Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1893-02-01
a}ltsfellanepus &eading.
! SHADOWING COUNTERFEITERS
A DETECTIVES STORY.

Persons in the same line of service,
under the same authority, naturally in
dulge fraterual feelings and cultivate
each others society. This it was that
brought certain U. S. detective, NAL
colin Fitch, and myself, a custom off,
Ger, together and made us fast friends.
For a score of years scarcely an Incl
dent worth relating has happened with
either of us but that it has been told
to the other the first time we met.
And as he is no hand at writing, take
the liberty by his consent, of relating,
in my own homely style, an event or
two from his record.
One especial forte Of his has been
the ferreting out of counterfeiters, and
he has shown wonderful cunning and
perseverance in discovering and trac-
ing clews by which to catch these fel-
lows.
At certain time counterfeits of five
and ten-dollar government bills were
becoming alarmingly abundant. They
were skillfully executed, often defying
the experts. Two or three fellows
were caught in passing them, and re-
ceived due sentence, but the head
source of the counterfeits eluded de-
lection. Decoy letters failed of results,
the confessions and revelations of the
convicted persons led to no discoveries,
and it began to look as if the treasury
department was etfectually beaten in
it's own field. At length Fitch was de-
tailed to take up the effort, exclusive
of everything else, and after eighteen
months succeeded in unearthing the
whole gang and bringing them to JUS
tice. The record Of his operations is
interesting.
His first step was to visit banks and
postofliccs all over the country, to the
number Of thousands, registering with
the officials Il request for any of the
spurious bills that might be offered
them, or which they could obtain, and
also for the names and residences of
the persons offering them. In this
way, within a few months, he found
several persons who had received let
ters from New York from parties seek
ing to make sale of the counterfeits.
These letters were cunningly worded,
promised great gain in a short time,
and closed with an invitation to come to
the city and complete the business in
person. This is common method OF
dealers in "green goods" But each
letter gave different name, and ap-
pointed the city meeting at different
hotels. One said, enquire for l.. d.
James, room I, Merchants hotel,
Courtland street." Another gave the
name of "D. J. Lewis, Irving house"
Still another named J. l.. Davids, and
hotel on Broadway. No two Of the
letters were apparently alike, until
careful scrutiny revealed the same
hand, studiously varied. Spreading
over half a dozen of these, however,
the skill of the writer at Disgusting his
hand exhausted itselfand betrayed him
Enthusiastically. In the names, also, ap-
peared cunning but insufficient at
tempt to evade detection, and yet keep
close to one signature. This was evil
IDENTIFY meant as blind to the post
office clerks, and also to avoid the en-
tanglements that might arise among
the grcenhorns with whom the rogue
sought to deal. Thus, with several
different names, although substantially
the same to a keen detective, the man
could send his letters quite plentifully
across the country with small proba-
bility ofbcing suspected in any city or
town as the same person and represcn-
tative of a gang.
When, after time. Fitch examined
his collection of letters and circulars,
he decided that the man he wanted
bore one of three names, James, Lewis
or Davids. One man in three names
would seem to most people difficult
person to catch. If Fitch could have
obtained a description of his looks, it
would have simplified his task i'm
mcnsely; but this he failed to do.
His next step was to canvass nearly
every hotel in New York and critically
inspect the registers for the year past,
question the clerks and the chamber
maids, and in various ways look for
the trail of his game. Many were the
excuses he offered for such procedure
the man he sought was an old friend,
or ow-countryman, or one with
whom he had an appointment.
II l.. 1,,,f hi TnHi
weeks he had found number of places
where the man had been, the trail
showing in signatures and handwriting
on hotel registers, and in the recollec-
tions of numerous employees. He had
also become convinced that he was a
Jew, or at least a Jewish-looking per-
son.
At this point he began shadowing