The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-09
FALSE PAPER MONEY.
EXHIBITS OF COUNTERFEITs TO
BE MADE AT THE FAIR.

the Government.
FROM the Washington Star.
The United States treasury will exhibit
a collection Of false paper money at the
worlds fair, including proofs made directly
from all the counterfeit plates ever capt
ured by the government. These will be
shown as relics illustrating the history OF a
lost art-for such the business CT initiating
the printed currency has practically be-
come in this country. No new counterfelts
worthy Of serious consideration are pro-
duced here any longer. Those which excite
attention from time Co time are nearly all
old ones. Some of them are turned of
from plates made many years ago, new
editions being issued from them occasion
ally.
General appearance" is a prime quality
in a successful counterfeit There are very
few people who scrutinize a note when
offered. They accept 1t if it has the right
look That is the reason why the Treasury
fears the initiative powers of such processes
as photo-lithography and photo-enRrav tnR.
Such mechanical methods do not produce
creditable forgeries considered from the ex-
pert's point of view, but the bills bear a
fair superficial resemblance to the originals
from which they are copied. The criminal
makes in a camera au ordinary glass mega
tive of the design on note. From that he
takes a positive and prints 1t on steel
plate covered With gelatine film, etching
1t with acid. Thus be obtains what is called
a photo-gravure, which ia completed with
engraving tools. That is only one of many
ways. Direct photographs Of note designs
on paper make wreLched counterfeits.
TIE LAST GANG CAPTURED.
l. -
was captured Just year ago. They did
their work by the process above described.
Ig was carried on at the house of William
Hera, photo-eDgraver by trade, in New
port, Ky. With him we're associated Ralph
Wishorn, who supplied the capital, and
William Brown, wood engraver. Hera
made plates for IS and $40 silver certificates,
Brown cutting the seal. Secret service de-
tectives found them busy at it, They capt
ured twenty glass negatives and zinc etch-
ings, together with other materials aud
proofs printed from the plates. Not dol
lar of the false money had been issued, the
scheme being nipped in the bud. Brown
escaped punishment by turning states
evidences the other two went to prison.
These were but clumsy fellows at the
! business. Their notes would not have been
| accepted at the counter of any Intelligent
tradesman. Yet of such small caliber are the
| modern SUCCESSORS of the experts in this IN
lawful profession who kept the govern
ment in terror for years by their attacks on
the national currency. There we're giants
! who made their mark in the criminal an
| nails of those days What has become of
! them! Some of them are dead and others
are in prison, while those who remain at
| liberty are kept continually under surveil>
lance. While IL Is true that nearly all coun-
! terfelters have spent most of their time in
| Jail, the greatest OF them all hos never
| known d days confinement in reforma-
| tory institution.
That man is the famous Charles Smith,
I who employed his leisure for twenty years
IN the preparation Of au unparalleled series
| of initiative crimes Himself OF unasssiled
| reputation and the husband of a bankers
! daug hteT, nobody for moment suspected
| him 10 be the author Of the wonderful
| oounterfeits which from 1862 to 1888 kept
| the United States authorities in a continual
! state of alarm. When discovery came be
| turned states evidence, and, to secure their
! freedom, he and the notorious Brockway,
! who did the printing. surrendered an enor-
| nous quantity Of plates and dies. Smith Is
| now employed by one Of the bank note COM
| panles in New York. Brock way resides 10
the same city as q man Of leisure. having
| accumulated a handsome competence by
| his efforts in the profession OF which be
| proved such an ornament. Pete Mozart
| ney, who invented the plan of washing the
| ink from real 81 bills in order to get tiber
| paper 20 print 500 bills upon, Is dead.
THE FAMOUS TOM BALLARD.
Dead likewise is One-eyed Thompson,
who is credited with having been the first
/ person to send an explosive box for the pur-
| pose or blowing up an enemy. One of his
fads was the altering Of 81 notes to $50 each.
The famous Tom Ballard emerged from
prison not long ago, after serving sentence
of nearly thirty years. 1t was his gang
who ran an opposition to the treasury
during the war. turning out notes of all
denominations TO the extent of many
millions OF dollars. When the fiber paper
was adopted he initiated that by means of
plates engraved with irregular curliqueues
rubbed over with blue ink and printed
from. Too close a watch cannot be kept
upon an eX-counterfeiter, because ex-
perience hos shown that this form of crime
has an almost irresistible attraction for
those who have once been engaged in it,
There have been very few instances where
successful forgers have been content to res
tire on their gains after securing a fortune.
COUNTERFEITs ON THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
During the last 1S5 years counterfeits
have been offered at the counters Of the
Bank of England averaging from SIS, 900 TO
1000 annually. In August. 1886, several
notes on the institution for $50 each were
taken In Boston. They were of eXtrRordi-
nary excellence and deceived many experts.
About the same time notes of the same de-
nomination we're offered in Chicago to a
broker on Washington street, who sub
! jected them to critical examination While
he was gazing at the water marks by holds
ing the bills between his eye and the light
the person who offered them said that he
would leave them for closer inspection and
/ Skipped out. Similar ESQ notes have re-
Gently been found circulating in Antwerp
and many Of them have fallen into the
hands OF emigrants on their way to Amer
! lea. A large number of notes on the same
concern for 9l00 and $500 dated Aug. Is.
/ 1888, have been offered from time to time
and declared bogus.
| In the Office of the treasurer of the United
| States at Washington two Bank of England
notes are exhibited, framed on the wall.
/ alongside OF some artistic specimens Of
! Uncle Sans currency. The contrast is
! very striking. Whereas the bureau of ea-
/ craving aud printing here depends for
4 protection against counterfeiting upon
/ the elahorateness OF its designs, the
! paper money which is as good as gold In
| England is so simple as to apparently invite
! imitation by the forger. There Ia a small
/ amount OF lot erlug and nothing else
/ However, the great financial establishment
which sustains the credit Of Great Britain
| depends mainly upon the water marks in