Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-06-26
THE COINERS.


evil at last became so great that tho United
States authorities requested shillful de-
teotve might be sent to fegrot cut the nest
of coinors. l was fixed Upon to perform
that duty.
! had nothing to guide me. Tho fact,
however, that Chicago was the city where
the counterfeit coin was the most abun-
dant led me to suspect that the mGnufac-
tory might be somewhere within It's linn
it's 1t was therefore to the capital of the
west that l first proceeded. l spent five
weeks in that beautiful city, bat without
gaining the slightest clew Of the counter
feters.
began to grow discouraged, and really
thought ! should be obliged TO return
home without having achieved any result.
One day / received a letter from my wife
requesting that l would send her home
come money, as she was out Of funds.
went into n bank and asked for u draft, at
the same time handing q sum Of money to
pay for it, in which there We're several half
dollars The clerk pushed three OF the half
dollars back to me
"Countcrfeit," snid he,
"What," said I, do you mean 20 tell me
those half dollars are counterfeit"
81 do"
Are you certain"
"Perfectly certain. They are remarkably
well executed but they are deficient in
weight. See for yourself"
And he placed one Of tlem in the scales
against genuine half dollar on the other
side The latter weighed down the former
"That is the best c1ecut-d counterfeit
coin ever saw in my life" exclaimed,
examining them very closely. as all the
counterfeit money in circulation here Of
the same character as his"
"Oh, dear, no." replied the clerk, at is
not nearly 50 well done. These are the
work Of Ned Willett, the famous New York
counterfcitcr. | know them WELL for |
have handled a great deal of it in my time.
Here is some Of the money that is in Circu-
lation here" lie added, taking several half
| dollars from drawer. "Gou see the mill
iu- is not 1carly az perfect as Ned vii
let's, although It is pretty well done, too.
I CON pared the two together and found
that be was right, | supplied the place Of
| the three counterfeit Lulf dollars with
/ good coin and returned the former to my
/ pocket again.
| y few days after this | received info-ma-
/ ton which caused me to take a Journey to
/ a village situated about thirty miles from
/ Chicauo arrived thore nj night and took
up my quarters at the only tavern in tho
! riacc II wa, u ,yrc,ched dwelling and
| kcut h,. m old man and woman. the
s,Ir,ie., ccuuls think it has ever been nv
lottolng.t In answer to INV inquiry as
TO whether could have LODGING there for
! the ni.,l.tI noticed shat the host gave a
/ peculiar oo,; at his wife, and after some
Whispering, WIS Informed In the most un-
gracious manner possible that l c-'l1
have a bed
have frenuoutly in the course Of nv
Hfa bao, OBLIGED to mt uy with y.rctchc1
orcomnodotinn. 50 / did not allow my
eouaniui+y Of tcinaer to be DESTROYED hy
tbe miserable fare st before me. and the
sin mora miserable sleeui1g ar9rtueut
into which I WAS u,Aered after lad con
cludcd my ronas.
Tho chnrnhor WIS small in si.o. md was
certainly vel ventilated. for | could see
tb,s t.re o.c,.i,, thro,l,h tbe ro3f The
bed was si,u,,ly n la., Of stray thrown into
one corner of the room. without sheets or
covp-ir., or nav, Kind Ti;s last fact how.
evpr v.n. moi. Of ,ullch coDsaquenec. as it
,,,s snr,,,o~ i,,,o..,,l ,,,ros.i,.a}v I.t
Ta+oo5 f,~ ,,,nr.than. IN hour ..'l2iuc. ON
~ tba oocuin, which ,,l.y,.l for a window.
BEFORE mo ,y:l, spread m immense prairie.
tho Ii,nit-ot which could NOT saa Tho
ta,,orn in which T hal t9I-cn mn ohoJ,
aDDearcl to be isolated from all OK her
drnIfine,s AVID eava tbo croalx of ia, tree
fro. and the hln If tle locust not a sound
rc,cl,nI NV ears I, v;n. a beautiful moon
u..ht rirIt and So BRIGHT th.t I could see
~, ,,,,j Ibc s,,ollc.- nri,..
A. ,,t h.,l,,r 10 ,.,o,y ,,-osrv md
+l'.[,,.iq, r,,..oIf ~, NV ,,ailot was coon
,l,,,,,,ad i,,+.,' d., loo, ,lu,oLa- U,,,, l,r,,
e., i,,,-,. 49,, J,,,+ .,r,I.r,l he, ,
1,;i ,,,l ,,.biof, ..-,....l,I..l -, ,,a
I,,,,,,,.ri,.T l., Tho li.,aoce s1,,,,os, ~
,,'o,. 49,. ,f,c,,Ii,ri+,, of Tia so,rJ ,vL-rb
vi. ,I,a for r. w.. b,, no 1noons lonJ I'm,
c,9y.,'sd - mo tbr ir,,a Of some one stril.
jn', iS,D ,,,j,b - n,nf,lc1 h9,rrncr Iros7
49,, fra,,, my. bod ma went to thn ,yiul,q,
H.. ,ro,I yyos low, in the western horizon.
Lr ,,Licb foct lnav, tIot il mus. be n,.,r
11orriny TSe sound have referred ,c