Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-12-24
tOUyTERFETTERS
Dangerous Gang Unearthed at
West Superior, Wis.
Treasury Detectives at Work
for Six Months.

sRolice Captain Mrffc1 Talks Ton Much
aud in Consequence Several of the Gang
Escape Arrest = List of Counterfeit,
Gathered Up at indianapolis Look out
Tor Bogus Columbian Halves.
WEST SUPERIOR, Wis, Dec. "a. =
What is claimed to be an arrest of great
importance was made Thursday after.
noon. The prisoner is Frank Mclean.
metal worker, and the city police
who have been working on the case, as.
sert that he is member of an active
and dangerous gang of counterfeiters
A large quantity of counterfeit coins,
dies and metal was captured. Twenty
treasury detectives have been at work
/ on the case for six months past, but
Detective Earnshaw, of the city police,
stumbled on the facts that led to Nc
Leans arrest He discovered a set of
dies while working up petty theft, and
this gave the secret service men some
thing to work on.
Captain McRae, of the West Superior
police department, has lost his official
lead as result of talking too much
while the case was being developed.
and it is alleged that but for McRae's
volubility six or seven arrests would
have been made Thursday instead of
one. The police hope, however, to
effect other arrests.
Six months ago silver counterfeits of
all values from dimes to dollars. ap-
peared i'll nearly every prominent city
in the country, and the west was liter
ally flooded with the bogus coin, which
were of particularly dangerous char
acter. The attention of the secret gery-
ice was called to The counterfeits. AID
men were detailed TO search out the
gang that was putting them in circula-
ton. Nothing was discovered, how
ever, until Earnshaw found the dies as
stated above. The case was then fol-
lowed up until it eliminated in Nc
Leans arrest. He was arrested at his
boarding house late Thursday night BY
an officer who has been shadowing him
for the past week. He has been allowed
to see no one nor to communicate with
anyone since he was locked up
Three other Important arrests are ex-
pected of men who have been under
watch and who are where the officers
can lay their hands on them. At11
o'clock two boys were brought into the
Central station. They are believed to
be connected with the case. but the
police refuse to give any information
concerning thom.
a bag full of dies, bogus coin and
metal was also brought in. The police
say the gang has made its headquarters
along the south shore of Lake Superior.
at points between Superior and Ash,
land, and that they have had showers"
in every part Of the country. They re-
fuse, however, to give the names of any
supposed to have been connected with
it, excepting that of the man Mclean
under arrest
The money, they say, was made near
South Range. about ten miles from
Superior. Here cabin was built on
claim taken up by one of the counter
feiters in a lonely spot III the pine
woods. In this apparently safe spot
the coins were turned ont by thou
sands and sent to every part of the
country.
One man, and he a principal in the
gigantic swindle Of the government, has
made his escape for the present. His
name is refused, but he left the city,
eluding the man who was watching
him, and took along all the completed
coins not yet sent to outside agents.
The train he took is known to the po-
lice and he will probably be arrested
somewhere en- route. He is said to
stand high in local business circles.
But for the action Of McRea, it is
said, this man would have been cap
tured and the whole gang taken in the
very act of conducting their self-author-
lied mint.
Chief Porter is expected to arrive
from Chicago and important develop
ments adding to the magnitude of the
story are expected with his coming.