The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-02-19
FRAUDULENT COINS.
The Use Of Electricity In Doctor
ing Gold Pieces.
Galvanic Batteries Employed In the Proc
css Of Removing Gold from Coins
Tho Immense Loss Through
Abrasion.

Short-weight gold coins are becom-
ing annoyingly common, says the Phil
adelphia Inquirer. Bankers and others
are frequently coming across light
pieces. The discovery q few days ago
Of nearly $500 in light $3.50 gold pieces
rendered in payment of custom duties
by prominent importer has led to the
detection Of numerous pieces short in
weight, showing that there is in opera.
ton systematic scheme for robbing
the Government by means Of stealing
metal from coins. Officers OF the
United States secret service are now
at work inSthis city endeavoring to
trace the coins through different hands
and find the offenders.
The process of robbery, which Is ia
miliarly known as sweating" coins,
was formerly practiced to q large ex-
tent, but of late years few instances OF
it have come to the attention Of the au-
thorities- It y not highly profitable,
and at best, under the old methods Of
extracting the metal, It did not afford
much more than living.
From q careful examination OF the
light pieces which are now being found,
1t is evident that the thief Is not doing
his work by the old hand method Of
shaking the coins in bag and then
gathering the dust by means Of quick
silver, but that he has brought into
requisition the rapid agency Of cleo
tricity. The service of an ordinary
galvanic battery and some cheap acid Is
all that is necessary to conduct the op-
Grafton by the electric process. The
scheme is similar to that employed In
plating with gold by electricity. The
coin Is placed In the fluid, and attached
to it are wires from the poles to the
battery leading to another piece OF
metal prepared to receive, In the
form Of plAting, the metal to
be removed from the coin.
The battery being set in motion,
sufficient gold to form plating is quick
ly transferred, and as it is removed
uniformly from all parts Of the coin the
liability of Disagreement is reduced to
a minimum. The only effect Is to blur
the characters slightly.
An authority at the mint has esti-
mated that about SO cents worth of
gold can be removed in this way from q
$40 gold piece without exciting the sus-
picion of the casual observer. To the
skilled eye Of an expert, however, the
effect is generally apparent at glance,
and 1t does not always require the
scales to determine whether the coin Is
correct or not. In the New York sub
treasury there Is one man, Tandy by
name, who, by years OF experience In
the handling Of coin, has become so ex-
pert in his Judgment that he can tell by
mere touch with closed eyes whether Q
piece is Of spurious metal or whether n
Is genuine coin that has Seen tam
pered with. In this respect be Is not
approached by any other person In the
world.
The electric process Of stealing from
coins Is not altogether q new scheme.
The Government officials q few years
ago capture d In Northern New York q
band Of Italians who were operating
extensively ON this plan. Few but for
eigners practice sweating" In this
country. It is an institution Of theft
much more common in Europe than on
this side Of the Atlantic, and those who
operate here are usually persons who
have been driven from their country for
the same reason. The enterprise does
not yield sufficient inducement in the
way Of easy labor and large returns
to tempt the average native born
swindlers, and 1t Is mostly monopolized
by class content to live on little and
hoard small savings.
Some idea Of the readiness with
which gold can be removed from coins
is found in the result of series Of IN
veetigntions made some years ago In the
mint. It was shown that SIS was Lost by
abrasion every time $1,000, 900 in gold
coin was handled. The experiments
were conducted with bags containing
$1,000 each, and it was shown that the
nero lifting Of the 200 bags making up
81, 900, 900 to truck to be removed to
another vault resulted In the loss stated,
and that their transfer from the truck
again made a second similar loss
Gold while in circulation Is ham
died less than any other medium.
1t is usually kept In the vaults Of banks
for demand rarely made, and for this
reason the loss by abrasion is but one
half Of per cent. in twenty years In
. $40 gold piece, the standard weight OF
which Is SIG grains, the Government
allowance for loss by abrasion Is ass
grains, but except In cases where the
coins have been tampered with by
sweaters" the loss rarely exceeds this
limit.
BY an order issued some time ago by
the Treasury Department at Washing-
ton the light $3.50 coins found the
other day were stamped with 'sI."
indicating that they were light
Shortly after the late Daniel NJ
Fox was appointed superintendent
Of the mint in this city the Secretary o&
the Treasury issued q similar order. A
stamp was procured, but protest being
made superintendent Foxb attention
was called to the matter and he decided
that be had no authority IN justice TO
mutilate the property Of another, 80 the
stamp was put away and never used q
the mint. Light coins finding their way