Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-05

| nection with this peculiar branch of in
dustry. They cut out the numbers from
| these worthless securities and insert them
in place of the original ones, helping out
| the effect by means of colored pencils and
| inks. Thus they change one-dollar and
| two-dollar bills into fives tens and twen-
ties. It is fact that confederate notes
today are not wholly without value. They
| command a market price of 2 cents apiece,
| being chiefly in demand for fraudulent
| purposes. Great numbers of them are
| passed every year upon ignorant foreigners
| in this country, especially in New York
| and Chicago.
The most admired experts in the note
| raising line up to date are man named
Freeland and his wife Belle. who operated
| in Chicago for a while, making much trou-
| BILE for the police. They were actually
| artists in their way, the bills altered by
| them being so excellently done that there
! was no trouble in passing them. But they
| were caught at length and sent to prison.
| President Cleveland pardoned the woman
| only the other day, because she had given
| birth to child in jail and the infant need
| ed her care. This kind of fraud is wholly
a novelty, having grown up within the last
| two or three years. 1t was carried on so
| extensively a short time ago that the au-
| thorities became alarmed, and the utmost
| efforts were made by the secret service
| to ferret out and punish the offenders AS
a result, no fewer than forty persons were
arrested for making and passing raised
| notes during the last year, and 1t is believ-
| ed that this form of crime has been we'll
nigh stamped out, for the time being, at
| all events.
| Some Youthful Operators.
| So attractive is the business to the I'M
| scrupulous that even boys have gone into
| it. Two youths in their teens named Es-
| Textbook and Chaplin, near Portland, Me-,
| were caught raising 81 treasury notes to
| tens. They used colored inks. According
to their statement they got the idea from
reading accounts CT such doings in tho
| newspapers. A very successful operator in
this line caught during the last year was
a mulatto named Walter Jackson. He was
| better known as the Jap, because he look
| ed somewhat like Japanese. He was
only eighteen years old and had been a
mill hand at Homestead, Pa. He passed
! altered notes Of his own manufacture in
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington,
| his profits being so considerable that he
| could afford to travel. A girl in a MILL
ners shop dropped to his game and he
ran away, leaving behind him big book
| containing twelve raised greenbacks. In
| the book were also two written cards bear
| ing the name Walter Jackson, and the adj
| dress Homestead This gave a clue. and
| the detectives by watching the mails at
| Homestead located the man in PEiladel-
| phia. He was arrested in the latter city
| in August last. Colored pencils, brushes
| and confederate money were found in his
| possession.
The chief reason for the remarkable sue
cess of the secret service in hunting down
these rascals is that it is far more easy
| to capture a note raiser than a counter
| feiter. The latter does not usually circu-
/ late his own stuff. preferring to dispose of
| 1t through go-betweenS or showers" Thus
| it is apt to be hard to discover and lay
hands upon the manufacturer of the false
money. But the criminal who merely al
tiers the face Of the currency usually pass
es his product himself Some Of the notes
| n9rIp1n11SlV
and will stand fair scrutiny, though they
are easily detected by holding them be-
| tween the eye and the light.
Increase in Countcrfeiting.
| Another skillful worker in this business
recently captured was Henry Wood, alias
Blake who was formerly in the regular
army as enlisted man, and served in
the Modoc war. Finding himself dead
broke in San Francisco, it occurred to him
to raise the wind by altering notes. He
passed a great many in San Francisco,
Sacramento and Oakland, becoming locally
notorious as the bill Raiser" For long
| time he puzzled the police, but was finally
| taken red-handed. His stock in trade
sisted of lot of confederate notes, pencils
| of various colors and bottle of mucilage
| He was regularly in correspondence with
persons in Atlanta, Ga, from whom he OBJ
tanned his supplies of confederate scrip.
There has been an extraordinary activity
!
last year. The number of arrests for such
| offenses has been greater than in any pre-
| vious twelvemonth in the history of the
secret service. Enormous quantities of
| false notes and coins have been thrown
| into circulation. A number of limitations of
| the governments fiber paper have made
| their appearance. One of these is $50
| note consisting OF two pieces of paper
| pasted together, with scattered filaments
! of silk between. In last March a danger
| Gus counterfeit of the 81 treasury notes of
| 1891 turned up, printed on paper containing
silk threads. In June of this year con-
Espiracy discovered in Hamburg and
| Leipsic, Germany, for the counterfeiting
| of United States silver certificates and
| Bank of England notes on a large scale.
| Half a million dollars worth of the imita-
tons were captured, together with the
| criminals.
During the last fiscal year counterfeit
| coins have been issued in alarming guam
titles. Thirtysix Italians were arrested
| for making and passing this kind of cur
| rency, to the private production of which
people of this nationality seem to be es-
pecially addicted. They work in gangs, and
| employ processes of the most primitive de-
| scription. At the same time, there is
| evidence of any advance artistically in this
| branch of counterfeiting, which is regarded
as beneath the attention of the high-grade
criminal. The necessary mechanical equip
| nent Of plaster of paris for molds and
| cheap metal composition being within easy
reach of all, there is great temptation for
| the uneducated and morally besotted to
l
| secret service declares that the counterfeit
ing of coins is far more serious in it's
suits to the community and more difficult
| of detection than the making and circulat-
ing Of spurious paper money.
The Aid of Photography.
| Meanwhile Photographic counterfeits are
multiplying rapidly, much to the discom-
posure of the treasury. Specimens execut-
| ed on banks at Fort Worth, Tex, Derry,
N H., and South Bend, Ind, have excited
| special attention. By photolithography it
| is easy to initiate the most skillfully en-
| graved designs. This and other photo
| graphic processes are being brought stead
| lily to greater perfection, and the danger
| from attacks by such means upon the cur
rency is grave and increasing. Notes thus
produced are easily turned out In indefinite
| quantities. Though they could not deceive
| an expert their general appearance Is
| good and calculated to satisfy the passing
| scrutiny of the average person who ham
| dies money.
BY new process called "photodligrame''
| sheet of paper is rolled through a press
l 81, 41;1e .,cn 1a-