Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-12-20
SPLITTING BANk NOTES.
One of the Most Ingenious Devices of
Commercials.

OAo = GAc Ingenious D0V1C06 Ol
Commercials.
Many devices have been rosorted to BIZ
counterfeiters to raise genuine bank notes,
as we'll as manufacture bogus ones, bus
u OF the most novel anne to light recent
ly at the United States sub~treasurer's of.
flee in this city. The scheme consisted Of
splitting a IS n 81 note and then past
ing the back of the 81 to the front of the
SIS note and the front Of the ST note on tho
back of q SIS note. The mechanical part of
the work was excellently done, but the
fraud could be detected the moment tho
note was turned over.
An effort had been made to change the
tsone' to five on the Comet side Of the
new combined note, but it, was done so
clumsily that the fraud would have boen
seen at q glance, and the only hope of
passing the notes as flves would have been
to pass them over with the SIS side up and
trust to the nan receiving it not to turn
1t over before putting it away. The doc
tOred notes came to the subtreasury
through one of the banks, with the request
that they be allowed whatever the notes
were worth. The government always re-
deems notes from tho face value, and as
the faces in this case were of a 81 and q
IS note Sc was allowed. 1t is not known
whether the bank was caught on the split
notes OF not.
"A cleverly executed counterfeit SIS ma
tional bank note was also detected at the
subtreasury the other day. 1t was on the
First National bank Of Tamaqua and was
burned in several places, to give it an old
appearance, and then pasted on II piece Of
paper, as If to hold it together. The fraud
was first detected by turning over one of
the corners and discovering a misspelled
word on the back.
Another trick resorted to frequently is
to attempt to raise notes by FASTING on an
additional cipher taken from a revenue
stamp. Experts can, however, detect such
a scheme at a glance by the picture OH the
note, the same picture never appearing on
notes of different denominations.
A counterfeit in which it is hard to see
where the profit comes in is the pen and
ink imitation, all the lines and shadings
being made by hand. With the skill and
time required for such a work there can be
little if any profit III it.
Probably the most perfect counterfeit
silver dollar ever turned out was detected
not long ago. The coin was the same size
as the genuine dollar, and the die was per-
feet down to the minutest detail. Tho
counterfeit was only detected by it's weight,
and the maker evidently overlooked the
fact he might make dollar of full weight
and yet make a handsome profit, owing to
the difference in value Of the coin and the
bullion in it. That tho bulk of the metal
used in this case was silver was shown by
the true ring of the coin.
The most surprising thing about coun-
terfeiters is that they make SO many bogus
coins Of small denomination. A great
many of these are pennies, which contain
apparently the full quantity Of copper,
and it is hard to SEQ where any large profit
can be made. The makers of these are
mostly foreigners, who are content to OPP
crate for small profits. In the case of
dimes and quarters many are made with
the full quantity of metal, but the de-
signs are SO Imperfect that they can readily
be Observation-Disclosures Record.