The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-19

officers descended on the Roadside inn
They caught briggs and the woman, bus
Guyon got away, aud In the raid one Of the
best OF the government detecti es was shot
and killed. Concealed about briggs place
they found about $4,000 in webster
heads" Two years ago Guyon, whose face
was familiar to every government operative
throughout the country, was caught az
Louisville. To avoid Identification he had
out gashes all over his face, knowing that
the scars would change him greatly. Bus
it has not helped him. He Is serving bis
term.
There lie hardly secret service Office in
the country that has not had its hunt for
the webster head A hundred times
they have thought that they were about TO
get it, but no officer has had the satisfaction
OF even looking on that plate yet. From
the fact that few of the bills encountered
nowadays seem to be fresh from the press
the more sanRuine of the government Of
ficlals believe that the plate has been de-
stroyed. There is a story, founded prob~
ably on the mere shadow Of a rumur, that
the plate was taken out on Lake Superior
and thrown overheard Two men who were
being WATCHED by custom officials threw
something heavy from the deck OF q steamer,
aud that, as the story goes, was the much
sought-for plate
These bills are OF the series of 1875. They
lack the silk thread that can be seen by
holding genuine bill to the light, but are
commonly so creased that casual RIanos
would give one the idea that the thread was
there. The paper is not the best; the Gu
craving on the head Of Webster Ia poor in
comparison with the rest Of the BILL and
betwsen the words "forn and "ten,n ia the
inscription at the top OF the bill, a space has
been omitted, so that it reads ''forten."
There is another bill. the jackson heads
that has bean quite successfully counter
felted. IL is 50 bill. and the plate has
never been traced.
1t is the habit Of men who print the coun-
terfeit greenback to seal the plate up and
bury It, Commonly the secret OF it's hiding
place is known to but one man. This is
why it is so hard 70 find the plate. When
the stock Of counterfeit bills on hand is ex-
hausted the engravings are dug up and q
fresh supply made. Then 1t is hidden as be-
fore.
There is a chap named Goodwin. now IA
prison in Michigan, who cut a wide swath
up north recently with IS bills,
genuine, which he had raised to the $50
| denomination. or course the vig>
nette of a $50 bill is different from
that on one for s.. but most people have
merely ha2y recollection of the exact ap-
pearance OF a greenback, and the bill as
altered looks so we'll that they are taken
where the cleverest counterfeit could
not pass. Even the banks have fire.
learned Of the mistake when the bill
came up at the sub-treasury, Goodwin
served a term for just this sort of thing Ia
Colorado. When he got out OF prison he
went to Portland and entered a business
college. De took the course conscientiously
and became great favorite in the northern
metropolis. he had plenty of money, spent
it freely and was a fellow Of oxcsllent adj
dress and education. After events showed
that during his term at business college he
had spent more time experimenting on al
tering So bills than he had on double entry.
When he concluded the course Goodwin
began to travel, and presently raised bills
method of altering bills was TO
take out the denomination, IS. with acids
and substitute $50. No one would discover
the cheat II the bill lay before him, but
holding 1t to the light reveals the fraud.
Goodwin was caught again In Colorado. and
in his pockets was found a paper with
authorizations and figures. These being
translated proved TO be record OF tho bills
he had disposed OF ana where he had passed
them. In all he had passed eignty-two
| bills. Sixteen OF these he passed In Port
| land and Secret Service Agent Harris has
placed and secured twelve Of the sixteen.
| As far as known he confined his operations
TO British Columbia. Oregon, Washington,
Idaho and Dakota.
The Abbati- Howell gang-the capture OF
which caused so much excitement last year
| was probably the most extensive counter
] feiting enterprise that has ever been at
tempted on the coast. The Italian bad sew
eral thousand dollars worth Of bogus bills
| in his possession for four years before he
dared dispose of them. lie got them from
the east just a little while before Gashie
Stein was caught and convicted. STEMS
case caused so much OF stir that ii pub
people upon their guard against counter
feits, 30 he did not dare pass them then.
The main business of this crowd was, of
course. with coin, and its most sensational
feature was the fact that a man like How
ell. who with his wife controlled nearly q
million dollars worth Of property. was in
volved.
There have been innumerable coin couu-
terfeiters caught here, most of whom made
the money with plaster OF paris molds such
as Doerr used. There is, however, IN the
county jail awaiting trial now a more in-
genious counterfeier. This is r. A. Mad
dox, a nephew Of Judge Brown OF Visalia
and other Wise we'll connected. He was re-
Gently caught at Stockton with more than
$500 ia bad half-eagles in his possession.
Maddox. who had been a merchant, hotel
keeper, a miner, a doctor and Mormon
preacher, is the only man on this coast who
ever struck out coiu with a die. He worked
a bit OF steel down to the exact sizs of a
| S. piece, heated it red hot and placed
it against a genuine S. piece on an
anvil Then he struck it a sharp blow
which drove the coin into the softened steel,
leaving perfect impression. He repeated
this for the other side of tho coin, tempered
his homemade dies and was r ady for BUSH
ness. He used as base good silver and
plated it with gold thick enough TO beat the
acid test. The milling and reeding he conn
! pleted with cold chisel. The coins, Of
course, are light, and very close inspection
reveals defects due TO the scaling OF the dies
when they cooled. But they are pretty
| good counterfeit. nevertheless.
! Somewhere in the east young boy who
! had just learned the use of acids made q
die for striking niokels out Of two hammer
heads. But, as a rule, making dis Is TOO
much work for the counterfeiter and he
takes chances with mold.
There has been but one Chinaman caught
at counterfeiting. This was in New York.
AS a rule these people are more careful and
scrupulous than any other nation in matters
appertaining to coin. Unlike nearly all
merchants they never attempt to pass along
a piece Of bad money that they have re-
ceived. As soon as they discover
10 they set it aside. The secret serv-
ice department OF this city makes regular
trips through Chinatown, and the
Chinese merchants wait for them and turn
over TO them all the bad money they are
unfortunate enough TO get. A reason for
their extraordinary honesty in this regard