Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-14


q such condition of evaporation for
long time past that no trouble or expense
would be considered excessive for the accom-
plishment of his capture. And this although
he produces on an average not more than two
bogus notes in a year. The remarkable thing
about these limitations is that they are exc
cuted entirely with pen. Once in six months,
almost as regularly as clockwork, one of them
turns up at the Treasury here, to the disgust OF
the government detectives, whose utmost
efforts cannot discover so much as clue to
follow. The strangest point about the matter
is that the work of producing the bills In this
fashion, merely considered as a question OF
labor, remuneratiye or otherwise. cannot posi-
bly, pay. They always either fifties or
twenties and to make one must require pretty
constant toll for quite half year. The last
one. which was received only few days ago.
was double y.
NoMADIC FoRGER.
Funnily enough, they come each time from
different city, and the supposition is that the
forger leaves town for another locality i'm
mediately upon passing one. He gets rid of
the note he has just completed, which may re-
main in circulation for some time before reach
ing bank. and departs long before the police
agents have "a chance to arrive upon the scene.
The most plausible theory seems to be that he
is a monomaniac of MEANS who gratites
morbid taste in this astonishing way. His imi-
tatIon bills are 50 perfectly done that no one
short of professional expert would hesitate
to take them for good money. From the
vignettes to the signatures the work is per-
formed with an accuracy that bears scrutiny
with powerful magnifyng glass. In all
likelihood the reason why the notes
not made of larger denominations Is that they
would be proportIonately more difficult to pass.
One can imagine that this eccentric counter
feiter INDUCES in the employment simply for
the qualification of his vanity. 1t is not i'm
probable that he himself has been shown the
frame at the Treasury building in which two
specimens Of his handiwOrk are shown by polite
attendants to visitors the most extraordinary
samples of forgeries in the government collec-
ton. Anyway he goes on turning out the bills
at regular intervals of six months. thus occa-
sioning periodical spasms of evaporation in
the secret service bureau.
COUNTERFEIT FOR A THOUSAND.
The secret service is also considerably an
noyed just at present regarding a new counter
felt thousand-dOllar bill, which is so admirably
executed that half a dozen specimens have ac-
tually been passed on one bank. 1t turned up
for the first time only the other day in Boston
where a woman went int big shop and pur-
chased IL valuable shawl, rendering in payment
United States Treasury note for 81 900 The
clerk took the bill and kept the customer wait
ing several minutes for her change. When he
returned with 1t she expressed her anger and
demanded to know what the matter had been.
The clerk owned that he had stepped over to
bank near by to have the bill tested. whereat
the woman declared that she would not take
the shawl and fOunced out. Subsequently she
came back, said she had thought better of it,
took the shawl, paid for it with a thousand
dollar note and went away with her purchase
and her change.
CLEVER PERFORMANCE.
All this was very clever performance, for,
as matter of fact, the first bill offered was a
perfectly good one, while the note actually
given in payment on the second occasion was
not the same at ALL as the clerk was intended
to suppose, but forged imitation Of like issue
Not only is an unknown number OF these dan
gerous counterfeits now i'll circulation, but the
plates are i'll existence somewhere, all ready to
strike OH millions in currency of large denomi-
nation. The secret service is only acquainted
with one fact about the matter, and that is that
the plates were executed by that most remark
able Of forgers, Charles III. Smith.
THE CELEBRATED BOND FORGERY
This is the man who was the author Of the
celebrated United States bond forgery ten
years ago. He was at that time employed as
contracted to furnish the Treasury with the
design and plate for certain new bonds to be
issued by the government of 81 900 each.
Smith worked on the bond plate at the bank in
the DAYTIME and each night he duplicated his
days task on a plate Of his own at home. so
that the real plate and the imitation grew to-
gether, and, when finished, were precisely
alike. The government received the real plate
ami issued bonds printed from it. Smith
printed from his duplicate plate 208 of the
bogus bonds, just like the real and represent
ing S20S,000. These he handed over to the
well-known forger Doyle, who was to act as
confederate, and Doyle started with them in
his valise for Chicago.
Now it so happened that the secret service
detectives had an eve on Doyle at the time
suspecting him of being concerned in the
forgery of a very artistic 800 note that had
appeared Six months before, in 1879 When he
left New York for Chicago they supposed that
he was going west to negotiate some of the
new bills, and two officers accompanied him on
the train without his knowledge. At Chicago
they arrested him and, upon searching his
valise, found to their astonishment S208. 900 in
United States bonds. Their discovery in DOYLE 8
possession pointed to the conclusion that they
we're counterfeit; but the banks to which they
were shown declared them good and
were even anxious to buy them.
Subsequently Smith and the cele-
brated connterfeiter Brockway, who was
also In the gang, were captured. They con-
fessed and gave up the plate Of the bond,
which was buried on Long Island in return for
full pardon; Doyle got twelve years in prison.
Smith is known to be responsible also for new
$500 note, the perfect execution of which has
been obtaining for 1t some circulation recently;
but the plates have not been captured. 1t is
always the chief object of the government in
such cases to get hold of the plates, that being
the only way to stop the uttering of the forged
currency. The difficulty of accomplishing this
Is apt to be very great
HOW ooUNTERFEIrERs WORK.
As an almost invariable rule the forger does
not attempt to negotiate his own counterfeits;
usually those who ''shove" the stuff, as the
technical phrase Is, are not even ACQUAINTED
with the counterfeiter himself They are
merely on terms of confidence with the go-be-
tween. 1t may be that this go-between is the
keeper of an out-of-the-way hotel This man
has u quantity of forged money in mis- posses
sion. No one knows where he got it, and it
is likely that he keeps it buried in some
spot with which he alone is acquainted.
Certain persons in whom lie has
confidence are supplied by him with
bogus currency at the rate of about
sixty cents on the dollar. If one Of these
persons is caught disposing of it, he may per-
haps confess where he obtained the false
money; but the detectives will not find any
evidences on the premises of the hotel keeper
to convict him. He will simply deny the charge
point blank and it is very sure no counterfeit
cash will be discovered in his possession. Ger
tainly the discovery Of the plates or dies will
De as far of as ever. Even if the hotel keeper
should reveal the identity of the money
maker, convicting evidence will be hard to get,
and the dies and plates, being
buried under ground, will remain un-
discovered very likely. Nevertheless, it
would not appear that the counterfeiting bust