San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-07-22

ury plates that could not be told from
the genuine. The merchant, by the.
barest &C 'ident happened to be ali
honest man at heart. and although
The temptation offered to him was
q great one, one that not one man in a.
hundred could refuse, decided not to
accept the proposal but TO inform Uni
ted States Marshal Moore, who an
swered the letter under the mer-
chants name who had received 1t,
and wrote TO the eounterfeiter and ia
formed him that it was lust the
stuff he was looking for" but stated
that owing tG the pressure of business
it was impossible for himl to visit
New York and suggested to Mr.. Coun.
terfeiter that the mails were q safe
mediam through which to transact
business and stated that If this was
he would order $500
worth to start on.
The reply came back that on no &C.
count would he do business through
the mails that 1t was absolutely
necessary that he should see his GUS
TONER and do business face to face
only being the safest, surest and
most satisfactory way to transact q
business of this nature, and promis-
ing If the goods were not as fine as
represented to reimb urse hum Tor all
expenses of the trip and forfeit $1,000
in gold.
In consequence the Marshal wired
for instructions" how TO know and
where to meet the couuterfeiter andln
due time arrived at place of meeting,
the Grand International Hotel, New
York City, and was called upon by
an old man who brought with him
valise, which he opened in the room,
displaying packages of money amour
ting to 100000. The detective exa-
mined the money carefully said 1t
would suit him, and put his hand In
his pocket as If to bring out the mo-
ney TO pay for 1t: but In the place of
money he drew pistol, and placing
t at the cOunte rieiter's head made
him a prisoner, and took the contents
of the bag into his possession. Upon
being arraigned on che charge of
offering and selling what was suppos
ed to be counterfeit money, the pri-
and stoutly denied that he ever had
. counterfeit bill in his lite aud he de.
msnded that the experts employed
by Treasury Department at Washing.
ton be sent for.
His demand was complied with,
and on arrival OF the gentlemen they
at once set about making thorough
and critical examination of the sup.
posed couuterfeits; then submitted
their sworn REPORT, which was as
follows: That all these United States
Treasury notes, were printed from
genuine plates used by former work.
men In the Printing Bureau, and were
yerfect and exact duplicates of gen.
uine bills issued by the Government
They further added that they mad
long been aware that some persons
had possession of a set OF plates sup.
posed to have been furnished by one
OF the engfavers in the
Engraving Bureau, and finally
tua6 the only difference between
the notes found on the pris-
oner, and the genuine, lies in their
not being so much silk fibre inter-
woven in the paper. The prisoners
counsel asked the government ex.
perts If they would swear that the
bills examined by them were coun ter
feits. TO the establishment of every
one in the court room, they replied
that they would not, In fact could
not, as they were positive the billie
were as good as any issued by the
government and added that the fault
lay in the careless manner observed
In the Treasury department In allow.
Ing workmen to handle government
plates, printing inks, dies, etc., as
they wished
The judge had no other alternative
than to instruct the jury to discharge
the prisoner, who thanked the Jury
and quickly skipped out of the court
room, vslise in hand, that contained
q cold SlOO, 900 of money that was good
The reporter was not alone In his en-
vious thoughts, because from the ex
pressions and suggestive remarks of
some of the members of the jury at
the departure of the prisoner, it
seemed that they would like to have
a few thousand of the so.called coun.
terfeits themselves.
To give our candid opinion we could
see no difference in the bills as the
notes were printed from genuine Uni
ted Stated plates, obtained from the
departmental ashington,
by whom il is not known and perhaps
never will be. AS the case now
stands some one is getting rich In a
safe, fast and sure manner at the ex.
pense of the government.
The secret service detectives say the
only way to etfectually stop the circu.
plates, now in possession of this gang.
The presumption is that the plates
are not in this country, but In Canada,
aud the printing is done there. |
There is no possib BILE way of tracing the |
bills to any of the agents circulating |
them, TO do so, it would be necessary |