The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-10
THE SECRET SERVICE.
THE WOMAN WHO PASSED A
$1,000 NOTE IN BOSTON.

Wonderful Penman Who Make $40
Bills With Pen and Brush-Patient
Work of Commentators Trying to
Overcome Advertised Defects.
From Kate Fields Washington.
In one Of the cabinets Of curios In the
secret service division of the treasury de-
partment is what looks like q $1,000 treas
ury note One day lady entered a dry
goods store in Boston. picked out hand
some top coat, value $3.50, and rendered a
| 81 ,O0O note in payment.
The suspicious clerk sent it around to the
bank That institution declared it good.
Meanwhile the lady grew impatient at the
delay, and very angry when she learned the
cause of 1t. So vexed was she that, Selling
the note, she left the coat and departed
from the store,
Later In the day she returned. There
was no other coat in the city that suited her.
Again a 81 900 note was presented. This
time the clerk took It without question, but
1t was after banking hours anyway.
| The woman got her $3.50 coat and $3.50 in
! change, and when the bank opened next
morning the merchant was out to the tune
| of 81 900. The woman had over twelve
| hours start and was never oversaken.
OF course no one knows how long it takes
to make S20-bill with a pen and brush,
| for none OF the wonderful peumen who do
| the work have ever been caught; but one
| would think that SO skillful workman
| could make more money at an honester
trade One thing seems to be certain
| counterfeIting runs in families.
| One branch OF the Smith family, re-
| greet TO say, has been source OF special anx-
| ietY to the government. Their work was
| mainly done in Canada, and all the scions
| Of this branch from the great-grandfather
/ down-male and female-have distin-
| guished themselves in their own peculiar
line.
Since the passage of law which makes
| il a crime to have In ones possession count
| erfeits or even picture Of any coin, currency
or government stamps, there has been a
turning into the department Of many curios
of this kind, which people have had In
private collections, or which banks have
| kept for their own pleasure or profit
Such things are at present to have In the
| house almost as dangerous as dynamite, If
| one chances to have an enem mean enough
| to take advantage OF the law.
One Of the pen,and-brush bills Is a $50 note
with Hamilton's head. There are two speci-
mems of this; one is quite fresh and not
easily detected, the other is worn and
| shows plainly that IL did not wear SO well as
| a genuine note should.
Another method of counterfeiting Is the
raising of note from one denomination TO
| higher. A few months back there died in
the Columbus pehitentiary Peter Mozart
ney. Many years ago he was first arrested
for counterfeiting and sentenced to this
penitentiary for fifteen years
He served out his term, and, as soon as it
was over, went straight to New Orleans
and commerced to raise dollar notes to a
hundred dollars. Within four weeks from
the time he left the prison he was back In
l a.. ~. A.
time he died before his time was over.
Thus counterfeiting seems not only in-
herited. but an ungovernable passion. 1t is
| pity that NO legitimate use has yet been
found for such wonderful talents.
Everybody knows the tale OF the man
who was In the employ OF the government,
and was a counterfeiter. II was years ago
when the government put out part OF its
| work by the piece to the bank note COM
panies This man had the job of making
the plate for printing some United States
| bonds.
While making the ordered plates he made
| a duplicate set for himself, printing the
bonds and very nearly got them on the
market. When caught he gave all his
plates, dies etc., valued at thousands of
dollars In exchange for his liberty.
Ever since he has been at large under the
check OK a suspended sentence. Should he
ever be caught counterfeiting again. the
without further trial.
Foreigners, unacquainted with anything
but the general outlines Of our paper
money, are frequently taken In by what
are called ''hash notes" These are usually
made ordinarily for advertising purposes
and only become a source of danger when
INSCRIPTIONS and ignorant persons meet in
their vicinity.
In an asylum in indianapolis is a man
who seems to have gone crazy on religion
and money. He thinks he can make the
latter, and is allowed to amuse himself by
trying. The results are sent to the treas
ury.
They are clash notes." The faces of the
mans producing resemble our paper
money in general, but no particular bill
very closely.
The backs of the notes show the other
queer lobe of his brain. In an oval are
drawn q number of grotesque figures
usually with some religious symbol
One Of them has Christ in the center
with a cross at one end. The costumes and
armor are a queer MIXTURE evidently sug-
gested. by Pilgrims Progress" and pictures
of the crusaders.
The difference ia the paper is perhaps the
easiest way for an expert to detect a coun-
terfeit note. There has never been but one
set of bad bills discovered thus far made on
government paper. These, strange to say,
were all taken in at one time by the teller
of q well-known bank.
ALI tellers are experts In the detection Of
counterfeits and, as have said. the first
thing is to have it feel right. Four $500
notes were presented to this teller for ex-
change They felt right, and It was not
till afterward that the female figure on the
left was found to have SIX toes and the but
tons on Haucock's coas TO have been put on
awry.
In fact, the plate was not az all we'll done.
but the ink had been chemically removed
from notes of small value, and they had
been reprinted.
Very little counterfeit paper money is
ever in circulation. Frequently complaints
of bad notes will come from a certain Sec
| ton.
Il will seem as IL there must be lot of
them, when the probability is that all the
rumpus is over a single bill which people
keep sending from hand to hand so rapidly
that it seems to multiply. Whenever an
ordinarily honest person has been taken 10,
his first feeling is to ''shoVe" the fraudu-
lent note OFF on another.
| Counterfeit coin is much more plentiful,
especially In silver, from a dollar down TO a
lucent piece. Even nickels and pennies
are not too valueless Go escape.
In the rogues' gallery. as have called it,
OF the treasury, there are a number OF in