | fraudulent character-bounty, pension and customs swindles, and the like-but the greater part of the money was ex pended to suppress the counterfeitine of the paper currency.
 hoe 1c in tho annual appropriation, so tha from $500, 1000 appropriated in 1864 it hat gradually grown less until it reached the present annual sum of $60,00 be sides limiting the scope of duties of the service strictly to counterfeiting, back pay and bounty-frauds, and requiring that every dollar should be expended o1 certain definite objects. Last year Con gross voted an additional $4,OOO for tht investigation of claims for expenses in cured in the last sickness and burial O pensioners, but this was the first sig1 manifested in long while of disposi tion to restore the service to it's olt breadth of usefulness.
 Restricted as we are by the form il which the appropriations are made, i agents were content to abide merely b, the letter of the law, they would neve be able to bring criminal to justice To their honor be it said, however that they interpret their duty by tn spirit and not the letter, and often il the pursuit of frauds spend money fron their own slender purses to protect tn Government from robbery, when the realize that the statute of appropriatio, can not be stretched to embrace the out lay, and have no hope of reimburse ment.
 Superstition in Michigan.
 In the little village of Grafschap, A. legan County, Mich., inhabited entirel by Dutch people, the silliest superst