The sun., 1896-09-26
QUEER SHOWERS" CAUGHT
TRoLLET CAN coND UcToRS JIILED
FOR PASSING CO OUNTERFEITS

/
Secret Service Agents Arrest Two Men tn
Brooklyn Who, They Say. Were In n
Conspiracy to Distributs Bogus Nickels
and Other Coins-More Arrests, Perhaps.
| The Secret Service Departmen which has for
| q week been investigating the counterfeltinR
| den found by the East Twent second street po-
| lice, arrested yesterday James r. Quinn and
| Joseph II. Casey. two trolley car conductors on
| the Nassau electric line In Brooklyn. for dstrib-
| uting counterfeit niokels. The officers Of the
department believe that tho biggest distribut-
ing agency for tho counterfelters was a secret
ring among the trolley car conductors.
The den OF the countorfeiters in New York
was back room on the top floor OF a lodging
house at 223 East Twenty-third street. Polio Q
Captain Smith heard something about the den
and set three detectives to watch It, with the
result that William Knapp, "a years old. known
as Mustang JACK" his wife Lottie, 10 years
old, variety actress. and Thomas Pagan, 22
years old, were arrested. The Knapps were
cauRhelast Saturday and Pagan on Tuesday.
They were arraigned before United States Com
missioner Shields, and the men committed to
the Ludlow street jail md tho woman sent TO
the House of Detention as witness.
From the number OF moulds found In the
counterfeiting den and the fact that largo
number of nickels wero found there. the secret
service officials who took up the case as soon ~
tney Wer6 lnIOTmcn OF IL Dy tn6 pOllCC, sur
missed that big distributing agency was In tho
conspiracy with the counterfeiters. Tho de-
partment had received several complaints from
Brooklyn from persons who had received coun-
terfeit small coin. and several agents were sent
over to investigate.
There seemed to be more counterfeit nickel
than anything else. and the agents concluded
that the men passing the counterfeit coin were
conductors on the trolley roads. 1t was an easy
matter for them to do this. as q passenger who
receives a nickel In change usually docs not
stop to examine 1t very closely.
The agents travelled up and down the various
apes so 'e ,hst hev Woud IN Pcpeve neRes H In
change. It was difficult to locate the conspira..
tors. as they usually passed their m,pueer" "
counterfeters were finally located on the Marcy
One OF the agents who changed his tactics and
offered dollar bills for fares got bad half
dollar.
Then all the agents were set to work on this
branch OF the road. Guffin had car 81 on this
lives in Crescent avenue in Brooklyn. Ho
passed several bad coins on an agent and was
i o'clock on Wednesday morning. Then he was
arrested. The secret service man found S32 in
bad coin In, in his lis possession %. ., W. t..
also married M and has has four children M living in
ps @ Ws nrs hn at
on Thursday afternoon and when searched 81
In bad money was found in his pockets Both
men kept their own counsel when arrested. and
although the detectives believed that there
were many more distributors II was decided
TO give up the search for them. as
was soon spread among the others, and the hope
Of catching others WAS regarded as hopeless.
The queer showers" usually worked during
the rush hours and are supposed to have been
doing business for n month or six weeks. 1t is
estimated that they averaged $40 q day at tho
business.
The coin used generally and that found on
Gutfin and Casey was compared with that
seized at knapp's den. and was found to be Of
the same make. The conductors were arraigned
before United States Commissioner Benedict in
Brooklyn and committed to jail in default Of
So. 900 bail each.
The Secret Service Department has reason TO
believe that the passing of the counterfeit coins
extended over n wide area, and II Is supposed
that the trolley conductors in Brooklyn were
not the only distributing agents. They are still
at work. and may make another roundup at
any time
The man Pagan who was arrested on Tuesday
disclaims any connection with Knapp hut
KnRpp's wife Is said to have onfessed and i'm
plcated Pagan. He talked about starting a mill
for making bad money in ireland. but was
afraid the English authorities would arrest him
for beinga Fenian II he was caught. He WAS
arraigned before Commissioner Shields late
yesterday afternoon. but his examination was
adjourned until Tuesday. The Commissioner
offered to assign him u lawyer II he was unable
to secure one. At first he declined the offer.
aayiuH ne was going to plead his own case. but
later changed his mind and accepted the Com
missioners offer.