St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-02-20
WOMEN ooumTeRfE,reR&

WOMEN CoUNTERFEITER4
8sssy Gang Ever Arrested Had as Lsaso
One Re0sle Ae0ber.
Women have q weakness for coune
terfeiting. The 6rst person ever exe-
cuted for thst crime was woman.
She was an Englishwoman named Bar
bara Spencer. and was put to death In
1721 for making false shillings. She
was strangleAaDd burned at the stake.
Curiously enough, her accomplioes were
acquitted.
Nancy Kidd was one Of the most re-
markable female counterfeiten ever
known in this country. She belonged
to a family Of noted forgers. She car.
ried ON her -nefarious trade for moro
than 30 years in Chicago and was a.
rested there many times. On one Of
these occasions . lot of fiber paper wa
discovered on her peTson. The gov
ernment officials were completely at 9
loss to know how she had obtained
this. Finally she confessed that q
chemical solution had been used to
wash the faces of the notes and maks
them perfectly clean. Thus. she was
in the habit Of taking one-dollar bills
and changing them into larger denomi-
nations. The government authorities
released her in return for this valuable
information and for telling them what
the solution was. However, they had
her snadowed by detectives and finally.
caught her with 81, 600 worth Of coun-
terfeit money IN q box. She was found
guilty upon seven different indictments
for counteEfeiting and was senteqced
to eight years In the state prison, whero
she finally died.
One Of the cleverezt tricks ever
played on Uncle Sam was invented by
q woman who lived in Philadelphia.
Her plan was 10 take SO and so gold
pieces and with . small drill worked
by steam power to bore out the insidcs
and then refill them with some base met
al. being very careful that they should
weigh exactly the right smount when
she had finished. This ssheaccomplished
by drilling through the milled edge
Of the coin. and then. after filing tho
hole. covered It with little Of the exc
tracted gold. In this way che msde
$50 on every eagle and about $16 on
every double eagle. The officials Of the
secret service say that this il the safest
device ever invented for cheating the
treasury.
Counterfeiting i very apt to run in
families. This, Of course. n natural,
~ father brings up his son or dsugh-
ter to follow his profession. Women
who would otherwise be good ere often
led into this sort Of crime by men who
carry 1t ON - = business. But some
times it works the other way. Women
teach their husbands how to make false
money. This il what happened when
Ben Boyd married Mary Alderman. Of
Indiana. Her father was one Of Tho
most successful counterfeiters Of his
day, and his daughter had thorough
acquaintance with tho art. Mrs. Boyd
carefully taught her husband all tho
secrets Of tho trade, and be became ono
Of the most famous foryers Of the age.
They carried on thebusinesswith such
. high degree Of skill that they wero
not captured for years. and when ut
lat tho secret service HawlkahAws did
run them down not . single counter
felt plate, note or coin was found In
their possession. When their house
was searched =. 600 in good money was
found. This small amount was all
the money they had accumulated dur
ing al their years Of crina OF course,
the omceEs could not touch It. After
wards sufficient evidence was secured
to convict them and they were sens to
prison. They both claimed 70 BE- con-
verted while in state prison, and after
their release settled In Chicago. whero
they apparently lived m honest life.
A case that annoyed the secret SEW
ice very much was that Of woman who
employed . clever dodge. She went to
. largo shop and selected valuable
shawl. To psy for this she handed
the clerk . United States treasury note
for 81, 900. He took the money and dis-
sppeaFed. not returning for several min-
utes. When he came back she asked
him why he had kept her waiting, and
he confessed that he had taken the bill
70 hank nesr by 10 Be sure that 10
was good. She pretended to be very
angry and said that she would not buy
the shawl on any account. and walked
out Of tho shop. A little later in tho
day she returned and said that - she
could not find any other shawl TINT
suited her ~ well in the other shops
she had decided to take il In spite Of
the insult offered her. She gave him the
8. 900 bill, and, getting the shawl and
the change. left the shop. The owner
Of the shop afterwsrd discovered that
the note he finally accepted WAS =
counterfeit. The first bill had been
good. but on her return she gave him
the fake one, which was . wonderfully
clever imitation. The secret service waa
much agitated shout this and several
Others Of the $1,000 bills which turned
up. but they have since csptuFed tho
plates.
Practically every gsng Of counterfeit
ers ever arrested has had women $3.50
ciates. In the ONCE Of the secret seTv-
ice nWaGhington there II > large frame
four feet square Alled with tke photo
graphs Of women who have either made
or passed false money. Men alnost al
wayO employ their wives or daughters
for tho purpose Of showing" their
eounteFfeitA-Wash Post.
0ogAs - Mav&
sIs Il . fact," aslpsd Tie eynie oBs dsy,
sthat you improve each shining min
ute?"
~Yss." answered TIE Busy Little Bee.
0ndegt5y.
How log have you besa doing