The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-05-10
MADE BIG MONEY.
What Wilcox Earned by Cutting Rims
From DOnble Eagles.
What Chemistry Has Done for Counter.
feiters-A Peculiar Chinese Method,

Wilcox, the coin clipper, certainly
stands at the head of his profession.
Recent shipments of lightweight eagles
and doubles to the treasury at Washing
ton from various parts of the country
show that he did business on 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 ingenious fashion at
least $4,000 worth of gold coin. He
left trail of it all the way from Denver
to Baltimore. 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
i work, with only four or five hours 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 it.
BY cutting rim from around the coin
as tire might be removed from a
wheel, he took away from each $40
piece an amount of gold not exceeding
twenty-six to Twenty-Five grains in
| weight, or about the value of dollar.
The subequent re-reeding of the double
eagle, done with a machine, rendered it
as perfect as ever to the eye of the causal
observer. The apparatus employed
could be taken apart and packed in a
/ trunk, so that the criminal operator was
able to pull up stakes and decamp from
| city as soon as his work began to ex-
cite attention. In this way he moved
| gradually eastward, pausing in Chicago
| during the Worlds Fair and reaping a
good harvest there. On reaching a
| fresh locality he was ready to do bust
ness, all that he required being quiet
room in an obscure street and supply
| of gold coin. The latter he obtained
| from banks in a very simple manner. He
would deposit a considerable sum of
money and, after while 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 confederate who was os-
tensibly 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
yellow stuff. When, Wilcox found him
self in Philadelphia after his escape from
| Uncle Sans officers in Chicago, ne
thought it would be better plan to
| reduce 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 tina he was
| dental surgeon, and that. being about
to depart for Europe, he wished to
dispose of it.
made no objection when the customer
expressed desire toslook on while the
gold was being melted. The operation
is simple enough, and Wilcox observed
it carefully. After leaving the shop he
went and bought nest OF cruel bles 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 about 81, 900.
In old times. century or more ago,
the clipping of coins was carried on ex-
tensively in England andselsewhere. Gold
! pieces which had lost more or less of
their substance were common then and
passed current readily enough. But
statutory restrictions against mutilation
of the coinage have rendered this business
comparatively Improbable. However,
it is still practiced by criminals of great
experiences, whos have various methods
of reducing the bullion value of metal
currency without altering its appearance.
For obvious reasons, gold is almost ex-
clusively subjected to such treatment.
Some of the processes employed are re-
markedly ingenious.
One of the most interesting of these
consists in saving double eagle in two
throughsthe edge and gouging out the
! inside SO as to remove about SIS worth
PORTFOT los