The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-07-06

u,n,n,n Ga ths soath and We't-La'sit
scheme. OF UnelO SANS Robb'rS-At-
,raetlys Field for TsogasS TO Work.
The usws which comes from chihua-
hno Mexico, that United States Sc
oret service men are at work in that VI
oIo,tv looking for counterfelters, in the
hsllef that Chihuahua Is the headquar-
,srs OF a gang who have been flooding
Texas with genuine counterfeit sill
yer dollars, serves to call attention
onew TO one OF the most attractive fields
for rogues. maintained by our govern
meut through the legal tender quality
~ the silver dollar. When the dollar
~ our daddies" was first coined 1t was
worth as much In bullion value as It
was for coin, and there have been times
when It was worth even more than the
hull,on Ia a gold dollar. In those days
there was nothing to induce any one to
make n counterfeit OF the silver dollar
unless he made It OF pewter or BRASS
'TImss hnve changed since then, says the
New York Sun. 1t ~ true that counter,
letters still make imitation dollars, and
halves and quarters of pewter and 9th
or grnss compounds. and pass them Tor
genuine upon the glimmer OF q wash
ing OF silver. but such coins are easy TOT
amy one 10 detect as bad. Most OF them
can be told by their lack OF ring ana
those which ring lack weight or are 100
large. .,,, ,o,, =,
business. who has no scruples against
breaking the Inv, the fall IN the value
Of silver has opened up field OF In
dustry which holds forth most attrac-
tive ..-.--------
Promises of Profit.
The silver In g United States dollar
is worth as bullion only fortyrcdx cents
to-day, and dollars worth of halves
or quarters can be made Of full weight
and fineness Out of forty-three cents,
worth OF silver. II the industry OF
making coins OF silver In this country
were not confined by law to tho Unitea
States mint, there can be no dount tnas
the prospect OF o profit OF more ehan ov
per cent would bring cut a swarm OF
manufacturers TO break the market.
over in Mexico, the arm OF the law 10
weaker and this sort OF industry has
fIourished there from time TO time. ana
Il Is said that millions Of dollars OF IL,
Legitimate profits have been reapea
from making counterfeit United States
silver coins OF full weight and fneness.
In fact, II Is asserted that some OF the
cotJnterfeiters have been so generous
that they have put In oven more silver
than the United States does and that
one way to detect the coins is by their
overweight.
when silver first began 10 nall In price
the possibility of counterfeiters maxi
ing genuine" coins occurred to coin
experts and money changers; but Il
was not until silver fell 10 price which
offered at least 20 per cent proht that
there were evidences OF such work. The
secret service men said little about II
then and they say little now. on the
around that to call attention to this
sort OF easy money-making plan
might tempt more persons to enter It,
or warn those already IN the business
that detectives were after them.
As e0rly as 1890 the Sun called atten-
tlon to the existence OF what were evil
tlently counterfeit silver dollars, made
in lightweight silver. and in circulation
IN the southern part OF the country.
David II. Cavalho, the expert in hand
writing in this city, had been down 10
MONTGOMERY, Ala, about that time as a
witness In q lawsuit. and he found him
self much annoyed by the silver which
he got invariably when he changed
bank note. He spoke Of this, and was
told that nothing else would circulate
especially among the working people.
because the negroes could not tell 81
bank note from q $40 note. and so would
not take them.
One day Mr.. Cavalho was cooling his
heels out In an anteruom, being eXclud-
ed from the court room In company
with all the other witnesses, and he had
nineteen silver dollars In his pocket,
which he had Just got In change for q
$50 note. II occurred to him to ask his
comrades whether they had ever seen
the VI which marks either side OF sil-
yer dollar At that time few people
knew OF the NJ. 1t is small
Indenied Letter
which shows on every Bland dollar on
the neck OF the female head on the OBJ
verse side Of the coin and on the rib
bon which ties the wreath on the 9th.
err side. II was cut by the engraver and
designer OF the dies, and represents the
initial Of his name--Morgan. The double
eagle has the initials ]. y. l., cut into
II, standing for the name OF Its design
er. Mr. Longacre.
None OF the men with Mr.. CavalhG
had heard OF the NJ, and he began "a
look for It 10 show to them, He dldn'l
find the mark on the first coin and
then tried another. He found that Il
was absent from six OF the nineteen
dollars that he had. This was believed
20 indicate the extent to which full
weight counterfetts had been put int
circulation at the south at that time
and II was said that n profit OF $4,000
900 had been made out OF this work
silver rose In price after that ana offer'
ed too small a margin OF profit to at
tract that kind Of counterfcltlng, but
within the last few years Il has fnller
steadily In value, until now there Is NJ
ty-fonr cents profit TO be made on cacf
dollar. and It Is believed that lot oI
dollars have been discovered In this clty
IN shipments Of silver from the west
Some were found by the treasury
counters and some by money changers
So little silver clrculates here thaut is NJ
field for passing them and they remnlr
IN the south and west
our local countcrfcltcrs would not b,
satisfied with 80 per cent profit whef
they can make gS per cent easier, ant
10 they stick TO making pewter colni
IN plaster OF paris mOl1s. To make IN,
real riiver article requires heavy mt
expensive machinery and fine steel dies
The counterfeit dollars halves ant
qulrtcfa which have been seen here In
dicntu that tho makers have OIL OF TIL
machinery, The coins are so near like
che originals that only an expert car
detect the difference.
After once getting the plant the cos
OF colnnR tho silver Is almost nothing
THIS work IN. In fact 40 cheanly don,
that great subtortanCuu Industry h0i
nrown an apparently right here IN Thu
ongt, In thg manufacture and uttcranci
or counterfeit one.ccnt pieces. Probably
overr money changer in this city hai
got dozens " these ouC-ccnt counter
folts which have been Put out u clrcu