Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-11
A FEMALE MEMBER.
EVERY GANG OF COUNTERFEITERS
HAS CONTAINED A WOMAN.

1t Is a Weakness of Tie Sex, and They Are
Frequently Very Clever-some of the
Women Who Have Been Convicted of
Making and Passing Queer" Money.
Women have a weakness for counter
feiting. The first person ever executed
for that crime was a woman. She was
an English woman named Barbara Spen-
GER and was put to death in 1871 for
making false s%hillings. She was stran-
gled and burned at the stake. Curiously
enough, her ~accomplices were acquitted.
Nancy Kidd was one of the most re-
markable female counterfeiters ever
known in this country. She belonged to
. family Of noted forgers. She carried
on her nefarious trade for more than 80
years in Chicago, and was arrested there
many times. On one Of these occasions
q lot OF fiber paper was discovered on
her person. The government officials
were completely at a loss to know how
she had obtained this. Finally she con-
fessed that a chemical solution had been
used to wash the faces of the notes and
make them perfectly clean. Thus she
was in the habit Of taking 81 bills and
changing them into larger denomina
tlons. 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 $17, 900 worth of coun-
terfeit money in 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
Oh Uncle Sam was invented by a woman
who lived in Philadelphia. Her plan
wa to take $40 and SEQ goldpieces and
with q small drill worked by steam
power to bore out the insides and then
refill them with some base metal, being
very careful that they should 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 q little Of the extracted gold. LII
this way she made 81. 80 on every eagle
and about $40 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 mp 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 ac-
q~uaintance with the art. Mrs. Boyd
carefully taught her husband all the BE-
crets of the trade, and he became one of
the most famous forgers of the age.
They carried on the business with
such q high degree of skill that they
were not captured for years, and when
at last the secret service Hawhshaws did
run them down not a single counterfeit
plate, note or coin was found in their
possession. When their house was
searched, IS, 600 in good money was
found. This small amount was all the
money they had accumulated during all
their years Of crime. OF course the off
GERS could not touch it. Afterward sufli-
cient evidence was secured TO convict
them, and they were sent to prison.
They both claimed to be converted while
in state prison, and after their release
settled in Chicago, where they appar
emily lived an honest life.
A case that annoyed the secret service
very much was that Of a woman who
employed a clever dodge. She went to a
large shop and selected a valuable shawl.
To pay for this she handed the clerk a
United States treasury note for 81, 900.
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 he confessed that
he had taken the bill to a bank ear by
to be sure that it was good. She pre-
tended to be very angry and said that
she would not buy the shawl on any &C
count and walked out Of The shop. A
little later in the day she returned and
said that as she could not find any other
shawl that suited her rs well in the
other shops she had decided to take it
in spite of the insult offered her. She
gave him the 81, 900 bill, and, getting
the shawl and the change, left the shop.
The owner of the shop afterward discoy-
cred that tho note he finally accepted
was a counterfeit. The first bill had
been good, bat on her return she gave
him the false one, which was a
derfully clever imitation. The secret
service was much agitated about this
and several others of tine 81, 900 bills
which turned MP, but they have since
captured the plates.
Practically every gang Of counterfeit
ers ever arrested has had women asso-
ciates. In the Office of the secret service
In Washington there is a large frame, 4
feet square, filled with the photographs
women who have either made OF
passed false money. Men almost always
their wives or daughters for the
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