The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-10
CONTRIBUTING COINS.
TROUBLE CAUSED BY MAKERS
OF FALSE MONEY.

ing paper money in this country has
been brought practically to an end, the
coming of false silver and gold-more
especially the former-is a more -four
ishing industry now than ever before.
The imitation of gold pieces is done
chiefly on the Pacific slope, where the
yellow metal is commonly handled as
currency. In the East there is com
~paratively little of it in circulation,
and for that reason such of it as passes
from hand to hand is closely scrutin-
lied. No really first rate counterfeit
of a gold coin is at present extant, says
Chief Drummond of the Secret Service.
The game practiced by a gang cap
tured in Chicago the other day was
wholly new. They made money by
clipping double eagles in a manner as
ingenious as it was novel. The process
consisted in slicing off a rim from each
$50 gold piece, as a tire might be re
moved from a wheel. The corrugated
edge, called the ''reeding," being re
moved incidentally, the mutilated coin
was then re reeded in a machine. Thus
it's appearance was perfectly restored,
only the diameter being altered. Moth
ing wrong with it was discoverable by
the casual observer. Of course, the
faces were Unaltered.
The persons engaged in this remun-
erative enterprise, for the sake of pru-
dence, contented themselves with mod
crate profits. They took care not to
rob any single coin of more than 81 of
it's intrinsic value. Nevertheless they
were caught after having treated and
restored to circulation 600 double
eagles, representing $l2, 600.
In their aim for modest gains these
people initiated sweaters of gold coin,
who are usually satisfied with stealing
about rs cents worth of metal from
each $40 piece. Employing the electric
battery, this process removes a thin
coat from the entire surface of the
double eagle, which to the average in
dividual, has as good an appearance as
before it underwent the operation. It
is only the trained eye that takes note
of a suspicious brightness, while to the
touch the normal Irregularities seem
to be smoothed down. A method pre-
ferred by other criminals is to cut a
hole in the edge of the coin, through
which a part of the metal from the in
terror is taken out by boring. The
cavity is then filled with lead and the
place where the opening was is con
cealed with a coating of gold. This is
a sort of drift" mining on a very small
scale, but yielding sure results, the ore
being 80 per cent pure.
While the counterfeiting of gold is
not conducted on an extensive scale,
the business of making false silver
coins is goi4 g on continually all over
the United States. The attractiveness
of the industry consists largely in its
simplicity. 1t requires little skill and
no apparatus worth mentioning. Any
body can make a plaster-o paris mold
from a cartwheel dollar, and thus turn
out likenesses of the coin, using a mix
ture of base metals as raw material.
Recipes for mixtures suitable for the
purpose are passed about i'll peniten-
tiaries and other penal institutions. In
fact petty counterfeibers are mostly
educated in prisons. Having learned
the trade while in durance vile, new
apprentices start in for themselves as
soon as they are set at liberty. In this
way chiefly has knowledge of the art
been spread.
The immigrants whom Uncle Sam so
hospitality welcomes to these shores
are very frequently criminals in esse
or in posse. Many of them find con
genial employment in immitating the
national currency. This applies par
ticularly to Italians. Two thirds of
the foreign counterfeiters in this coun-
try r of that nationality. They do
the work largely in their bed rooms,
melting the metallic composition in a
pot on the stove and filling the moulds
with pewter ladle. The "stuf" is
showed to a great extent by vendors of
peanuts and fruit. They enjoy excep-
tional facilities for getting rid of bogus
dimes and quarters. In dealing with
these peddlers one does well to scruti-
nize ones change closely. Recently a
number of such p~eripatetic merchants
were brought to justice in Chicago.
The district attorney there procured
some of his evidence by handing a
dollar to a banana man in payment
for a ten cent purchase. The entire
lot of silver returned to him was coun-
forfeit