Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1893-04-14
SPURIOUS MONEY.
Curiosities of Counterfeiting at
the Treasury Department.
Making Bills With Pen and Ink
and Sweating" Coins.

which have come under the attentlon
of the Secret Service were recently
captured in Indiana, writes Rene
Bache in Washington letter. They
were executed by lunatic confined
in the Central Asylum at 1ndianapo-
lis. Notice was attracted to his work
by two of hls notes, each for $40.
which were found in circulation and
were well worn. Three Others, which
were still in his possession, were Sc
cured. They were executed without
the knowledge of his official keepers,
and he will not be permitted to turn
out any more.
The notes, which are preserved as
curiosities at the Treasury Depart
ment, are all them done with the pen
and black and rcd Ink. This man,
however, is not the person who for
many years past has been uttering
the remarkable pen-and-ink bills
which have puzzled the authorities so
hopelessly. The latter is evidently
not at all insane, unless it be on this
special hobby, and his workmanship
is in so superior style of art that
banks have accepted his productions
as genuine. He makes only two
year, and they turn up with surpris-
ing regularity from all parts of the
country, no two of them being passed
in the same city. The work cannot
possibly pay, being fad of some &C.
centric.
The general effect of tho lunatic's
notes is good, though the workmanship
is crude. But the most remarkable
pretend to initiate any particular bills,
being mixture of various designs on
rency, with some original additions
out of the crazy brain of their author.
For example, one of them is hun
dred-dollar note, with the face of
Treasury note and the back of Ma
tional bank note.
The head of Washington, which
adorns the face, is an absurd carica-
ture. On the back, instead of the us
ual engraving of the Signing of the
Declaration of Independence, there is
a group of figures representing Christ
and His Apostles. Christ has long
spear in his hand. One of the Apostles
wears stovepipe hat and another has
a dagger. Instead of the seal of the
State at one end, there is picture of
a sow. The geometric lathe work is
laboriously initiated with the pen.
A fifty dollar note has likewise the
face of treasury note and the back
of a national bank note. A portrait
which may represent Jefferson is on
tue front. On the reverse, in place
of the proper design representing the
embarkation of the Pilgrims, is
scene that is evidently of a religious
character, with saints, etc. These
highly original pictures are in the
very crudest style of art. They seem
to have some allegorical meaning
There is similar vignette on the back
of ten-dollar note, taking the place
of De Soto in his great act of discov-
ering the Mississippi river. By some
accident another ten-dollar bill, which
is silver certificate, has both sides
fairly correct, though the Inscriptions
on it are in exceedingly bad English.
One Of the most curious of modern
methods of attacking the national cur
rency is the "sweating" of coins. The
process is both simple and profitable,
though it requires some expertness.
An electric battery is employed in
connection with a small tank filled
with solution of cyanide of potash.
The operation to be performed is
merely that of elcctro-plating by the
dcDOSltlOu Ol n COpDCE WlTc,
connected with the battery, is so ar
ranged that its two ends arc immersed
in the solution.
To the end which ia the positive
pole is attached small lump of plati-
mum or zinc, while 10 the other ex-
tremity or negative pole is fastened a
500 gold piece, for example. The
current being turned on, the chemical
solution absorbs gold from the coin,
and after it has taken up as much of
the precious metal as it can hold the
surplus of the latter begins to deposit
itself upon the lump of zinc. This
process may be continued until all of
the gold in the coin has vanished,
transferring itself to the zinc.