Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1891-08-22
rHeFTs FROM GOLD COIN.
How Unete sam Has Been Robbed by In
Eenious Italians and Poles.

genious Italians and Poles.
The United States sub-treasury off.
cials of this city are greatly annoyed at
present by tine amount Of light weight
gold coin that is coming into their cof-
fers. The gold is all short in value, and
though there ia no apparent difference in
the size OF the various pieces or their
weight 10 the unpracticed observer,
many Of them have been reduced one
third Of their value.
The officials do not hesitate 20 accuse
persons OF robhing the government by
reducing the weight of the coin. and the
government has even gone so far as to
take steps to stop the robbery Assistant
Treasurer Roberts said that many of the
s. gold pieces were fifty cents short, and
some OF the $40 pieces were worth only
S0.25. The 81 coins did not suffer much,
because it would hardly pay to bother
with them.
In every case that his attention had
been called To the lace of the coin had
not been worn or mutilated. The figures
and designs presented lines as sharp as
new ones, and the milling hadn't been
disturbed. These coins were, however,
all short from twenty-five to fifty cents
in value. These facts have caused the
officials To think that there are persons
at work IN the city who are making a
regular business of defrauding the gov
ernment.
The gold in these cases has been re-
moved from the coin by means Of d
+ chemical process. which does not appear
to affect the general appearance Of the
money.
An old treasury official, in speaking OF
/ the fraud, gave mo some interestin
\ facts concerning this species Of robbery
"Thereare half a dozen ways of getting
gold of coins said he, but the tw,
most in vogue are those where acid il
used, and in the sweating process. The
latter is most in vogue among Polisf
Jews and Italians. who make a regulal
business of it,
"ln the first place they secure a stoui
canvas bag and fill 1t about haR full q
gold coins. The top Of the bag is tied
and then the coins are shaken togethe
for hours at time. The friction OF on
coin rubbing against the other wears OF
considerable gold, and il is deposited Al
the bottom Of the bag. Each time SEQ
worth of gold coin is treated TO tn,
sweating process the Italian will prob
ably secure $50 worth of dust. The
coins wneu taken ont look somewhat old
Z las il they had been in circulation /
long time-but they will always be nc.
cepted by persons not used TO handling
money.
ITO person familiar with the frauds
however. it is always easy to detect
I coin that has been treated to sweat.
The Italian will always take new coil
for the purpose, and if person will onl,
/ stop To think he can also detect n high
coin. The gold does not wear of 4
rapidly as is generally supposed in ordi
nary circulation. Therefore when per
son finds a coin which from its date
only two or three years old, that has
very worn appearance, it has undoubted
/ ly been treated to sweat Thes
coins will always be found short weight
aud people will save money if the
watch the date and condition of tn
pieces they receive.
"The process 90 removing gold by a
acid bath Is now resorted TO more ger
orally than tho old sweating system. a
II is harder To detect the shortage in tn
coins. On 'sweated' coin tine figures an,
milling are worn. while on the other
the designs are not at all injured. T
detect shortage iu the latter coin weig
them. New York Herald.