Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-12-07
SHOWING THE QUEER.
An Interesting Chat With an Officer
of the Secret Service.

of the Secret Service.
: Washington, Dec. 2-The secretary
OF the treasury has completed his re-
port which is ready for the public.
and deals ably with financial questions.
! Uncle Sam, like other men, needs
filthy lucre, and the all-important uues-
/ ton of the day now seems to be how
/ TO raise the needful
| While there is a scarcity of the genu-
/ inc article Your uncle keeps his eyes
open for those who counterfeit the
coin of the realm, and there is always
force of detectives at work in that
branch
! The secret service" is a bureau in
the treasury department, whose head
| is an expert detective and whose sub
ordlnates are unknown to the outside
world. But the ramitications of this
service reach out to the different cities
! of the union and explore the secluded
/ haUnts in quiet country towns
! Up in one of the numerous rooms
of the treasury department we find a
small chamber which is museum
in which are collected the tools. bic
lures and work of the counterfeiters.
! On one side is case of ugly pistols
on the other, Il frame full of photos
+ of famous showers Of the queer" while
behind Il glass are numberless speci-
mems Of counterfeit or bad" money in
bills and coins
| To those whose curiosity is excited
by the queer exhibit the polite chief
clerk is always ready to give infor-
| nation.
The annual report Of the secretary
is just completed" he explained, but
there are many little things of interest
III the service outside of dry statis-
tics. For instance, it is not generally
known that it is against the law to
print, photograph, engrave or paint a
fac-simile of a United States note or
coin, but such is the case. We have
there, he continued, pointing to a
large placard bearing an engraving
representing a 81 bill, . Il picture which
was placed in a window to advertise
some 50 shoes. This drawing was
seized by the officers. A photographer
had as an advertisement a representa-
ton of a So note, and this also was
IcOnfiScated.s
This photograph of a man, seated in
Il chair and held by two others, is
the picture of a famous cOunterfeiter.
He was determined we should not
catch his face, so you see he has Wrin-
kled it UP so as to be almost unrec-
,OgniZable.
"One of the easiest ways of counter
feiting is to change a bill from one
denomination to anOther-say a $40 bill
to Il 500 note, or 500 to 5000. But
as rule large bills are not those most
often counterfeited, for the reason that
| it is much easier to pass a So note
undetected than it is one for $1,000
A small note passes unnoticed where
large one would be challenged.
"Of course the cOunterfeiters are
fine engravers, and their work is sim
! ply wonderful, still they never get off
as good specimen as that put out
by the government. The lines in the
/ portraits are not near so fine.
when fellow has made false
money his first object is to give it an
old look, so it can more easily escape
detection. Some do this by rubbing
a new note in the sweat from an over
heated horse, as this gives a Soiled,
oily look, and others us coffee or tea
! to effect Il stain.
/ I'VE have i'll the department here
a lady who is remarkably gifted with
such Il delicate sense of touch that it
is simply impossible to pass a coun-
terfeit on her. One bad note, which
had passed the sub-treasury in New
York, was detected and thrown out
while passing through her hands.
''Mutila ting coins is a foolish habit
with some people and they do not seem
to realize that they are practically
withdrawing it from circulation. For
instance, the ten-cent pieces used by
ladies for bangles, or on which initials
are cut, can only be redeemed as bull
liOn-they are money no longer, as
they no longer represent the coin of
! the realm