The herald., 1896-04-16
cOuNTERrEITERS CAPTURED
Detectives Take . Good Haul on Central
Avenue

Richard Reeves, an ironworker, for
merly employed as one of the foremen
in the Homestead mills in Pennsylva-
mia, and who came to this city to work
| in the mills here, is under arrest and In
| the city Jail on charge of making and
! uttering counterfeit silver dollars With
| him was captured a woman, Mrs. Fran
| ceS Hussey, who, 1t is claimed, did most
of the work of passing the bogus coin.
While Reeves manufactured it. Reeves
is widower. but has three little chill
dren, who are at present In the orphan
asylum on Boyle Heights. Mrs. idussey
had separated from her husband and
instituted an action for divorce; upon
the receipt of the decree she expected to
marry Reeves. The latter is perhaps 40
years of age, and the woman say 25.
They were apprehended Mo day night
at their house on Central avenue be-
tween Eighth and Ninth streets, but
their arrest was kept secret, owing to
the suspicion that a third party was
implicated.
For several months complaints have
kept pouring in at the police headquar-
ters of bad dollars having been passed
upon various small storekeepers in the
outskirts of the city. In nearly every
case it was reported that the bogus coin
was passed by woman, whose method
was to enter store, buy a few cents
worth of goods and tender silver dol
lar. receiving the change. Acting on
this clew 1t was soon ascertained that
Mrs. Hussey was the elusive female.
She has lived with Reeves for some
months. the pair formerly residing on
Twenty-e eighth street near Central av-
enue. About three months ago they
moved to little shack on Central av-
enue between Eighth and Ninth, where
they have since resided. The place was
formerly fruit and candy store, but
they kept no stock, although an old
showcase and some shelving still re-
mained in the front room. The rear
apartment was used as a living room,
but contained only a few Of the most
necessary articles of furniture.
An old horse and buggy were kept by
the couple. and in the rig Mrs. Hussey
used to make her trips around the city
disposing of the counterfeit coin at
every place she stopped. Once or twice
the baseness of the coins was discov-
cred, when she would affect surprise,
and, paying for the goods in the real
article. make her escape without arous-
ing suspicion. When the officers had
secured sufficient evidence to warrant
an arrest Detectives Hawley and Aubl,.
pounced on the nest and secured their
prey. A thorough search of the prem
ises was made and a full outfit for
manufacturing the stuff discovered.
moulds. metal mixed ready for pouring,
acids. an electro plating apparatus, and
finally and most ingenious of all, a ma
chine for cutting the milling on the
edges of the coins. This piece of mech
anism is evidently the product OF
Reeves fertile BRAN, and is something
new to the detectives. 1t consists OF
two sets of parallel wrought iron strips
placed one above the other and Joined
at one end like compass or nut
cracker, in fact the device Is operated
on the same principle. Between the
parallel bars on the top leg small steel
disk was inserted and held by pivot
and between the bottom strips two more
of like character. These steel disks bore
on their faces raised notches just the
size of the milling on a silver dollar
The two bottom discs had fiat faces, but
the upper was concaved SO that If the
coin spread on the edges the sharp steel
of the disk would trim it down to the
proper thickness and still mill it at the
same time,
The method Of operation was to oper
the. two legs. insert the dollar to be
milled on edge, resting on the three
small disks, and press on the ends Of the
legs, meanwhile turning the disks will
a small crank. causing the coin to re-
volve, when the milling was done, q
clean, neat job. The coins produced
are good counterfeit. but as usua
lack in both weight and ring. Being
silver-plated upon the original cast
they are slightly larger than the gen.
uine, still would readily pass upor
casual inspection.
| Reeves is kept closely confined and Il
| allowed to see no one. The woman
shows signs of breaking down, and 1t Il
| believed that she will turn states evi.
| dence, thus making Reeves conviction
| sure. Complaints were yesterday
| sworn to before the United States com.
| missioner and the pair will probably b,
J arraigned today.