Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-07

tons from them ever reach the conscience
fund. AS rule, they keep at the business
until they die, save when in prison. Even
while in durance vile they have been known
to produce false money and put 1t in cir
culation through confederates outside.
Within three years a lunatic in an Indiana
asylum has uttered forgeries on the
United States currency. 1t is a form of
crime most difficult to suppress. However.
owing to the efforts of the secret service
and to the high artistic quality of the en-
craving of treasury and bank notes, this
kind of fraud has almost been put an end
to. The great counterfeiters Of former days
are passed away in JAIL or closely watch
ed. In the last category is the celebrated
Charles Smith, greatest OF all forgers, who,
after keeping the treasury In alarm for
twenty years. was caught, escaped prison
by turning states evidence, and is now
working for bank note company in New
York. His fromer colleague, Brockway, is
living in Brooklyn on a fortune acquired in
the nefarious occupation, having served his
sentence. Pete Mccartney, who invented
the plan of washing the ink from real 81
bills to get fiber paper to print $500 bills on
is dead. Dead likewise is One-eyed Thomp-
son. who was the first man to send an ex-
plosive box for the purpose of blowing up
an enemy. His fad was for turning 81 notes
into fifties. With the arrest of the greatest
living expert in that line last year the in
dustry of raising notes to higher denomina-
tons has been brought practically to an
end. The mysterious pen-and-ink bills, exc
cuted by an initiative genius, still turn up
from time to time. to the annoyance of the
authorities; but they seem to be produced
only at the rate Of about two a year, rath-
er for the amusement Of their author than
for profit.
Uncle Sam loses a considerable sum every
year by the dishonesty Of postmasters, who
help themselves from the funds obtained by
the sale of money orders and stamps. They
get into financial difficulties and borrow
the cash, expecting to replace it Such &C.
currences are particularly likely to happen
at period Of financial stringency like the
present In most instances of the sort,
however, the government is made whole by
the bonds of the delinquent officials. 1t is
quite different in the case Of burglarized
post Offices Several hundred of them are
robbed every year. There was one instance
In Minneapolis, seven years ago, where
thieves got into the post Office at night
and cracked the safe. Directly I'm front of
the safe was a big plate glass window, but
1t was covered with frost, so that nobody
could see through 1T from the outside. The
robbers got away with 100000 two cent
stamps and 100000 one cent stamps. Only
about one-third of the booty was recovered
All postage stamps spoiled in the printing
are now reduced to a pulp like the re-
deemed paper money. Formerly they were
burned, but the person in charge of the
work eight years ago saved out several
thousand dollars worth of them and sold
them at discount for his own emolument
because the Post Office Department has
been unable to procure an indelible ink for
cancellation, some stamps are doubtless
washed and reused, but not very many.
REFUSING Internal Revenue Stamps.
Another fashion in which the treasury is
swindled Is by using internal revenue
stamps more than once The distiller may
attach a stamp to the top of a whisky
barrel with poor mucilage or very short
lacks, SO that 1t can be readily removed
afterwards. The government gauger can
GELS II with series Of black lines across
II. This shows that the tax has been paid
The barrel goes to a wholesale dealer and
Is enptied. He is obliged by law to de-
stroy the stamp. Instead Of doing so he
removes 1t intact and returns it to the
1istiller to be placed upon another barrel
Or he may take out the head of the barrel
with the stamp on II. drop it into the
empty receptacle. put a fresh head in, and
ship the barrel back to the distiller The
latter reflls the barrel and puts the stamp
ed head on it again, thus making it APP
pear that the contents have paid the tax.
From the fact that the government spends
tillers in the mountain regions Of the south
alone II may be imagined what enormous
loss their operations cause to Uncle Sam.
The moonshiner apparently never gets con-
science stricken. At all events. he does not
exhibit such feelings in any way more
palpable than by shooting revenue agents.
Licensed manufacturers of spirits swindle
the treasury out of vast sum annually by
LIOTc llQuOE tudU lncy dChIOWl-
edge and selling it secretly. The makers
and sellers Of tobacco in various forms are
80 strictly watched that 1t is very hard for
them to succeed in any dishonest trick.
Now and then a dealer in cigars, who runs
} factory of one man power. will keep fill-
Ing his boxes as they are empued. SO as to
avoid paying the tax, but the stealing Is on
! petty scale.
by means of simple apparatus consisting
Of an electric battery, a solution of cyanide
Of potash, and a copper wire. The wire.
both ends of which are immersed in the solu-
ton, has lump of zinc at one end and a
30 piece fastened to the other. 1t is con-
1ected with the battery and. the current be-
ing turned on, the gold from the coin is
deposited upon the zinc. After as much OF
the metal has been removed as is considered
prudent the gold piece is restored to cir
culation. The same process can be applied
10 silver dollars. though II hardly pays.
However, this fraud does not in the end rob
Uncle Sam, because such coins on reaching
the treasury are stamped light" and
thrown out.
fraud on the government OF a COM
paratively innocent sort is often practiced
In the army. A quartermaster finds his
stores short by 100 tent pins, five anvils and
fourteen sledgehammers. Very likely 1T is
not his fault such things will happen.
resently soldier deserts from the troop
anu disappears. Incidentally To the report
Of the desertion sent to Washington men
ton is made of 100 tent pins. five anvils and
fourteen sledgehammers as having disap-
peared with the delinquent. The latter il
supposed to be walking fifty miles across
with these articles. This squares
the quartermaster. who would otherwise be
obliged to pay for the missing things.
While the recipient of SO many contribu-
tons due to conscience, Uncle Sam is fire.
quently appealed to for sums of money
which he is supposed to owe to individuals.
People often put in claims for great
amounts which they imagine to have been
deposited in the treasury by their ances-
tors. These deposits they believe to have
grown to fabulous size with accumulated
interest. 1t is as difficult to persuade such
persons that they are deceived as IT is to
upset the decisions of those who have faith
In gigantic inheritances awaiting them In
the Bank of England.