Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-22
COUNTERFEITERSA ARE ACTIVE
The Secret Service Bureau Has to Keep on
the Alert.
Chief Haxen I'm His Report Tells of
the Important Cases of
the Year.

Mr.. Hazeu chief of the secret service
division, has made a report to Secretary
Carlisle of the operations of that service
during the last fiscal year. The total num-
Der of arrests made was 6s7, of whom 3I6
were of natives of the United States. Italy
Germany and Ireland in the order named
were the foreign countries which contribu-
ted the greatest numbers of counterfeiters
to this country. The representative value
-cf altered ard counterfeit notes ard imita-
ton money captured during the year was
s469,357
Chief Hazen says that the events Of the
year furnish evidence IF great activity
amongst counterfeiters. The number of ar
rests largely exceeded these Of any pre-
viouS year in the history of the service.
While the figures show a decrease in the
amount OF counterfeit notes, Mr.. HaZcn
says II must not he inferred that counter
feiting paper money is on the decrease.~the
fact being that the year was prolific in
counterfeits of both notes and coins of
the United States. He says that 1t is i'm
possible, with the limited amount of funds
available. to give the proper attention to
violations of the laws against counterfeit
ing, and he, therefore, suggests that the
appropriation for the service be Increased
from 100000 to 100000. He also estimates
for an additional clerk, at $1,000.
The art of autobiography" says Mr..
HaZen, in closing his report although
seemingly IN its Infancy, has made it COM
paratlVeiy easy to initiate the most skill
fully engraved designs of cur notes SO that
The danger from this source is not only
very grave, but increasing; and to meet
these conditions the designs and execution
CT government notes should be such as
would make their reproduction most diff
cult. One safeguard still remaining, how
ever, is the secret process of making dis
tinctiVe paper.
s('nip
than formerly, and more than the usual
number of arrests and captures of material
have been reported. This branch of coun-
terfeitlng, however, is more serious i'm its
results to the community than that of the
making Of spurious notes, and much less
difficult of detection. No evidence of ad-
Vancement in the art of manufacturing
counterfeit coin has been shown. OF the
numerous counterfets Of the silver coins
which have appeared during the past year.
none can be classed as especially danger
Gus.
THE figures show a decided crease In
the receipt of altered notes during the fis-
cal year. The arrests of persons charged
with altering and passing notes are large
ly in excess Of any previous year. and is
due to the promptness of the agents of this
service in thoroughly investigating all
cases reported to them.
Among the most important arrests of
this class Of operators were Nj. T. Paulson
at Denver. CClo., on September 1G, 1881,
anu D. y. r reelsind ana lis wife, Belle, ut
Chic ago, Ill, on November Is. 1893. These
people were artists in tEis line of work
and the community is to be congratulated
that they are now serving terms in prison.
On February I, 1894, I found the bank
interests deeply concerned over the great
number Of lightweight gold coins in cir
culation. These coins had been impaired
by new and ingenious method namely:
The milled or corrugated rim of the coin
had been removed, decreasing it's value
about per cent, new milling was then put
ON and the coin, to all appearances, made
perfect. I Immediately put agents to work
with the result that all CT the guilty per-
sons are now serving terms in states
prison. One man was arrested in Sioux
City. Iowa, cn March 10, 1894, and after
trial, was st enced to Imprisonment for
eighteen months; another and his wife were
subsequently arrested in Baltimore Md.
and sentenced to four years and six
months, respectively. In both instances a
lathe and complete set of tools were cap-
tured. Since these arrests were made
coins lghtehed In the manner above de-
scribed have ceased to appear. In the
prosecution of these cases 1 was greatly
surprised to learn that there is no law tn
punish uttering or passing such lghtened
or debasep coins, knowing them to be such
L therefore earnestly recommend the PASS
age OF an act making 1t felony to mutt
late United States coins, or to utter pass.
or attempt to pass such coins"