The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-02-08

W." and Passing "Queer" Money.
can have a weakness for counter
W. The first person ever executed
, that crime was woman. she was
Jul ,s1,.,;sb woman named Barbara Spen-
al and was put to death in 1871 for
0i ,:.c false shillings. She was stran-
a u1ad and burned at the stake. Curiously
9Th her accomplices were acquitted.
Ma Nancy Kidd was one OF the most re-
N ,'uhie female counterfeiters ever
m in This country. She belonged to
family of noted forgers. She carried
. her nefarious trade for more than ~
~ Uuors in Chicago, and was arrested there
Yea times. On one Of these occasions
i IOt Of fiber paper was discovered ON
sor nerson. The government officials
Two completely at a loss to know how
wol bod obtained this. Finally she con-
soSoed that a chemical solution had been
u. va 70 wash the faces of the notes and
soIe them perfectly clean. Thus she
. .n IN the habit of taking 81 bills and
'uanoino them into larger denomina'
.;onS The government authorities re-
w., w., her in return for this valuable
;rformation and for telling them what
.he solution was. However, they had
sor cbadowed by detectives and finally
a"rcbt her with ST., 900 worth of coun-
torfeit money i'll box. She was found
owiltv upon seven different indictments
for counterfeiting and was sentenced to
aicht wears 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 SO and $50 goldpieces and
with a small drill worked by steam
mower to bore out the insides and then
refill them with some base metal, being
very careful that they should weigh ex-
aetly 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
father brings up his son or daughter
to follow his profession. Women who
would otherwise be good are often led
into this sort of crime by marrying men
who carry it ON as a business. But some
times it 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 counterfeiters of his day,
and his daughter had a thorough &C
quaintance with the art. Mrs. Boyd
carefully taught her husband all the Sc
crets of the trade, and no became one OF
the most famous forgers of the age.
They carried on the business with
such a high degree of skill that they
were not captured for years, and when
at last the secret service Hawkshaws die
run them down not o single counterfeit
plate, note or coin was found in theil
possession. When their house was
searched, SS, 900 in good money was
found. This small amount was all the
money they had accumulated during al
their years of crime. OF course the Off
GERS could not touch it. Afterward suffi
cient evidence was secured to convic
them, and they were sent to prison
They both claimed to be converted whil'
in state prison, and after their releas
settled in Chicago, where they appar
emily lived an honest life.
A case that annoyed the secret service
very much was that Of u woman VIII
employed clever dodge. She went to
large shop and selected valuable shawl
TO pay for this she handed the clerk
United States treasury note for 81, OOO
de took the money and disappeared, no
returning for several minutes. When h
came back, she asked him why he ha'
kept her waiting, and he confessed tina
ne had taken the bill to banE near b
TO be sure that it was good. She pre-
tended to be very angry and said tina
she would not buy the shawl ON any &C
count and walked out Of the shop. 4
little later in the day she returned an
said that as she could not find any othe
shawl that suited her as well in tn
other shops she had decided to take
IN spite OF the insult offered her. Sh
gave him the $1,000 bill, and, gettin
.ne shawl and the change, left the shoI
Ihe owner Of the shop afterward discoN
cred that the note he finally accepte
was a counterfeit. The first bill ha
oeen good, but ON her return she gay
MIN the false one, which was wor
derfully clever imitation. The seer
service was much agitated about tn
ana several others of the 81, 900 bill
winch turned up, but they have sine
captured the plates.
Practically every gang Of counterfeit
eis ever arrested has had women ass
ciates. In the office Of the secret servi'
IN Washington there is large frame,
ieet square, filled with the photograph
VI women who have either made
passed false money. Men almost alwa,
employ their wives or daughters for Il