The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-10
SHOWERS OF The QUEER.
Detective WetheThOTl Takes in a
Batch Of Them.

Spurious Dollars Given Away by
Negro Whom They Had Taken in as
a Confederate They Give Their
! Names as j. Frank Mason and James
J. MorEan-They Coin a Very Good
Imitation of the Genuine.
Two white men, J. Frank Mason and
James J. Morgan, were arrested yester-
day by Detective Wetherhorn on the
| Louisville road, on the charge Of counter
feiting. The arrest was made upon in
formation laid before United States Com
missioner w. n. Beckett yesterday morn
ing by Gerge Johnson, colOred.
Johnson had twenty-one counterfeit dol
lars which he said the men had given him
to pass off in the city and told a very
straight story Of his iourneying with them
| between Everett City, near Brunswick,
and Savannah.
johnson has beensloing railroad detec-
tive work for several years, he says, and
! happening to be at Everett City when
the men attempted to shove their coin
there, he joined them with the intention
of affecting their arrest, which he accom-
plished at the first opportunity.
" T. 1 AALHhOAN NlAAN En- dLADEs
Detective Wetherhorn was called in to
make the arrest, which he readily agreed
to undertake. Equipping himself in hunt
| ing costume, with leggins and other tog-
| gerry. he left the city in a cab, accom-
/ panied by johnson, who was to point out
/ the hiding place Of the counterfeiters
| They left the hack some distance from
| where they expected to bag their
| game and separated, Johnson pro-
| ceeding some distance ahead of the
| detective. The latter went quietly
! along the road as if in search of game
] with his gun upon his shoulder. When
! Johnson left the road and entered the
swamp he laid a silver matchbox on the
ground to mark the exact spot at which
| the detective was to enter. The latter
! followed as directed and came upon the
! two men in the swamp short distance
! from the road.
AT THE POINT OF GUN.
Before they knew what was up he had
| them covered with his gun, and ordered.
| hands up" The command was very
! promptly executed. The prisoners were
! quickly handcuffed and before they knew
it were on their way to the city. They
were taken to the Office of Commissioner
| Beckett, who committed them to Jail to
await a preliminary examination. Both
men proclaim their innocence and de-
/ clared that they had never seen the
counterfeit money until it was shown
to them in the commissioners office.
! The men do not look like professional
| criminals, but are rather hard-loOking
citizens, and look as if they might be re-
cruits on their way to Washington to Join
| Coxey's army They both claim to have
been employed on the East Coast Line in
! Florida, and from their familiarity with
! Florida had evidently been in that state
Mason said he is from Salisbury, N c.,
! and Morgan said that his home is in Mem
phis, Tenn.
AN EXCELLENT COUNTERFEIT.
The counterfeit is splendid imitation
of the genuine silver dollar, and would be
readily accepted as such if presented by
| respectable parties. All the counterfeits
are dated 1892, showing that they were
all made from the same mold. They are
a little lighter than the true coin and the
color is little darker. The workman
ship is good, except that the milling
around the edges is poorly done.
Johnson claimed that the men had a
large quantity Of the stuff with them,
over $500 in all, but none was found upon
them nor anything else that would tend
to implicate them as counterfeiters 1t is
believed that they have hidden the stun
| in the woods and Detective Wetherhorn
will go out to-day to make a search for
it, He is satisfied that the men are
guilty.
JoHNsoN's STORY.
Johnson tells an interesting story of his
| experiences with the men. He saws they
hung around Everett City, which is a
little station on the Florida Central and
Peninsular railroad, the junction point for
Brunswick, attempting to pass their
spurious coin until they had excited sus-
picion and were threatened with arrest.
He determined to join them in the guise
of confederate for the purpose of affect
ing their arrest. He pawned a suit of
clothes with a merchant to get a
little ready money, 50 that he would
not be compelled to use the counter
felt money in case of emergency. He then
hunted up one Of the men and told him
that his arrest was threatened for coun-
terfeiting, The man seemed very CRATE
ful for the warning and Immediately
hunted up his partner, They asked John
son to go with them to Savannah. They
said they would receive $500 in counter
felt here and that they had 1915 with
them, and agreed to give Johnson all the
money he could handle between there and
Savannah, and told him that when he got
here he could put 81 500 in the town if he
wanted TO.
They proposed to give him one-third OF
all the good money he received in return
Tor the spurious coin, and said that il he
was good shower he would have nc
trouble in showing $75 to 500 night
PLAYED INTO HIS HANDS.
johnson accepted their proposition, and
came on up the road with them. They
travelled for the most part at night and
slept in the day, Mason and Morgan
succeeded in passing of several dollars
upon colored people for food on the way
up, sometimes securing change and some.
times not. Tuesday morning, johnson
said, they arrived at a store fifteen
miles from Savannah, where he bought
something to eat for which he paid good
money. After leaving the store they
crawled under church out of the rain
and slept there until 1850 o'clock al
night. They then came on several
miles further and got something to eat al
negro house, giving woman a spurious
dollar and receiving so cents in change
Yesterday morning they came on &c
within four miles OF the city and semi
johnson in with supply of the coin tc
work il OF.
HUNTED FOR AN OFFICER.
81 went Immediately to the United
States court house." said Johnson in tell
his story to MORNING News reporter
ut was early and there was nobody there
but the Janitor, who was cleaning up.
asked for some of the officers and was di
rected TO MIR Beckett / laid the case
bafOrn him Won lynpvy ha raef