Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-01-17
CAUGHT I'M A rRAr.
a Good Story Told by a Secret
Service Detective.


every issue Of greenbaclSs, from the
dollar bill to the twenty, had been re-
produced by the |'queer" men, says
writer in the Detroit Free Press.
lCounterfeiting flourished as never be-
fore nor since. Any thing that looked
like money would go, especially in the
country towns.
The gang which was working the 81
and 81 plates was located at Sandusl5y,
but we did not get this pointer until
they had floated out a good many thou
sand dollars. The case was assigned TO
me, and proceeded TO Sandusly in the
guise OF an army contractor. had no
details whatever, but, by keeping my
eyes open and picking up note here
and there, | satisfied myself that our
information was correct. Then / Sc
lectea the most popular drug store in
the place, told the proprietor my BUSH
ness, and arranged TO make capture.
Men Showing the queer" will call at a
drug store sooner than any other place
of business, because they can purchase
from such a variety, and can carry the
purchase away i'm the pocket. This
druggist had been bitten several times,
i felt that il was only a question of
time when some of the spurious would
be offered again, and / was right. On
the fifth day after l took up my station
in the store, q respectable-looking mid
dle-aged man rushed in, holding his
hand to his cheek and exclaimed:
"For Heavens sake give me some
thing for the toothachei am almost
craZyr'
The clerk hurried to put up some
thing, the stranger danced around and
groaned and moaned, and when he re-
ceived the bottle he handed out ten
dollar bill and said:
'Quick-I've got to catch the train"
The clerk glanced at the bill and be-
gan TO make change, but stopped to
take a second look at it. | started for
ward, but before | had taken five steps
the man was off like a flash. Ipursued,
but he lodged me in the crowd. / went
back and looked at the bill, and lol it
was a counterfeit, but one so nearly like
the genuine as TO deceive almost any
one except a cashier. For the next
three days did some tall hustling, and
the result was TO drive the gang out of
Sandusky without havingthe luck 10 ar
est anybody There were four of them,
and they had job Office which turned
out work Cor the public. The fellows
had put out at least $4,000 in the
West, having several plates of different
denominations, and the worst of it was
they got off with the plates.
Almost purely by accident learned
that one of the gang had a brother hv-
] Inn Y.iNs n fatu N,,f
of Cleveland, and it was possible he
might 60 into hiding there for a time.
AS this was the only trail had deter
mined to look the ground over. Going
up to Cleveland, l got horse and bug
gy for q country drive and started for
Rocky river. l was only well clear Of
the city when l saw heavy thunder
storm coming up and had to look for
shelter. l had to drive a couple of
miles to find it. 1t was an old barn on
the lower end of farm. 1t was in a
tumble-down condition, but there was a
shed under which | could put the horse.
/ was only two minutes ahead Of storm
which ragged for an hour and half. 1
found q corner of the barn which did
not leak, and for the first half hour /
scarcely glanced around me. When 1
did come TO size up the interior, about
the first thing l saw was paper pack
age resting on a beam running across
the barn. 1t could not have been seen
from any other position in the barn,
and may say it was the queer sound
given out by tho drops of water as they
fell on the paper which caused me to
look up.
/ had the package down after dirty
climb, and as opened it out fell the
plates of the counterfeits used at San
dusky-every one of them. There were
plates FOR 81, 81, s. and SO bill, and
for ten, twenty-five and fifty-cent shin
plasters, and the ink from the last i'm
pressions had not been entirely cleaned
off. While l was swelling with the i'm
portance' of my discovery the storm
passed over, and while engaged in do
ing up the package buggy stopped at
the gap in the highway fence and one
OF the two men in it jumped down and
came running into the barn. He did
not see me at first, but started to
climb up after the package on the beam.
/ knew then that he was one Of the
gang, and l grabbed him. He was a
stout fellow, and we had u savage tussle
for it, but l finally got the irons on his
wrists and made him prisoner AS soon
as / seized him he shouted to warn his
companion, and before our struggle end
ed the man was mile away. The one
! caught was Sam Dixon, "queer
man" of note and known to us better
under the alias of 'Sly Sam" He was
the chap who counterfeited the Brazial-
ian currency and got rid of $4,000
worth before any row was raised. He
kept close mouth and would not peach
ON any of the gang. Even when he got
his sentence for twelve years, he calm
ly remarked:
"Well, business will go on at the old
stand just the same"