The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1892-01-09
ONE OF THE LOST ARTS.
NO FIRsT-cLAss couNrERFEIT-
mo BEING DONE.
Bettina Rossa's Dangerous Two-Doiiar
Noie-Dotch- Work Done by Com
mon Criminals--An Inter-
estIng Talk.

Counterfeiting as fine art appears
TO be on the decline just now. and
while the country is flooded every few
years with a cheap grade OF this work
and constant supply Of poorly exc
cuted silver dollars, halves. quarters
and dimes Is pushed on the unsuspect-
ing public yet really we'll executed
counterfeit is something rare. Some
years ago several skillful gangs were
at work on both paper and silver coun-
terfeits. says the ST Louis Republic.
and so fine was their work that they
gave the governments no end OF trouble.
Many OF their notes found their way
into the banks OF the country, and
some even got into the treasury de-
partment The activity OF the gov
eminent officials. however, rose to the
emergency and succession of i'm
portant captures followed by severe
punishment carried terror TO the
hearts OF the lesser criminal lights
and the result has been that from a
high-class, intellectual criminal. the
counterfeiter has descended to the
plane OF the ordinary crook. Instead
OF making OF large figures the coun-
terfeiter now contents himself with
the manufacture OF dismal-looking
dimes or quarters. or at best, dollars
which are easily detected even by the
uninitiated. ~
Mr. John F. Mccullough. the
secret-service agent in this city, gave
some very interesting details of the
present state of this nefarious bust
ness He says that the business is
now worked by persons who belong to
a low grade of criminals, and that the
most dangerous characters have been
brought to justice. True. there is a
| great deal of common work being done
in all parts OF the country. but this
work is easily detected, and those
who originate these baser counterfeits
are men OF small calibre who are soon
arrested. The very meanness OF their
work renders them easy OF capture.
| Mr.. Mccullough has at his office
large volume OF photographs OF coun-
;crfeiters and their records Some of
these are men OF good appearance
while most OF them are a hard looking
set The first picture in the book is
that OF Peter Mccartney, the father of
| counterfeiters. and another the
hardest and fiercest face in the book,
is that Of Bettina Rosa. The only
dangerous counterfeit now out is one
by this man.
1t Is 81 Hancock note" This
| note is gotten up on excellent paper,
and, strange to say is OF workman
ship about as faultless as the paper of
the government even to the silk
| threads which run through it. This
latter feature has always been a sort
of test OF good paper money in banking
houses. and this helped to make this
particular counterfeit all the more
dangerous. Bettina Rosa is now
serving fourteen years sentence in
the penitentiary at Sing Sing N. Y.
Rosa was one OF the most desperate
characters that the officials had to
deal with. He was man of thor
oughly vicious nature who would not
hesitate at murder to achieve his ends
He also handled s. and $40 counter
felt The plates OF these notes were
believed to be in Paris, France, from
which city Rosa emigrated to this
country. 1t Is supposed that he had
companions in France with whom the
plates still are and who are still issu-
ing the bogus notes and this Is sup
ported by the fact that every now aad
then 81 counterfeit of this kind is
detected in various parts OF the coun-
try. The only mark visible to the
common eye is in the tail OF the letter
~" in the signature OF the secretary
OF the treasury. which in the genuine
note fall between two OF the marginal
figures ''2." where in the counterfeit
the tail of the letter ~ strikes one OF
the marginal figures. AS the lines
OF the letter are however quite faint,
it will be readily seen that so Sigh
an imperfection is almost impossible
OF detection. The feel OF the paper
is perfect
The most expert counterfeiter.
however. who has ever operated in
America Is VIM. +. Brockway. This
man is highly educated and in his
better days was professor in Mas
sachusetts college. Brockway has
served several terms in the New York
penitentiary. his last being sentence
OF five years for counterfeting the
81. 600 bonds OF the Morris and Essex
railway company. He got out $780,
600 Of these. He is conceded by the
officials to have gotten up the finest
bonds and notes ever made in the
United States Brockway was never
In a hurry. He played for big game
and took his time. He went to work
with the intention OF clearing hum
dreds OF thousands OF dollars and
never descended to make or pass an
ordinary counterfeit OF small deromi-
nation. He never picked a pocket or
resorted to the shifts of the common
criminal. and was highly indignant
when he was bagged along with
number OF professional crooks in New
York city by Inspector Byrnes during
a recent public demonstration. He
made large sums. but spent them as
quickly as he got them. and to-day he
is probably poor man, living mainly
on his wits.
KexV N m a cIsg