The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-01
Will Eagle
ALL ABOUT QUEER MONEY.
some OF THE METHODS OF COUN-
TERFEiTERS EXPLAINED.

TERFElTERS EXPLAINED.
Old asd New Schemes for Making Money
to Deceive the Unwary-A Few of the
Most Dangerous Specimens of the Bogus
NOts-HOw to Tell Spurious Coin.
Since the day when Isaac detected the
counterfeit ring in the voice Of the pretender
who tried to pass for Esau there has been no
lack of counterfeits in the world. If the
great third patriarch, however, lived in these
later days. and if he undertook, as one Of his
daring and moral obiiquity doubtless would,
TO utter counterfeit coin as well as counter
felt pretentions, he would run up against one
of the shrewdest and ablest branches of pri-
vate service ever employed by human gov
eminent. He would not, as would have hap
pened few generations ago in ''Merrie Eng
land" be hanged, but he would languish
within prison walls for a considerable time,
almost beyond question, for almost inevitably
counterfeiters are caught and punished in this
country.
As long, however, as men think they can
make money more easily than they can earn
it, so long will unscrupulous men probably
brave the perils of the law and continue to
make spurious coins and bills There never
has been, and probably never will be, time
when this country, or any other within civ
ilization, is free from the curse of counter
feiting
In the counterfeiting Of paper money,
however, so much skill and labor and such
bulky and costly tools and machinery are
necessary that a considerable "plent" has to
be established before any damage is done.
Nevertheless the counterfeits in actual cir
culation are numerous enough to necessitate
the publication of Dickerman's United States
Counterfeit Detector and Bankers and Mer-
chants Journal ThemOnthly magazine which
exists and thrives in spite Of all this name is
Endorsed by the government, and is recog-
nized as reliable by banks, bankers, the sub
treasures and the treasury department.
There have been good many ways of max
ing queer" money. Like all other experts
the showers of the queer have made great inn
provement in their art within the last ten
years. First came the Photographic bank
notes. They were made in two ways, known
to experts as the ''old" and the ''new" meth
DDS. By the ''oldn Photographic process the
letters, numbers and sometimes the whole
back of a note were copied in black. Then
they were tinted by pen and brush and by
hand in order TO exactly reproduce the colors
on the original. This method of ''queering"
money has about disappeared. By the new"
method the seal, numbers and color on
bank note are first removed a negative is
then taken from the black which remains,
and from this photographs are printed on
paper. In order to get the colors
an engraved plate is used for all the tinted
parts of bank note Thus the numbers are
printed, as in the genuine, in colors from an
plate.
Another process of "queering' money is
known as ''piecing." This consists in cutting
4 counterfeit into eight or ten pieces One
Of these pieces is pasted into genuine note
Oy cutting out a piece of the good note.
By FASTING, for example, nine good bills in
this way, nine other pieces are obtained
which with one piece of the ''queer" will
make tenth note.
There is again the process known as erals |
ng" This is done by scraping good note /
until it Is very thin and then FASTING in figures
and letters of a higher denomination. In this |
way IS bill was speedily raised to a $50. |
Perhaps the most expert raiser of money
aver in the United States is Pete Mccartney, |
who was arrested in New Orleans for raising |
b bills to $50 He has been engaged in coun- |
5erfeiting for forty years and is now a man
over 80. Out west he is called the King Of |
KoniackerS," and the account Of his advent |
lres, as gwen in the secret service records, |
reads like a romance.
Still another way of ''fixing'' money is to |
change the figures of note by the use of acid; |
A higher number Of figure is printed in the |
place from a plate 1t is very difficult for |
he counterfeiter 10 keep the acid from STAIN |
ng or bleaching the paper. If the chemicals |
spread, then the surrounding letters present /
more or less of a damaged appearance.
OF course engraved counterfeits are usually |
the most dangerous Of all. a very fine coun- |
-erfeit $50 bill was issued some years ago |
rom series Of plates by the celebrated |
Charles E. Ulrich The hundred bills printed |
from a series Of plates engraved in Brooklyn |
by Charles Smith for William L. Brockway |
we're but little less perfect than genuine
But the finest counterfeit from every point |
IF view was $500 United States note of the |
;eries of 1869. 1t was about equal to the gen
zine in skill and workmanship. So dangerous /
was the counterfeit that the treasury depart /
nent decided to retire all the notes of that |
ssue, and today only a few Of the genuine .
'emain III circulation, and, the banks receive
hem only for deposit.
These great obstacles have thus far stood |
N the way Of the cleverest counterfeiters:
The fiber paper, the geometFical lathe work
and the paper known as the Crane patent,
with the silk threads running length wise
throughout the note. So, too, the lathe
Tork has detied the most persistent eff
'ortS of the counterfeiter, and consequently
athe work is the chief feature in al bank
lote engraving. By the simple turning Of a
screw patterns are arbitrarily formed and
certain figures are made which can he repro
iuced only with the greatest difficulty, even
oy the operator a second time. The borders,
corners, oval and circular forms on bank
notes are all formed by the geometrical lathe
Those who are in the habit of handling much
money always pay close attention to these
points
In counterfeit coins there has been a ire
nendous business done. especially since the
OF specie payments after the war.
The varieties are almost endless, owing 10 the
,ase with which the work can be done by
vorkmen Of an inferior grade Of skill. The
easiest method is by the use of a plaster Of
paris mold. and the coin most frequently