The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-02-12

LILO Wdo AAoo ouopSSoSu AAo" VIZ law
that the words were misspelled and
put together in an italian manner.
Afterwards it was found that the bills
were coming over in boxes Of maccaroni
and in canned vegetables.
It is thought that the counterfeit
$40 bills that were found like spstte1
in the West were done Id the East and
sent West by express. They bear the
portrait Of Secretary Window and
have been changed from So to $40 by
erasing The figures and putting others
in their places. Close scrutiny at the
denomination of the bill shows the
erasure.
The way sleek counterfeiters work
is by any method that will escape sus-
picion. You find their den like that
of Nicola laramie, the alleged head Of
the Malta in this country, in the base
ment Of a secondhand clothing shop,
or you find it upon the most fashionable
avenue of the town.
For small bills the poorer quarters
are chosen, and the richer ones for the
larger denominations. The bills are
sent to some one who is the recognize
head, and he distributes them to his
different branches in the most secret
Of ways. IS
Avery skillful detective Of the secret
service tells how he repeatedly tracked
counterfeit bills to one aristocratic
neighborhood, and finally suspicion
pointed to one man. He was a we'll
dressed. handsome young fellow, pass
ing as a law student. He had a room
in a fashionable boarding house.
The secret service detective took a
room in a real house and fitted a tele-
scope in the blind. For many days he
waited in vain, though always hearing
of new counterfeits in hat part of the
city. The blinds opposite were always
closed. One morning a gust Of wind
blew them open, just in time to reveal
a swagger group standing before the
table in the young mans room.
There was a fashionably dressed
young woman, a very dapper young
man and a tramp, all receiving an as
Segment of bills. The young woman,
it seems, passed as the "sister' of the
young man and came to his room at
will. The-dapper caller was a friend,
and the tramp was none other than a
boarder in the house who was also one
of the gang, and who disguised him
self as a tramp and got in and out Of
the house protected by his coat-collar
and his friends.
Their plan was to "paste" a certain
neighborhood, then move to another.
Each day the g%entlemanly head Of the
concern, the bogus law student, bought
cigars with a bogus SIS bill at the DIFF
ferent cigar stores and received a
handful of good bills and silver in re-
turn. In a wealthy neighborhood'a
bad bill goes unnoticed until time to
deposit it at the bank, when the cigar
dealer has no idea where he received it
There is a 81 bill with the head of
Washington upon it, in which the face
Of the Father of His Country is so
poor that you ridicule it at once. This
is a counterfeit bill. And there is a
$40 bill that has Lincoln's; face upon
it, badly drawn. The eagle, the en-
blem Of liberty, is a sorry-looking bird.
draggled and scratched instead of be-
ing spirited and clear.
There lisa $40 bill of Gen. Sheridan's
face. The star on his epaulet is four
pointed when it should be five. And
there is a 500 bill in which the eagle
bird has almost no tail. 1t is thought
that in mounting the plate the eagles
tail did not ''come up WE'LL" as print
ers say.
IF a list of all the known counterfeit
bills were given, it would look SO long
that eyes of suspicion would rest upon
every bill, for the game Of counter.
f%eiting has been going on ever since
money began. But in the United
States counterfeiters are pursued as
nowhere else, and the bills are tracked
and gathered up before they do half
the damage they work in other oun
tries. JAMES BARTON.