The Somerset reporter., 1897-02-18
A FEMALE MEM BIER.


Women Who Have Been Convicted of
Making and Passing ''0uerr" Money.
Women have Il weakness for counter
feiting. The first person ever executed
for that crime was woman She was
an English woman named Barbara Spen=
Ger and was put to death in 1921 for
making false shillings. She was stran.
gled and burned mt the stake Curiously
enough, her aecomplices were acquitted.
Nancy Kidd was one of the most re-
markable female countcrfcitcrs ever
known i'll this country. She belonged to
a family of noted forgcrs She carried
on her nefarious trade for more than 30
years III Chicago, and was arrested there
many times On one of these occasions
a lot Of fiber paper was discovered on
her person. The government officials
We're completely at IA loss to know how
she had obtained this. Finally she con.
fesscd that chemical solution had been
used to wash the faces Of the notes and
make them perfectly clean Thus she
was i'll the habit of taking & bills and
changing them into larger denomina
tons. The government authorities re
leased her in return for this valuable
information and for telling them what
the solution was. However, they had
her Swallowed by detectives and finally
caught her with $11, 600 worth of coun-
terfeit money i'll "a box. She was found
guilty upon seven different indictments
for counterfeiting and was sentenced to
eight years in the state prison, where
she finally died.
One of the cleverest tricks ever PLAYED
on Uncle Sam was invented by a woman
who lived in Philadelphia. Her plan
was to take $40 and $50 goldpieces and
with small drill worked by steam
power TO bore out the insidcs and then
refill them With some base metal, being
very careful that they sholld weigh ex-
actly the right amount when she had
finished This she accomplished by drill
ing through the milled edge Of the coin
and then, after filling the hole, cover it
with little Of the extracted gold In
this way she made 81 80 ON every eagle
and about SIG ON every double eagle
The officials of the secret service say
that this is the safest device ever in
vented for cheating the treasury.
Counterfeiting is very apt to run in
families. This, of course, is natural, as
a father brings up his son or daughter
to follow his profession Women who
would otherwise be good arc often led
into this sort of crime by marrying men
who carry it on as business. But some
times ii works the other Way-women
teach their husbands how to make false
money. This is what happened when
Ben Boyd married Mary Alderman of
Indiana Her father was one of the
most successful countrrtcitcrs of his day.
and his daughter had a thorough ac-
quaintance with the art Mrs Boyd
carefully taught her husband all the Sc
crcts of the trade, and Lo became one of
the most famous forgcrs of the age
They carried on the business with
such high degree Of skill that they
were not captured for years and when
at last the secret service Hawkshaws did
run them down not Il single counterfeit
plate, note or coin was found in their
possession. When their house was
searched, $4,000 in good money was
found. This small amount wus all the
money they had accumulated during all
their years of crime OF course lhe oi1-
GERS could not touch it. AftorWard sutli-
cicnt evidence Wis secured TO convict
them, and they We're sent to prison
They both claimed to be converted while
in state prison and after their release
settled il Chicago, where they appar-
emily lived an honest life
\ case that annoyed the secret service
very much WAS that of woman who
employed clever dodge She went to
large shop and selected IL valuable shawl.
To pay fer this she handed the clerk Il
United STATES treasury note for 81. 600.
He took the money and disappeared, not
returning for several minutes When he
came back she asked him why he had
kept her waiting. and H. confessed that
he had taken the hill to a bank near by
to bc sure that it was good. She pre-
tended to be very angry and sand that
She would not buy he shawl on any ae-
count and walked out of the shop \
little later in the day she returned and
said that rs she could not find amy other
shawl that suited her as well in the
other shops she had decided to take II
in spite of the insult offered her She
gave him the $1,000 bill, and, getting
the shawl and the change, left the shop.
The owner of the shop aftcrward discoy-
cred that the note he finally accepted