The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-20
SHARP NEW DODCES.
The Devices Of COuntGTleiteTS Keep the
Officials BUSY.
Novel Use for Confederate Money-A
Boom in the Business Of Raising Uncle
Sans -Pen-and-Ink Forger.

FROM the Na~1.Ueton star
New devices OF counterfeiters have been
keeping the treasury officials on tenter-
hooks Of late The business OF altering
the denominations o. Uncle SANS notes
and certificates has been having a sreat
boom. and ingenious criminals are find
Ing novel use Tor old confederate shin
plasters in connection with this peculiar
branch OF the industry They cut out the
numbers from these worthless securities
and insert them in place Of the original
ones. helping out the effect BIZ means Of
colored pencils and ink. Thus they change
81 and s. bills into fvos. tens and twenties.
1t is a fact that counterfeit notes to-day
are not wholly without value. They
command market price Of 2 cents apiece.
being chiefly IN demand for fraudulent
purposes. Great mum beers of them are pass
ed every year upon ignorant foreisners
in this country. especially in New York
and Chicago.
The most admired experts in the note
raising line up 10 date are man named
Freeland and his wife. Belle. who oDer-
ated in Chicago for "a while. making much
trouble for the police. They were actually
artists in their way. the bills altered bv
them being so eXcellently done that there
was no trouble in passing them. But thev
were caught at leneth and sent to prison.
PRESIDENT cleveland parIoned the woman
only the other day. because she had given
birth TO a child in jail and the infant need
ed her care. This kind of fraud is wholly
q novelty, having grown uD within the last
two or three years. 10 was carried ON so
extensively short time ago that the am
thorities became harmed. and the utmost
cHorts were made boy the secret service
10 ferret out and punish the offenders AS
a result. no fewer than forty persons wore
arrested for making ana passing raised
notes during the last year and il is be-
heNed that this form of crime has been
Well-nlgh stamped out for the time being
at all events
50 attractive is the business to tho I'M
Scfupulous that even boys have gone into
H. Two youths in their teens named
I-sterbrook and Chaplin near Portland
Me, were caught raising So treasury. notes
10 tens. They used col0red inks. Accord
ING TO their statement. they got The idoa
from reading accounts Of such doinrs in
lhe newspapers. 4 very successful oDcr-
dlor III TINS line caught during the last
year was mulattO named Walter lack
SON. He was better known as Tho Ton
because he looked somewhat like a Lamar
csc. lie was only rs years old and had
been mill hand at Homestead Pa Ua
passed altered notes of his own manufac-
lure IN Philadelphia, Baltimore and Wash
IlSlon' ms profits being so considerable
That he could afford to travel 4 rirl
IN milliners shop "droppcd" 10 his
game and he ran away leaving bebiud
MN big book containing twelve raised
gfeenbacks. In the book were also two
written cards bearing the name V-aItar
~, J3cNSoh ana the address Homestead.
ms gave clew. and the detectives. bv
watching the mails at Homestead Ioe,t1
the man in Philadelphia. lie was arroetcd
IN the latter city in August last. Colored
pencils, brushes and confederate money
We're found in his possession
The chief reason for the remarkable
success Of the secret service in bifntin,.
down these rascals is that il is far more
easy 10 capture note raiser than coun-
terIelter. The latter does not usualt,
circulate his own stuff. urererrir,o, -
dispose of 1t through Eo-botWeens or
showers" Thus it is apt to be hard ~
discover and lay hands upon the mann
tacturer of the false money Rut tbo
criminal who merely alters the face of the
currency usually passes his product him
sell. Some of the notes thus treated are
marVelously well DONE and will stand a
fair scrutiny. though they are easily de-
tected by holding them between the eve
and the light -
another skllful worker in this business
recently captured was Henry Wood alias
bake VINO was formerly in the regular
army as an enlisted man. and served a.
the Modoc war. Finding himself doa1
broke in San Francisco, il occurred n hin,
70 raise the wind by altering notes He
passed great many in San Francisco
sacramento and Oakland becomfna. local
~ notorious as the bill Raiser" For a
lohg time ne puzzled the police, but was
"a
trade consisted of a lot of confederato
notes, pencils Of various colors and a hot
lie OF musilage. He was regularly in cor-
respondence with persons in Atlanta Ga
from whom he obtained his supplies ~
confederate scrip.
Ihere has been an extraordinary activ-
lty IN the counterfeiting indusfrv duri,,c,
the last year. The number of arreete f e.,
such ofenses has been greater than IL
any previous twelve month in the bisto,,,
OF the secret service. Enormous o,,anti-
Ties OF false notes and coins have been
thrown INTO circulation. A number OF i'm,
ltatlons of the governments finer naro,.
have made their appearance. one of tbeea
IS $50 note consisting Of two pieces Of
paper pasted together, with soattera5
hlaments of silk between. In last March
d dangerous counterfeit Of the 81 Treasure,
notes Of 1891 turned up, printed on nanc,.
containing SILK threads In June of this
S~e'i a Np4As iJil d'f vi do discovered in Ham
burg and Leipsic. Germany, for tho conn-
terfeiting Of United States silver certfG-
Gates and Bank of England notes on a
large scale. Half a million dollars worth
OF the limitations were captured. togatbe,
with the criminals.
During the last fiscal year counterfait
coins have been issued in alarming ouan-
titles. Thirty-siX Italians were arrested
for making and passing this kind Of chr
rency, to the private production Of which
people of this nationality seem to he ee-
pecially addicted. They work in pange
and employ processes Of the most prini,
tive description. A the same time there
is no evidence of any advance artisticalIv
in this branch Of counterfeiting which ie
regarded as beneath the attention Of tho
high-grade criminal. The necessarv me-
chanical equipment Of plaster of paris for
molds and cheap metal comDositfon heinz
within easy reach Of all, there is great
temptation for the uneducated and morally
besotted TO engage in the business. The
chief of the secret service declares that
the counterfeiting Of coins is far more
serious in its results to the cornnunif,,
and more difficult Of detection than The
making and circulating Of spurious paner
money.
MaapurbfIa rEotog~.rt,f-