Los Angeles herald., 1891-12-03

N!TT1TH J F'H'''
THE AMERICAN vIDoCQ.
with having in their possession counter
felt money of one description or another,
or for other offenses against the currency
laws Of the country You hear much talk
about counterfeits, and the monthly papers
which are devoted to the education of peo-
ple in the detection of counterfeits give
long list of alleged dangerous notes in cir
culation: but as a matter of fact, as have
said. there is but one really dangerous
note now out. In the lists which you will
find in the counterfeit detectors are many
notes which would be dangerous were they
in circulation, but as none of them come
In, the supposition is that none are in the
hands of the people.
sMost of them are notes which first made
their appearance years ago, the makers
and owners of the plates being then cap
tured and put away out of the business by
our service think it is the history of a
majority of the dangerous plates which
counterfeiters have made in the past that
they printed from them and put into cir
culation just about enough notes to sup
port themselves, and before a great many
notes were put out the men were captured
or their plates seized and destroyed. Not
one man in fifty in this country ever saw
counterfeit note, and probably the men
who have seen the smallest number OF
them are the so called green goods dealers
In New York city. These men do not come
within our province, for the reason that
they are not counterfeiters or dealers In
counterfeit money, but mere swindlers and
confidence men, to be dealt with by the
arQ a
few exceptions to this rule that the own
ers of plates print and circulate only few
notes. For instance ii is said of the 800
compound interest note counterfeits that
upward of $500, 900 of them were printed
and passed. 1t was very dangerous coun-
terfeit. A skillful engraver made plate
for the face of the note, and the back was
printed from an electrotype plate cast from
the genuine plate in use in the bureau OF
engraving and printing, the only instance
on record, believe, of the fraudulent use
of genuine plate. Nearly all Of the gen.
uine notes of this issue have been retired.
while the counterfeit detector publica-
tions, which have done good work in the
past in educating people in the detection
of bogus money, find it to their interest to
make people believe that the country is
full of counterfeit notes, the fact is, as
have said that the only really dangerous
note now out, SO far as this Office has been
advised, is the two dollar silver certificate.
Ask Mr.. Brooks to tell you about it,"
Assistant Chief Brooks, who is known
in Washington as the American Vidocq,
sat on the other side of the room. For
nearly twenty years this gray haired,
sharp eyed old man has been terror to
counterfeiters and showers of the queer.
His favorite expression concerning the
men whom he has been instrumental in
bringing to justice is, II put them away"
and all over the country are men in stripes
who know that this alert, keen, relentless
old man, who has several times been chief
of the secret service, and who recently de-
clined another appointment thereto by
President Harrison, is the one who caused
them to be placed there.
"This two dollar silver certificate" said
Mr.. Brooks" Is perhaps the most danger
GUS note that has ever come to this office.
The engraver who made it should be able
to earn fine income in the legitimate pur-
suit of his trade-a better income, no
doubt, than he is getting from this plate.
Perfect as it Is, and 80 well calculated to
deceive, doubt if he has put out more
than two or three hundred of them since
he first began to market his wares, a little
more than year ago. His revenue from
the enterprise, therefore, has been but five
or six hundred dollars, unless he has put
out large number of notes that we know
nothing about, and do not think he has.
for the reason that bankers and Others
who handle large sums of money are be-
coming very expert in the detection of
counterfeits, and this note has been very
well advertised. This only goes to show
you what we of the secret service have long
known-that the making of counterfeit
money is a much easier thing than the put
ting of it in circulation, in which respect
suppose it is good deal like printing
books. The average counterfeiter is per-
feet coward when 1t comes to marketing
the product of his years of toll, and thus 1t
happens that the very best counterfeit
plates ever made have done little harm In
the way Of polluting the currency. When
this two dollar silver certificate first came
out, the paper lacked the parallel silk
threads used In genuine notes, but the
maker of the notes, who appears to be
genius of the first water, has within the
last few weeks corrected this defect in his
work of art, and note of his manufac-
ture, which we received few days ago, ac-
tually contains the two parallel silk
threads, the same an In the genuine note.
"As some Of these notes are still in cirou-
lation. and no doubt more will be put out
from time to time an the owner Of the
plate needs money, will give you short
description Of 1t. 1t is counterfeit of the
issue under act of Aug. 4, 1885, series Of
1850. bears the check letter B and plate
number c,285. It bears the names Of W.
6. Rosecrans, register, apd James W.