Mohave County miner., 1889-09-07
wAsmIsGTos LETTER.
Correspondence of the NisER.
w.sutxarox Ane 1R II

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WAsmsoTos, Aug. 26, 1889.
To detect counterfeit bin on inspec-
tion seems easy, and almost ali men ac-
custorned to handling mcney have pri-
yate eonceit that they would know q
counterfeit on sight. Stand any day be-
side the patient messenger in the secret
service division Of the treasury depart
nlent and listen 10 the comments Of peo-
pie who are looking over the books of
counterfeit bills and notes. This one is
good, that one is bad, they think, and
their verdict is generally positive no
tieed a spectaeled, important looking
young man, with lady on bis arm, and
few friends with him, looking over the
book Saturday. They were evidently 3
bridal party, and as they conyersed |
learned that the groom was bank
cashier from some place with an unpro-
nouncable name out in Wisconsin. Yes,
Harry would tell US all about il, would
tell us the good counterfeit from the bad !;
and he did 1t. while the patient attendant
held his sighs. The way Harry blum
dered on was remarkable, and even the
attendant showed signs Of impotence
when he pronounced TO be miserable
boteh the bond popularity supposed to
have been made from plates stolen from
the government and secretly purchased
back from the thieves. "Qnite the earl
est thing in the world TO tell counterfeit
BILL" remarked Harry eomplaeenily, as
the party moves on.
The annals OF the secret service tell the
story Of patient and skilled criminals,
organized and with money, working for
months and years. sometimes in the gar
rets and cellars Of crowded cities, and
sometimes in remote isolated country
houses, for the stake that shall secure
idieness and responsibility and prosperity
when the work is done. Not lew coun-
terfeiters have been engrayera who.
haunted by the fear Of failing vision, or
the loss Of touch, have hoped 10 jump at
once into a fortune and be rid OF the
wearing work forever. NJ. few are re-
fined, sensitive fellows, totally unlike the
Vulgar "sboyer Of the queer" who spends
two-third'so OF his life behind prison bars.
The daring sometimes shown by these
adventures IL hackneyed sIhject.
Think of Mccartney, the wonderfully
skilled engrayer, lectaring on "How 10
detect coanterfeits'' and passing counter
feits Of his own manufacture in the
change given out at the door. Mozart
ney is just now in prison but he has
been at various times treasury depart
ment expert, agent Of the secret service,
artist, mule driver, cattle dealer, saloon
keeper and machinist. He is said, but
probably tie story should be taken with
grain OF allowance, to have made n
plate in two weeks that II takes most
workmen six months 10 finish.
Half the improvements in the genuine
bills have been the suggestion Of counter
ieiters. The little silk thread woven
into the bill, which is still supposed by
many people TO be proof against counter
feiiing, was the idea Of Tom Ballard
notorious countehei.er, now doing thir-
ty-fiye years sentence at Albany.
II is really remarkable that such fear
fully long sentences have not retarded
counterfeiting, but they have not. saw
a counterfeiter sentenced three years ago
at Louisville 10 twenty years imprison-
rnent. He was nearly eighty years old,
scared and SCARED by chemical poison
ing, yet he received his sentence without
flinching. He had played his cards and
lost.
The countereiting Of paper money is
principally limited by the expense of the
plant. A plate for q genuine bill costs
about $500, and the counterfeiter, il he
be not his own engraver, must pay far
more for it. Then he must provide an
expensive plate press, Ink, paper and
other necessaries. These can only be
operated where every possible danger Of
interference is as nearly met as possible.
Thus the business becomes blasted mo-
nopoly, as one may say.
The accidental publication Of the fact
that the name Of Miss Nettie Tanner,
clerk in the pension agency in this city,
had been temporarily dropped from the
rolls, with dozen others until another
appropriation became available, invites
attention to the fact that that jealous
gentleman, Corporal Tanner, has two
daughters feeding at the public trough.
For a public official who has been in
office since April, this is doing very well.
If the commissioner Of pensions had
more daughters Of the age necessary to
hold Office he might be entitled to less
credit, but it appears that he has only
these two, and in his humble way he has
done the best he could. 1t is said that
only his wife's refusal has prevented her
appointment az pension Office clerk.
That the government universally
makes inadequate provision for its pro-
fcssional employees is evinced in the case
Of the supervising architect Of the treas
uy department. The present incumbent
was only induced to accept the position
with the understanding that he would be
allowed two days each week TO attend to
his own business in Philadelphia, thus