The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-05
COINERS USE REAL SILVER.
co NTERFEIT DOELhRs OF a NEW
AND DANGEROUS KIND.

Than the Government Putn In Ita COtne
Secret Service Men On ~ SHARP Lookout
for the Makers or tho Bogus Mouey.
A clever and daring scheme for counterfeiting
the coin Of the realm has been discovered By
officers OF the secret service at San Francisco
Chicago. and Buffalo. This scheme embraces
the manufacture out Of silver OF spurious coins
of the sizo. shape. and general appearance OF
the legal tender silver dollar.
Heretofore counterfeiters have been content
10 make their spurious product out Of a COM
bination of the baser metals, but those now In
question not only make coins out OF silver. but
oftener than not these coins contain moro of the
white metal than the Government silver dol
lars do.
Some of the details of tho discovery of
this new system Of oounterfeiting are fur
nished in adviccs to TIL Sun from
Washington. and further details were
obtained yesterday from Andrew Mason, the
Superintendent of the United States Assay
once in this city. 1t was about two years ago
that the under superintendent of q silver mine
in Montana. known throughout the State for
his ability to draw quickly and shoot accu-
ratoly, as we'll as for his deftness In dealing him
self four aces at poker. went to San Francisco.
He stopped at the Baldwin Hotel and seemed to
have plenty Of money. Not many days after his
arrival he was seen one evening at q well-known
ACooIb III wv ShA ''NaSNO $500 ~
TO that timS there had been nothing against the
reputation OF the miner other than tho report
that he was a card sharp. The fact, though,
that his only companions in San Francisco
seemed to be the two crooks was enough, in the
opinion Of tho detectives, to justify their keep
ing an eye on him.
It was noticed that the three. as IL by agree
ment, mot every evening at the resort whore
they wero first seen together. They were
punctual in getting TO the saloon by 10 o'clock,
anc sat at n table in a remote corner of the
room talking earnestly until nearly midnight
One evening the miner fingered in the saloon
drinking. after his companions had gone.
Among those who were in front of the bar was
a man. who. in q loud voice, was endeavoring TO
maintain tho proposition that the safety Of re-
publican institutions and the salvation of the
United States depended upon the froe and I'M
limited coinage of silver at q ratio of sixteen to
one. Most OF those in the place agreed with
him.
There were two men, however, who did not.
These took turns In arguing the question with
the sil> er enthusiast, but the latter had learned
his lesson thoroughly and was getting the better
of the Finally. the silver crowd
why. look a-here. nobody but u damned fool
would favor n gold Standard"
The miner. who had been a silent listener to
the discussion. looked Mt tho silver advocate
steadily for some time and then said:
w ITlenu, IL YOU Ilttl hs VI oIuiiio rs
you have voice you wouldn't make such a state:
ment as that. I've been In the silver mines All
my nc, r ;an ns Ink sn 0s., as b mu rau h SDow , lM,s
when the Government makes dollars out of u
metal whose ma ket price is less than Its worth
In coin that the Government puts n premium
on counterfeittug? Why. n Teller could get
rich in two jerks OF n steers tail by buying s;l;
yer bullion and making 1t up into dollars! II
there was much Of that kind OF business where
wor!d the currency OF tho country be ?"
Hnrdly had the miner completed the lnat SEN
tenrc when two OF the crowd that had been
standing at the bar hurriedly left the saloon.
morning came they had held a conference with
Set ret ser, ice agents. Not long after the miner
returned to Montana. Secret service agents
miner for two or three months. Then he gave
them the slip. disappearing as completely asi
i hat was in December. 1894. 4 little later
the receiving teller of n San Francisco bank. IN
which he Thought were unusually heavy. He
weighed them and found that they were over
Dt.,artnent to lie examined. Then II was dis
tovered that they were counterfeits. The work.
k",snip wa, exee ell mt s Oh ss only ~ t isr sois. defect
Nh. discovery that some one was counterfeit
!~atsl,er Gollars,and putting into the spurious
'oin more silver than The government did
rar,lrd the Treasury officials. IL was a kind Of
rand THAI no one had ever, attempted before.
md they resolved 10 catch the counterfciters At
auy cost. Secret service detectives in Sun
Frnrrtsco were Informed of the facts and were
Instructed to begin the work Of getting to tue
bntton, Of thu swindle as soon ms possible.
Tie secret .ervicc men recalled the episode in
the san Francisco saloon, and they started out
Ia tina the two CROOKS who were the Montnna
miners com paninns when he was last seen
There One OF these men was traced to Chi
cago, and the other could not be found. In
Chicago. Secret service Agent Albert Gala
CHER was detail. ed on the case. and i was he
who Uncovered thu: similar counterfeit coins
were being passed in Chicago,
a little later he learncd. through, a woman
friend Of the san Francisco CROOK, that n man
fron Montana Ind n plaat for the manufacture
OF the counterfeit coin: and that a carefully laid
plan was bging carried out to float the spurious
co M sunni areously in San Francisco, Chicago.
Buffalo. and New York: .
The Buffalo authorities were notified, and In
Marcn. 1895. a man named, Schuyler was ar
rested in "A store charged with giving the coun-
terfeits in pay ment for gods. The San Fran
surveiiInncr wa ARRESTED at once. but was sub
seoucntiy discharged, because the authorities
lie gave the name of Lewis. Schuyler was
tried, convicted. and. sentenced to II term
OF impTIsoHm"nt: sin zee c linen secret SariD serves hase
10 king for The MONTANA miner and the second
San francisco erook; Ihq names or both men
dl- loso them. Within the past month a large
plumber OF tho spurious overweight coins haze
fact has convinced Secretary Carlisle and Mr..
Preston. Director OF tho Mint, that something
must be done 10 stop this fraudulent OUTPUT.
IL addition to the overweight counterfeits the
Treasury officials have another serious problem
sii1 StTu Hoins T fram the 4 sf fsisnd r OF Java "a SSSe foasd
Their way into the. Treasury in the courss OF
exchange. Java is practically without gold
coinage, and the only way she can keep her sill
yer at u parity with gold Is by the action of the
Bank of tho Netherlands cooperating with the
Bank of Java in accepting bills Of exchange
drawn On Amsterdam or London as the equiva-
lent Of gold. >,
Java has been threatened by the Influx OF silver
coins fraudulently stamped. There has been q
continuous export of these coins. with no demand
for imports from Hol and. This led the Treasury
officials to suspect that spurious United States
coins, those that were found in the Treasury
receipts, for instance. we're being made outside
the United States and probably in Java.
Inquiry was made of tho Government of the
Netherlands as to what safeguards were thrown
about the coming of silver in Java and II coun-
tcrfeiters had been discovered on the island. A
reply Is said to have been received to the effect
that no counterfeiters had ever been discovered
on tho island, but that 1t was suspected that
spurious JavRnese coins were being made in
China and carried over to the island.
1t was further stated that three Americans
had been found in Canton who were suspected
OF being counterfeiters. A description OF one
OF these men fits that of the Montana miner.
The Netherlands advices stated that tho three
seemed to have plenty OF money, and lived in
fine style. The Chinese coast Is now being close
ly watched. and the Dutch authorities IRE ready
to act with this Government. in bringing the
counterfeitcrs TO justice.
MIR. Mason, when seen at the United States
$500 AL L. N1T-l1 aNaa.N aaiI shat Ia Imam