The free press., 1895-11-14
SECRET SERVICE.
A Branch of Government That
Grew Out of War.
Chief Hazen'S Success in Running
Down COunterfeiterS

An interesting man to talk to is Mr..
William P. Hazen, chief of the secret
service bureau of the United States
Treasury Department, who succeeded
Mr.. Drummond in February, 1894.
Mr.. Hazen has had nearly twenty
years experience in all kinds of police
and detective work, and lately dis
tinguished himself by unearthing and
arrcsting the Brockway gang of coun
terfeiters, one of the most dangerous
lot of criminals of that class. Mr..
Hazen is from Cincinnati, where his
father has long been chief of detect-
ives, and it was in the Office of this
veteran that tho son was trained.
The secret service bureau arose out
of an organization which existed dur
ing the war under the direction of
Lafayette G. Baker, who was employed
by Secretary Seward to gather infor-
nation within the confederate lines.
He was on one occasion arrested and
threatened with death as spy, but
somehow deceived his captors with
the idea that he was Southern man.
After the war he was employed by the
Treasury Department to hunt up
counterfeiters and other criminals.
The duties of the bureau, at the
head of which is Mr.. Hazen, are diff
ferent from those which belong to the
detective organizations of the other
branches of the government. There
are the post Office inspectors, whose
business it is to ferret out violaters of
the post office laws; pension agents,
who look up pension frauds; special
agents for the treasury, who are on
the watch for smugglers; internal
revenue agents, whose game is the
moonshiner. The chief object of
pursuit for the secret service agent is
the counterfeiter-gen generally the keen
est and most wary of all criminals.
"There is a great deal of differ
ence," remarked Mr.. Hazen, "between
the counterfeiter and other varieties
of the criminal species. AS rule,
he is better educated, shrewder, more
ingenious, cunning and secretive, al
though most of them are quick to
make confessions after they have been
'pinched. Look at this picture OF
William E. Brockway, one of the
most uccessful of counterfeiters, whom
we canght in West Hoboken not long
ago. He has been criminal nearly
all his life, but you wouldn't think SO
from his face, which resembles that
of minister of the gospel. He
served term in Sing Sing for forgery,
but has never been convicted yet of
counterfeiting. For twelve years, or
ever since he left Sing Sing, he has
been under surveillance, and upwards
of $1,000 in rewards and other ex-
penses have been spent i'll trying to
capture his gang. In working up the
case adopted different tactics from
my predecessor, who had the suspects
shadowed. One of my operatives
was detailed to worm himself into the
confidence of DIR. Bradford, Brock
ways associate, and was successful in
making his acquaintance, SO that
he kept me posted on the move
ments of the gang. We located
the mill in West Hoboken, and
captured Mrs. Smith, the woman who
made the paper for the counterfeiters
and who is a cousin of DIR. Bradford.
We found $532, 400 in counterfeit S10O
ana 500 bills, and also 1,500 sheets
of the bast fibre paper have ever
seen that was manufactured by coun-
terfeiters. We caught Sidney Smith,
the engraver of the gang, in his shop
in Nov York and arrested Brockway
at Rockaway Beach, where he was
running boarding house. DIR. Brad
ford was taken in New York, but es-
capped from our agents, one OF whom
lost his job on that account There is
another member of the Brockway gang
in Europe, but we expect to get him
later on. This was the most formid-
able body of counterfeiters that hai
operated in this country for many
years, md has been broken up at an
expense of not more than 81, 500. "
II went recently to Londo a" con
tinued Mr.. Hazen, 'to testify in the
case of Mendell Howard, WHO was