Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-18
The Famous Thousand Dollar Coun-
terfeit Bond of 1866.
fW0SPEcINENScOMEfOf THE TREASURY
Some of the CIeverest Work Of
the Kind Ever Done.
CHI ARLEY SMITHS SKILL

After lying peacefully and harmlessly
secreted. no one knows just where, for thirty
years, two of the cleverest specimens of
counterfeiting that ever troubled the secret
service people have turned up at the Treas
ury Department. They were two speci-
mems of the famous thousand-dollar coun-
terfeit bond. the work of William f. Brock
away. the king bee of the counterfeiters,
who is now serving a term in the Trenton
penitsntiary, and his running mate, Charley
Smith, who is now a helpless mental and
physical wreck in New York. The counter
felt Is of what is known as the 100 bond
the issue of 1855. and appeared in the prin-
cipal bond markets Of the world between
1855 and 1857. The reason that the coun-
terfeiters were SO prompt in landing their
fictitious securities on the market was that
Charley Smith, who was one of the clever
est engravers in the country, and at the
time employed by the American Bank Noe
Company of New York, succeeded in steal
ing an impression of the plate while 1t was
in process of construction and passed it
on to his pal Brockaway. who, then as
always engineered the business end of the
counterfeiting deal.
So clever was the imitation that the
counterfeit was accepted on every hand,
and hundreds of thousands of dollars were
lost to the banks and other purchasers be-
fore they found out the deception, which
they did however, after the bonds began
to be thrown out by the Treasury Depart
ment. Just how much Brockaway and his
confedcrates made on the transaction no
one but them knows, and it is doubtful II
they kept any accurate account Of money
which came and went easily.
This big transaction in worthless money
was in the days before the government had
an engraving plant of its own. and when
all of the government notes and securities
were turned out by the American Bank
Note Company of New York.
Smith was q trusted employe OF the bank
note company, and was employed on the
bond plate which he and Brockaway de-
cided to counterfeit. He would do his work
at the office in the daytime and duplicate
it at home at night. There were, of course,
a number of men employed on the differ
ent parts of the bond plates, but Smith
managed from time to time to get proofs.
Impressions or some other guides to the
work, and Brockaway put them together.
This has always been. Brockaway work
in every big counterfeiting trick that ne
has turned. He is generally supposed 10
be an engraver, but a matter of fact has
never touched a craving tool in his NE.
But he has a process OF ms own. WHICH
no one has ever fathon1ed, Tor putting
sectional plate together SO that 1t can be
printed from as well as the genuine gov
eminent plate which is worked up from
the steel rolls in the bureau OF engraving
queer have always peen brochaway
work.
This particular 7-30 bond was remark
ably successful, but after the secret serF-
ice people found it was afloat they at once
pitched on Brockaway as its author ana
it was finally traced home to him. He
served a term of years for the JOB. out
Smith "squealed" and delivered up the
plate, which is now in the treasury mu-
scum, a souvenir of this remarkable piece
of criminal work.
from legitimate engraving thereafter. and
has since been implicated in several big
counterfeiting jobs, but he has always man
aged to escape by turning states evidence
n. ate labor. He has always worked with
Brockaway and was with him in another
big job. the Morgan and Essex railroad
bond forgery: but in this case he also es
capped. He is now in New York but so
broken down and helpless that he could
not counterfeit a meal ticket, and the po-
lice no longer fear him..
Brock away, on the other hand, although
he has. according to his own confession,
been engaged in counterfeiting since 1s4S,
is still in full possession of his faculties
ard was last captured as late as 1898,
when he and Dr. Bradford, his hacker,
were caught in Hoboken just as they had
finished a remarkably fine plate for a $500
United States gold certificate and a 800
Canadian note. For this Rrockaway is
now serving ten years in the Trenton, n.
j., penitentiary. But the $1,000 bond pate
is the largest denomination, as well as
the most successful counterfeit, he has
ever turned out.
How many of these bonds there may
still be outstanding It is impossible to
say. The secret service people frequently
get back very old counte-feits. and only
last week there foated in four five-dollar
counterfeits the plates of which were cap
tured and destroyed twenty-eight years
ago. The 5000 in bad bonds which came
in for redemption yesterday were from
mercantile firm in Louisville KY, and had
stood on their books as a part of the firms
assets for over ten years.
1t is not likely that there will ever be
such another counterfeit the 40
bond" All of the expert engravers who
could do such work are in the employ of
the government and surrounded by such
safeguards that they could scarcely turn
their talent to dishonest account If they
would. and the old generation of high
grade crooks, of whom Brockaway. Charley
Smith and Bob Boyd were shining ex-
amples, are rapidly dying out.