Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-15
SPOTTED DY A WOMAN.
1t Was n Treasury Clerk Who Detect
ed BrOck.vay's BAD Money.

1t Was n Treasury Clerk Who Detect
ed BrOckway's bad Money.
FIon, the New York World.
"Once a counterfeiter, always q counter
feiter," is an axiom Of the United States
secret service. Never was this more thor
oughly illustrated than i'll the case Of Will
lam E. Brockway head conspirator in the
recent counterfeiting schemes detected.
His entire life has been spent in the at
tempt to amass million dollars at the
governments expense. Now, at seventy
three. with long penitentiary term star
ing him in the face, he has not given up
hope. Should he live and get out he will
likely return to his nefarious occupation.
No ccunterfeiter was ever known to re-
form. Punishment in prison does not make
them good. nor can they break away from
the temptation to invest few thousand
dollars and float a million dollars in queer
money. 1t was all accident which prevent
ed Brockway from becoming a millionaire
in 1850. He had got out counterfeit 500
bill on the Pittsfield (Mass.) National Bank.
In the language of the secret service, 1t
was "a beauty" and it passed thro ugh
many hands without detection. This was
before the days of silk fiber paper. and fine
engraving only was required. The scheme
came to grief through a woman. This time
the woman was treasury clerk. A woman
detects counterfeit quicker than a man.
She looks at 1t and declares, THAT is a
counterfeit" Very often she can't pick
out the flaws that proclaim it to be bad,
but sense Of touch-call it instinct IL YOU
will-leads her to believe the bill is bogus,
and she is right.
In 1880 the Brockway 500 bill came to
the treasury from New York bank for
redemption. The woman clerk caught it.
investigation followed. and the only i'm
perfection found was slight dip in the
angle or cross-tree in the picture of a
ship. Otherwise the bill was as perfect as
any turned out by Uncle Sam.
New York city was found to be the head
quarters of the gang that was placing the
Pittsfield counterfeit, and the large de-
nomination of the bill caused suspicion to
fall on Brockway, who has always de-
lighted In putting out big bills. Brockway
was found to be in close acquaintance with
Charles H. Smith, an engraver for the
American Bank Note Company. James B..
Doyle was also spotted as a confederate
a ticket to Chicago. Secret service men
went with him. They arrested him in Chi
cago, opened his valise and found therein,
not the Pittsfield notes, but $3OO,OOO in
beyond detection
This was new and unexpected dis
closure. which resulted in the arrest and
conviction Of the three. So good were the
bonds that a microscopical test was neces-
sary to distinguish them from the genuine
In another week the gang would have been
worth a million dollars in good money, and,
in fact, several big banks in the country
had been taken in on the bogus securities
When an old counterfe;ter like Brock
way comes out of prison he is continually
watched by secret service men. Such
rogues may change their names, and ap-
pear to be lost forever but they are not
There is not day that some secret service
man cannot trace them to their hiding
Place, or unmask their identity. So long as
they do right they are not molested, but
the fascination of the profession is too
much for counterfeiter at any age.
A man who has given the service more
trouble and expense than any other one Of
fender is Nelson briggs. He is now about
eighty-five years old and keeps a road
house near Dayton, Ohio. When he was
eighty he kept score of secret service
people busy, and only for lack of witnesses
would now be, where he has been before,
in the penitentiary. briggs was not an
engraver, but with his young wife was an
expert handler and shower of the queer
Jim Guyon, the chief confederate of briggs,
has been the only great counterfeiting
criminal the government has so far failed
to catch. He is supposed to have been
mixed up in this latest conspiracy, and is
described as the most dangerous man of
his class, because he is remarkably shrewd
in covering up his tracks. Old briggs has
been under constant surveillance for years,
despite his age, mainly because some day
the secret service men expect to find Guyon
through his old confederate.