San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-08-25
CAPTURED THE GANG.
A BOY SUCCEEDED WHERE THE DE-
TEOTIVESFAILED.
How a Boy Ran Down a Gang OF
CounterfeIters and Gained
a Large Reward.
Written for the Sunday LIGHT.

Written for the Sunday LIGHT.
1t was in the month of June,
1891, when first discovered that
some dangerous counterfeit money
was in circulation in the little
town of Blue Springs, Virginia,
and to make matters worse it was
found that the money which was
mostly in pieces OF 80 cents and
Sl.OO was almost as well minted as
the genuine and it took an expert
to tell it from the genuine, by the
looks of it, but when it was
dropped, the sound was dull and it
could be told in this way.
There was hardly person in the
town who did not have some Of it,
and it had been circulated all over
the surrounding country.
AS soon as the Government Of
ficials heard of it they sent a detec-
tive to the place to work up the
case, and reward of $1,000 was Of
fered for the capture of the gang
who were minting this spurious
coin. The detective, after working
on the case two months, gave it up
as hopeless and left, but another
one who thought he could do bet
ter, came and took the place OF the
first.
He secured the surrounding
mountains in the disguise Of a
hunter, in the hopes Of getting
some clew to the location Of the
headquarters of these lawless fell
lows, but all for no good.
The reward offered by the gov
eminent for the capture Of the
fellows had put a good many citi-
zens on the hunt also, but 1t
seemed as If they were doomed to
disappointment, as the gang con-
tinued to put the "coin" in circula-
ton, not withstanding the vigi-
lance of the officers, who were al
ways on the look out for some sus-
picious person, who might enter
the town for the purpose of putting
some of their "coin" in circulation,
but the strangest of all was that
counterfeit money had been cir
culated and no one could be seen in
the village upon whom suspicion
could be thrown.
This detective was also puzzled
and after a few weeks search gave
it up as a "hard case" as he ex-
pressed it and left also, as detective
number one had previously done.
After the detective left, the gang
became more bold and the bad
coin was circulated all over the sur
rounding country, and as not the
slightest clue had been obtained as
to their identity and whereabouts,
they felt quite safe.
But there was a rather bright
boy Rob Nicholas by name abuot
nineteen years old who lived
in the place, and was employed as
a clerk in justice Of the peace John
Hardin's office, the presiding peace
maker for that community, and
this boy decided that he would
keep his eyes open and perhaps he
could get some clue as to who the
counterfeiters We're, and it was
destined to be so, as that very
evening while looking over the
mail as he was accustomed to do
he came across a letter addressed
to Justice Hardin, and marked
"private," but he did not think
anything more about it, until just
as he was closing the desk to leave
for the night he saw the en-
velope lying on the Squire's desk
and the note which had evidently
come in it was lying beside it
where the Squire had thoughtless-
ly laid 1t when he had finished
reading it, so he could not resist
the temptation OF picking it up
and perusing its contents, which
were:
"Be at the cave at 9 o'clock. I'M
portant business. The Captain"
This somewhat startled Rob as he
could not think who could be send
ing the Squire a letter signed
"The Captain"
"What could he want with the
Squire?" he asked himself.
"Could it be possible the Squire
was in league with the counter
feiters?" he suddenly thought.
Then he remembered the Squire
had seemed to have plenty Of
money of late and that he was also
away from home a great deal at
night until quite late. All this
made suspicion point to the Squire,
so Rob resolved to follow him that
night and see il his suspicious were
right or not,
Accordingly he went home, ate
his supper, put on an old suit OF
clothes, slipped his revolver into
his pocket and walked over to the
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