Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-12-23
7o4 and o2S Main.

them recently, they have established head
| quarters In the West. Three gangs one
| Of them located at Oakland, Cal, one at
| .Hillsdale. Mich. and one at Chicago, have
| been broken up through the efforts of the
! government HawkShaws. one of the most
/ ehteLplislng OF the gangs had headquarters
/ at Sacramento ana Oakland. 1t added
! some new features 90 the old fraud. Let
/ ters and circulars Hcre sealed, addressed
! and stamped. but. instead of depositing
/ them In the mails. the swindlers them-
] selves cancelled the stamps with bogus
| postmarks, after which the envelopes were
! cut or torn open. This gave the letters the
appearance of having been, regularly
! dressees. The letters were then dropped
about in cities and small towns, where
/ prospective. victims.
a person finding one of these letters
would naturally infer that it had been re-
ceived, opened and lost by the addressee.
1t was intended that the finder should then
avail himself of the opportunity to obtain
for small price counterfeit money print
ed from stolen government plates and indis-
tnEuis liable from the genuine. one adj
vantage of this idea was that it dd not
render the operators amenable for viola
tion of the postal laws. However, the sub
was carried on through the mails
While these gentry We're under investi-
cation in California two other gangs be-
praires. one of the bollest of these COM
prised several old Offenders with records
of time, served in various, prisons. They
es tablishod themselves at lillsdale, Mich,
and at once began the distribution of their
literature throughout that portion OF the
country. The postofce detectives assigned
to the duty of bringing them to justice
realized from the outset that they had to
man named I'readweii, had boasted that
he never would again be taken alive. New
him, and when he found himself confronted
with the muZzles of several revolvers he
decided to surrender. Evidence against
TO Jail.
quite a picturesque episode. One of the
pos tofce detectives personated a farmer
from Iowa, having, adopted suitable dis;
to know what kind of farming he was en-
gased in in he meeklE i,, replied Mostly
ana whom the farmer displayed a wallet
Wen filled with 500 bills. which he modestly
declared, were AN genuine stuff" the swim
humor him in one or two matters in which
the Iowa granger with speculative turn
of mind had manifested some stubborn
As quickly 9s the samples of the goods"
We're produced, "Incl9' backed toward the
warned the sharpers not to resist arrest
as he was government officer; Assistance
good , money for bundles Of sawdust, the
detective marched the criminals to prison;
When they We're searched, F2'gTS IN good
was in new, crisp bills, being an important
part of the stock in trade of the green
Counterfeiters have piled their vocation
for many centuries and IN many forms.
but never until the last year have they d.
rccted their attention to the manufacture
of spurious postage stamps. II Will be re-
membered that last spring quite n sensa-
tion was caused by the discovery of a con-
spracy for flooding the United States with
bogus stamps. The scheme was operated
from Chicago and the adjacent Canadian
territory. The headquarters of the enter
prise was at Hamilton, Ontario, and 1t
figured under the head of the Canadian
Novelty ana supply Company, ADVERTISE
meuts were inserted in various newspapers,
stating that the company had received
large quantities of stamps in payment for
their novelties, which they desired to dis
pose OF at great discount, in order TO con-
vert them into money. The stamps We're
declared to be in good condition and We're
offered at a rate of Sll5 worth for 800,
y postOfHce detective, under orders from
the department, sent for 800 worth of the
stamps. Several packages of them at the
same time were seized in "A Chicago express
office. 1t is believed that not more than
10000 of the counterfeit stamps were ac-
tually printed and of these the bulk was
couiiscated, II was stupid swindle The
Office of the Canadian Novelty and Supply
Company was raided and the machinery
and stock In trade We're captured. Incl
dentaly two men named Jones and Thomp-
SON and ono woman were arrested. 1t is
not recorded that they have been convicted
yet, but it Is certain that they Will 20 to
prison for a long term