The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-20
N ABE BIG MONEY.
What Wilcox Earned By Cutting
Rims From Double Eagles.
The Amount Of Gold SO Treated-what
Chemistry Has Done for Counter
feiters-A Peculiar Chinese Method.

feiters-A Peculiar Chinese Method.
From the Washington Star.
Wilcox, the coin clipper, certainly
stands at the head Of his profession, Re
cent shipments of lightweight eagles and
double eagles to the treasury at Wash
ington from various parts of the country
show that he did business on a much
larger scale than was imagined. Up to
the date of his final arrest by govern
ment detectives he must have treated in
his peculiar and ingenius fashion at least
$4,000 worth of gold coin. He left trail
of it all the way from Denver to Balti-
more. His recapture the other day,
after having escaped from the officers
who took him in Chicago, was extremely
fortunate.
According to his own account, Wilcox
was able to earn $50 day at this sort of
work, with only four or five hours of toll.
The industry was easy as well as lucra-
tive. He was almost safe from detection,
the clipping being done so scientifically
that only an expert would suspect 1t. By
cutting rim from around the coin, as
tire might be removed from a wheel, he
took away from each 500 piece an amount
Of gold not exceeding twenty-six or TWEEN
ty-nine grains IN weight, or about the
value of dollar. The subsequent rereed-
ing of the double eagle, done with a ma
chine, rendered it as perfect as ever to
the eye of the casual observer.
The apparatus employed could be taken
apart and packed in trunk, so that the
criminal operator was able to pull up
stakes and decamp from city as soon as
his work began to excite attention In
this way he moved gradually eastward
=. a. IL.
fair and reaping a good harvest there. On
reaching a fresh locality he was ready to
do business, all he required being a quiet
room in an obscure street and a supply of
gold coin. The latter he obtained from
banks in very simple manner. He would
deposit a considerable sum OF money, and
after awhile he would draw it out in gold
OF course capital was needed. The clipped
coins were passed by Mrs. Wilcox at dry
goods shops mostly.
A DENTIST CONFEDERATE.
Wilcox had a confederate who was os-
tensibly a dentist. The latter, being SUP
posed to employ that metal in his bust
ness, found no difficulty In disposing of
the stolen gold. But, oddly enough, the
gang did not know how TO melt the yell
low stuff. When Wilcox found himself
in Philadelphia, after his escape from
Uncle Sans officers in Chicago, he
thought it would be better plan. TO re-
duce the gold to ingots and sell it as
bullion to dealers in that commodity. So
he went to a man who bought. and sold
precious metals, taking with him a few
ounces of gold He said that he was a
dental surgeon. and that, being about to
depart for Europe, he wished to dispose
of it.
The merchant suspected nothing and
made nhfapf1On VvhpD rho avr
pressed a desire to look on while the gold
was being melted. The operation is sim
pie enough, and Wilcox observed it care
fully. After leaving the shop he went
and bought nest of crucibles and porta-
BILE bellows. These he carried with him
to Baltimore, where he made use of them
until the detectives ran him down. He
could hardly escape for long, because the
secret service was straining every nerve
to capture the criminal who had made
such a success of new and improved
process for mutilating the coinage The
apparatus captured and destroyed must
have cost a bout 81 coo.
In old times, a century or more ago, the
clipping of coins was carried on extern
sively in England and elsewhere. Gold
pieces which had lost more or less of
their substance were common then and
passed currency readily enough But
statutory restrictions against mutilation
of the coinage have rendered this bust
ness comparatively Improbable. How
ever, it is still practiced by criminals of
great experJness, who have various
methods of reducing the bullion value of
metal currency without altering its APP
pearance. For obvious reasons, go q is
almost exclusively subjected to- such
treatment. Some of the processes en-
ployed are remarkably ingenious.
One of the most interesting of these
consists in saving double eagle in two
through the edge and gouging out the in
side so as TO remove about SIS worth of
gold. Thus the piece is reduced to mol
low shel&in halves. 1t is then filled with
platinum, which is nearly as heavy as the
yellow metal and costs at the present
market rate, though that varies some
what-less than one-half Lead is too
light for the purpose The cut edge of
the reconstructed coin is disguised by a
rim of gold soldered on, and reeding ma
chine renews the corrugations of the
minting. The result is really a work of
art, being a combination of five different
metals. Only an expert can distinguish
anything wrong about it,
ONE METHOD EMPLOYED.
A method somewhat similar thouph Iess