The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-02-12
MONEY PASSING FRAUDS.
VARIOUS WAYS TO CHI EAT PEOPLE
AND THE TREAsURY.
NIutilating Bank Notes and Sending
Them for Redemption-"tais
Bills-Plugging Coins.

Bills-Plugging Coins.
"Only those who are daily engaged in
banks or banking can form AN idea of the
clever tricks that are resorted to by ras.
Gals in order to cheat people out of their
money" said banker to a Boston Globe
reporter.
"Lots of counterfeits, 1 suppose" re-
marked the latter.
"There are enough, but couuterfeiting
is an old-fashioned and very risky way of
doing people. What would you think
of employing real, good American bills
to cheat people with! 1t has been done
time and again"
"How?n
Through the redemption laws, for
one way. Here is a copy of the 'Regula-
tions governing the bsuc and redemption
of United States currency and coins and
the redemption of national bank notes
You see clause 21 reads:
Notes equaling or exceeding three-ifths of
their original proportions, and bearing the
name of the bank and the signature of one of
its officers, are redeemable at their full face
value.
"Now some sharp rascals took a num-
Der of notes of the same denomination
and bank of issue, and SO tore or cut
them that less than three-ffths of the bill
was removed, and then had the mutilated
bills redeemed by the United States
Treasury. The fragments which they
had cut out Of the bills they pasted clev-
erly together, making an apparently
whole and good bill of them, which was
passed upon some unsuspecting citizen,
who in turn passed it on until it event
ually wandered to the Treasury, where
it was branded as worthless and returned
to the last unfortunate owner. The only
way to detect these bills is by the num-
Der, which must, as YOU probably know,
be the same on both ends of the bill.
worthless fragments of bills that have
been rejected by the Treasury as too
small for redemption
"Then regular bills have been very
skilfully split, that is, cut in two so that
the back and front are in separate pieces;
then the pieces are torn, and mended by
pasting them upon a scrap of paper. This
paper covers up the blank side and dis
guises the split making the half bill
look like whole one, and in this way
each half is passed for the full value of
the bill.
'Another trick with a genuine bill,
but one which can only be worked upon
people who do not handle great deal of
money, is raising it, that is, erasing the
letters and figures which denote the de-
nomination of the bill, and substituting a
larger amount.
''For instance: A one dollar bill can be
raised to a 10, or a 10 to 100. This
kind of work is generally done with
pen either upon the bill itself after the
original engraving has been erased, or
upon paper which is pasted on. No mat
ter how well it is done, however, and l
have seen some wonderful specimens of
expertness in this line, a penman's work
can never be made to look like an en-
graver's. A practiced eye can detect it
in an instant, and beside the feeling of
bill that has been so tampered with is
different, and often betrays it.
"Another humbug that is openly per-
petrated is the gold half and quarter
dollar business" continued the banker.
"Some years ago, away back about
1S49, l think, parties in California started
private mints because gold was so plenty
and coinage so hard to get out of the
Government. Well, there was little or
no objection to that, but after
awhile the San Francisco mint was
established, and then these private mints
died out except in the case of some jewel
ers, who coined halves and quarters in
gold. These were fairly good in weight
and quality at first, but they gradually
made them poorer and smaller until
few years ago the Government interfered,
and every bit of gold found that was
marked with the name of United States
OF America, or with the words half dol
lar or quarter dollar that had not been
struck by the United States or some other
Government was seized, cut in half and
returned thus.
"The manufacturers of these things
were informed that thereafter any person
making coin of any kind, or anything
to represent or be used as a coin, would
be prosecuted for counterfeiting. Stree
then all these 'halves' and quarters
have been stamped California Gold |
Charm, with the letter II on the larger
one and 90 on the smaller.
"Thcse charms are what now sold |
for halves and quarters, but they are
worthless little scraps, made of such poor
gold that it will not stand the acid test, |
and so little of that even that their real |
value is not 10 cents on a dollar
GLOW about silver!"
Both silver and gold of all countries
is filed and punched to take something
from their value and then plugged and
passed, while the filings are sold to silver
Or goldsmiths. People are generally
growing cautious, however, about taking
nutilated coins, and a good thing it is,
too. The Government weighs all silver
md gold coin it receives, and the light
pieces are then branded and returned to
he owner, who can do nothing but melt
he coin. With gold, unless badly worn,
he loss is not so great, for the real in
fingig Vrglt1a 50 .