Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1896-06-08
MEN WHO SHOVE THE QUEER.
tONtACt<eas WHO sysrEWATiCALLN
non THE UNITED STATES.
millions Of Counterfeit Money lie.
Iicsrd To Bc CirruiHtra-Money
Maker. Usuniiy Detected
Earl, In the Gnme.

]
| ins eNten, j. admitted more by action than
words by the persons whose business II IS
to keep trace OF ms depsr'mens I'M ,,o,r ot lhe
! Upwards OF 500 arrests OF these secret
| money nakers were made during the last
| ic,, OF the current fiscal year showed more
| than 500 arrests towards the close OF the
month Of February. and the nabbing of
| counterfeters has been so frequent since
| that time that chief liazen has not had
leisure TO strike total;
grirding out bills or specie, without con-
.nnltins the soyernment on ,he increase ssn, In
In these secluded spots almost any kind
OF counterfeit bill goes until 1t happens
those Isolated regions are not experts in
Distinguishing between the paper and
printing OF the government press and that
A large number OF notes have, recently
been added to the wonderful collection IN
and uttered In Texas. They were, OF com
mon bond paper, and the oto.lithoeraph-
but, they appear to have circulated freely;
and probably there are great quantities OF
them yet doing business Just as well as
though they bore the genuine stamp OF
How much counterfeit money is In con.
slant circnlstieng, was The hard question
versation the other day.
IT would be impossible TO make the
n9HsHei1 n9y Hse scr, xS 0i ssss that would be
Usually counterfeiters are run down
soon after their work, is discovered. but
they have been operating before their op.
erations become evident. Moreover. even
after they are caught or scared on BY el9,e ,P,e
eireHlatiOn for years. Here is twenty;
in this letter. The W writer T wants to know
whether II is genuine. II is bad counter
yesrs ie and and has. y9p syo e nse ans
been In pretty constant circulation. All
that time 1t has been doing the. business In
twenty-dollar note. until 1t is now In dis
pgte. and Its las, possessor Is the only one
who has lost ,anythlng on, account, Of It
terfeit OF the s. Fifth National Bank OF
Sincinnati tO) note. series Of 1859. check
I269 tW. s Rosecrans. register; James W.
Hyatt. trcasurer,. made Its appearance.
only two two, Of e., these have been seen , IT,
s. United States silver certificate Here
deiies detection, except by an exper:. Warn.
ing was sent throughout the United States
and precautions. raken to suppress this
These are paragraphs. from the las. re-
port of Mr.. Hazen, and are samples of re-
long years: and In a majority OF cases to
the report OF the discovery OF counterfeits
sssh are adaed opy one ,hss has
found or This is the only one seen" etc.
This is eloquent in its significance.
Who Were the makers OF the notes. where
were they made, and how many of them
were put In circulation and how many yet
remain in circulation?
I'm September, 1884," writes Chief Hazen,
soanisrfe!t sso FoaT,h 10 Iailensi iaf Te ba9k Of
captured IN Philadelphia, september 20.
pSarahss OF this moi note that any Wv We're re- ever Yer
printed"
There is no guessing how long these
lure. nor the amount OF twenty dollar bills
they gave to the country. but II there was
one there may have been locOo or 10000.
and only note discovered this counterfeit
had been in circulation in unknown quanti-
ties for upward of thirty years. and doubt
less tens of thousands OF it are now pass
Ing from hand to hand. useful as the gen
Another notable capture under the per-
sonal supervision of of Chief Hazen was
that Of the OLD and famous offender, Brock
H. New York, only few months ago.
Brtckway bad secret process OF his own.
pound plates. and thus lessen the chance
a. discovery, He would employ an expert
for to no ke s!@ m' he wo9 Sn IF the o
Eether by his secret process so .cunningly
that the fac, Of the plate having been made
When captured b" and Bradford had a
somgletg SET Of plates and presses for the
notes partially printed to the amount OF
i,esn about $1,000 6,9 osI and had not Bsoekway
this snug sum would dombtless nave d added
50 much 70 the per capita circulating me
SiGm Sntns Of IL The coqintry i will be remep-
fingers OF Chief Hazen's deputies. and was
emhnlhg ~ ,t enough 10 slndo the vigilance, OF
mystery OF his pErapp il much n
mystery when it is known that Bradford
w1s nii worth 5000 made principally by the
Nee OF melltne. and that one OF the depu-
Il iles >, on watch Itch, when he escaped has been
one Of Broekways former convinctons
was for the counterfeiting of a seven-thirty
United States bond. The work was per-
ber the bond would have been prortounceh
genuine II was later discovered that
Charlie Smith. an employc OF the bureau
Impression OF one bond plate while he was
AT work, and that Brockway was therefore
the original. A son OF Charlie Smith, named
for the great sydney. is now convict for
,he M assistance he rendered Brockway In
Suppose" said to Chief Hazen, that
assosln, aa oSbtr. ehgrnyer plate printer and such
counterfeits, could not they equal the gem
,hns Tins notes notes In point of workmanship, and
"A
time, or altogether"
They can't do work even up to the
limit OF their own skill In such circum-
stances answered the chief, 81 have
talked TO Osle, ulrich and others known to
be the finest workmen that sver prost,,
tuted their remarkable skill to criminal
purposes, and they all agree that, to say
nothing Of the haunting fear Of detection
that pursues them constantly the mere
consciousness of the fact that they are 50
engaged prevents them from doing work
iuily up To their own standard
No matter how hardened the man there
seems to be little bit OF conscience left
that stands In the way OF thorough work
Ihelr nerves are not equal to the demands
upon them. Another obstacle in the wav
ot the success OF such men IL the cost Of
the tools and machinery necessary 10 So
uure perfect results. In a dozen ways they
WORK constantly al a great disadvantage
1T Is fact that cannot be minImIzei
that counterfeiters are becoming more or
pert In their trade than ever before botb
in the Imitation OF coin and paper money
and that until the spurious article happens
10 iail INTO the hands of experts 1t is APT
10 go unchallengei for an indefinite length
Of time. We take every precaution possi.
BILE with the machinery at our Command
Persons once under suspicion are persist
entity Swallowed. and also convicts who
have served their time. Usually the terms
Tor which connterfeiters are sentenced are
rather short, though the limit is ffteen
years, and thus the fresh ones are con.
stantly reinforced by recruits from m.
prisons, but We usually keep the graduates
In view and know what they are doing"
In this city there lived an old man who
the secret arm of the treasury department
Most of the long. years of his work was
devoted TO the chasing OF counterfeIters
1t would be useless, said this old man