Evening star., 1897-03-15
COUNTERFEIT DOLLARS.
The Sprinkle Output-Where Did the
Old Man Get His Silver.

The Sprinkle Output-Where Did the
Old Man Get His Silver.
| Frcm the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
The sending Of Dan Wyatt McLease to
| the penitentary by the United States dis
trict court for counterfeitirg has started
the tongue of reminiscence to relating par
ticulars Of the most noted counterfeiting
case known to the penal annals of north
western Kentucky, namely, that of Jacob
ard Nancy Sprinkle, who were indicted
jointly at the october term of the Lewis
circuit court in 1910. This case attracted
sensational interest at the time, as there
were thousands of the Sprinkle dollars
in circulation, which, though known to be
counterfeit, nevertheless were received
without question or protest in facilitating &
exchanges throughout a broad territory.
The Sprinkle dollar occupies a unique
position in the history Of counterfeiting,
as it was, perhaps, the only illegal dollar
ever mlnted that was too good" The
Sprinkle dollar" had larger portion OF
silver In 1t in relation to its alloy than the
dollar that came through Uncle Sam S
fingers. The well-knoWn fact that the
Sprinkle dollar" had higher bullion
value than the genuine possessed helped
TO retain 1t unquestioned in the circulation
OF this and ADJOINING counties. This fact
was also potent in screening Jacob Sprin-
kle from the legal consequences of his acts.
hundreds only sympathlzed with him. and
the most exacting Tor a long time Wlnked
at his transgressions.
Many people beneved that as long as the
sprinkle doiar contained the same or a
greater proportion of silver than did the
com from the government mint they were
DONG no wrongful act, either in law or
morals. They believed that count terfeiting
consisted In deceiv ing and cheating with a
base metal resembling silver. Jacob Sprin-
kle beleved tins himself for a long while,
and was disillusioned only after a grand
jury had indicted him. So numerous did
these dollars become finally that a man,
when receiving money from another, would
always examine it to see how much of it
consisted of Sprinkle dollars. II it should
all consist OF Sprinkle money it would
call forth only some jocular remark as the
receiver pocketed the jingling coin To
show how far the lame of the Sprinkle
dollars spread, the following anecdote may
suffice:
MAJOR Henry Mcdowell in 1910 took pas
sage on u steamer at Cincinnati for ST.
Louis. When purchasing his ticket he
pulled out the amount of the fare and
handed 1t to the clerk The clerk examined
the money second, and then, with a
laugh, exclaimed:
Sprinkle money!
ITS all right, isn't it?' queried the ma
jor.
Il wish l had a million dollars like EN-"
On the day the grand jury returned in
JUdSe Walker Reed, who then presided as
Judge, pulled handful of money from his
pocket and SAID
Il defy the United States to produce
from their Ir1intS dollars as good as these
1 mold in my hand"
Sprinkle lived in a cabin on a small tribu-
tary of the kinniconick, five miles south
east OF Naneeburs There he worked.
month in and month out, coming his
money. which soon found its way into local
commerce.
Now, wnere did he get the bullion out of
Wh-ch MS coins were made? Could the
writer answer this question he would re-
veal secret that hundreds have tried 10
fathom. Hundreds of picks have risen and
fallen among the hills of Kinnicouick in a
1utlie endeavor to crack the hull of this
secret mat his ore came from some
place in the Lewis county hills Sprinkle
dld not hesitate to confess, but the exact
location Is secret that died with him.
He frequently made the statement tnat
he would at some time tell where his treas
ure was located, but after he was indicted
he got angry and vowed that an migrate
ful public should never persecute him and
then enjoy the benefits OF his discovery.
When the sheriff, Larkin Lyles and a
party went out to arrest Sprinkle after he
was indicted. they found that his home
consisted OF two log cabins, situated d
lew yards from each other. They search
ed diligently through each house to dis
cover the dies and other Instruments uec-
essary in his work, but found nothing
Rambilng about in the open space be-
tween the two houses the ground suddenly
gave way, and the men dropped into a
sIbterranean chamber ten feet below the
surface There, after removing much de-
br1s, the utensils used in the trade were
discovered.
Sprinkle and his wife. Nancy, were taken
to the county seat. but at once were ad-
mitted to bail They had the sympathy of
the judge, and the popular Sentiment in
tfeir favor was all but universal.
AT the next term of court, when the case
was called, death certificate from a doctor
was ofered showing that Sprinkle had
soie 10 ms long home 1t was untrue of
course. He died in California in 1880 ara
win WITH MIN the secret that SO many have