St. Landry democrat., 1891-11-07
A QUEER SCRAP BOOK.
FILLED WITH PROOFS OF COUN.
TERFEITERS' MtSTERPIECES.
Careers which Have left Traces on
Its PageS-The Wonderful Accu.
racy of Noted COunterfeiters.

| 'nt OF the most Carc1ully guarded
possessions Of the Uuitcd States Treasury
is q book that is always shut up in
a ms.,,. c blrglar-proof safe ut the Blu
rcau OF Engraving and Printing. Hardly
any body has seen it, save high officials
OF the department. Its shabby outside
! gives no suggestion of the precious con-
tents. Pasted on the yellow pages are
"proofs " taken from all the important
counterfeit plates for paper money that
| have been captured by the Government.
| In looking over the bulky volume and
! examining the vast number of designs for
! bogus money between its covers, one
! gets some idea Of the tremendous extent
and dangerous character of this counter
fcting industry, which has been until
recently formidable menace to the
financial safety of the nation, employing
the highest order Of mechanical talent
and inventive genius.
The proofs referred to were made in
every case preliminary to the destruc
ton of the plates, one copy of each being
turned off in the Government press for
the scrap book. There is not one of
| them which has not its strange and
thrilling story. On the first page is
counterfeit fifty cent fractional currency
note with head of Washington. Both
| back and face are shown, and are admir-
ably executed 1t is known that many
thousands Of copies of it were put into
circulation up to the autumn Of 1860,
when fire occurred in a dwelling at
WiIIiamsburgh, n. Y. A mattress
| thrown from IA window broke open, and
was found to be stuffed with such fifty
cent pieces. The plates were captured,
but the forgcr, an Englishman named
Leverson, escaped arrest.
There was no end of such fractional
counterfcits during the civil war, and
proofs Of them fill many pages of the
scrap book. In those days any sort Of
paper money would 90 without scrutiny.
The country was flooded with false cur
rcncy, and the forgers reaped harvest.
The tifty-ccnt piece had a vignctte on
the face representing Justice with her
scales; but, when reproductions OF it Of
various degrees OF merit had been circu-
lated by millions, Mr.. Spinner suggested
that the said vignette should be replaced
with portrait of himself, which was
done. Unfortunately the precaution
awaited very little against the counter
feitcr, who simply cut the vigne;te from
his plate and put Mr.. Spinner in.
Vast quantities of this fraudulent cur
rency We're issued by a combination in
New York city, which was the most dan
gerous association Of countcrfeiters that
had existed up to that time. Its inspir-
ing genius was Tom Balard-a thor
oughlv scientific forger, with knowledge
of chemistry as well as of engraving. He
WAS backed by two capitalists-one a
Broadway carriage dealer and the other
IL politician and contractor named Miner.
The position of all three of these men
in the business world was most respect
able. Ballard being associated in the
ownership Of the carriage factory, with
out exciting the slightest suspicion the
| firm ran Il race with the treasury in the
initiation Of the currency. As fast as the
government multiplied its issues of legal
tenders and ether securities to meet the
necessities of the war, Ballard turned out
fresh plates, and the presses at 256 Riv-
ington street ran off limitations for cir
culution all over the country. Operations
were by 10 means limited to fractional
MOI, .otcs Of all denominations up to
$lOU and even $500, each being produced
in great numbers and in such a style of art
as almost to defy detection. When the
distinctive fibre paper was adopted in
1869, it WIS supposed to be a perfect
safeguard against counterfeiting, but
Ballard, who was an expert in paper
making, reproduced it. The whole gang
were finally exposed in 1871 by a
shower" Miner, the promoter of the
whole scheme, escaped sentence by the
use Of money and influence. Ballard
broke out of jail and fed, eluding cap
ture, although a reward of $1,000 was
offered for his apprehension.
Two years later there suddenly APP
peared an astonishing counterfeit $500
Treasury note, specimens of which were
accepted as genuine at the Redemption
Agency in Washington. In point of
workmanship it was as good as the genu-
inc, and it was printed on fibre paper. 1t
was traced to Buffalo, and Ballard was
surprised there i'll his workshop, which
was miniature. Treasury Department.
One of the rooms was a complete chemi-
cal laboratory, another was occupied by
presses and paper, while a third was de-
voted to the engravings. A dilapidatcd
barn in the rear of the house contained
powerful electric batteries, the fluids for
which were held in ale casks, because the
purchase of glass jars of the necessary
size might have excited remark. Fibre
paper was in stock by the rcam, as well
as bond paper tinted chemically for imi-
tating national bank notes. When Bal
lard was caught he was at work on his
masterpiece-a counterfeit on steel of
the s. bills Of the Bank of British North
America at Montreal. 1t had been des-
tined, he said, to "bankrupt all Canada. :"
This extraordinary man, whose genius
applied in legitimate channels would un-
questionably have enriched him ten times
over, after breaking Jail and being re-
captured several times, was finally
sentenced to thirty years imprisonment
in the Albany penitentiary.
Among the most interesting curiosities
in the scrap book is a series of bank
notes raised from small denominations to
big ones by FASTING large numbers over
little ones For example, there is s.
bill which has been transformed into a
fifty by.an alteration Of the figures after
this manner. The person who did these
particular bills was the inventor of the
scheme. He had wide knowledge and
learning, and was known popularity as
One-cyed Thompson, and it was saying
of his that the better a man was edu-
Gated the bigger scoundrel he could be.
A better illustration of his own propo-
sition than he could hardly have been
found. He originally devised the method
of chnnninp IN $40 bills and pasting the