The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-23
C0UNTERFEITERS' METHODS.
EXPERIENCES OF THE SECRET
SERVICE SLEUTHs WITH THE
MOST NOTED.

| Told by Department Chief Hngcn
William BrOcLway, Probably the
hest known ana CIevercst Coun-
terfeiter Within the Recollection
of the Service-Dr. Burdeu Another
skilled Member of the same Crowd.
Making Rad Money in MidStrcam
ScOw.
| Washington Letter in Philadelphia Times.
Secret Service sleuths, under the per-
sonal direction of Chief Hazen, are bend
ing every effort to capture the clever
couhterteiters who are making and "shov-
ing" so successfully the bogus SlO0 silver
certificates which recently made their APP
pearance in monetary channels. The wide
publicity given these counterfeits by the
press, Chief Hazen says, has stopped the
placing on the market of any more of
them, and so cautious have business men
become that it is now difficult matter
to pass even good 500 silver certificates
owing to the dangerous character Of the
bad ones.
This case" added the chief, lis one
of the most difficult the service has ever
had to grapple with"
Another annoying case, now being in
vestgated, is that of the mysterious coin
counterfeters who recently commenced
the free coinage, of silver on their own
account ana regardless of party lines.
This gang is believed to have headquar-
tiers in Mexico or Nicaragua and they are
shipping to this country large quantities
of standard dollars, made entirely of sill
yer and in exact imitation of the genuine.
These dollars are said to contain each
81 cents worth of silver, leaving a profit
to the makers of AZ cents on every coin
passed.
While conversing about the new dan
gerous 500 silver certificates, Chief Hazen
became reminiscent and referred to some
OF the more noted counterfeiters of the
past, whose photographs are in the secret
service rogue gallery" or adorn the
walls of the chiefs office in the great
white treasury building The first of
these to enter his mind was that venera-
be reprobate, Edward Spencer alias VIII
liam e. Brockway, who is now doing ten
years in the New Jersey state prison at
Trenton. The charge upon which the
aged counterfeiter was convicted and SEN
fenced was "counterfeiting, making and
having in his possession United States
gold coin notes of the denomination of
5000 and $780, on the Bank OF Montreal.
Canada"
THE first time l met Brockway." said
Chief Hazen, was in 1888 after he had
been sentenced by Judge Cowing. in the
State Court of New York, TO serve five
years. According to the prisoners state
ment on the witness stand that was the
nrst sentence that had been imposed on
him since 1SiS"
Brockway was first heard from as a
counterfeiter in 1877, eighteen years before
the secret service was organized and
barely one year before he was captured by
the law and put away behind iron bars
Upon his release from prison. after serv-
ing his first term, and ever since that time
this dangerous and foxy individual. some
times called the king of Counterfeiters. g"
has been kept under strict surveillance al
all times.
THE belief that the old man is an ex-
pert engraVer is popular mistake" said
Cnlet Hazen. AS matter of fact he has
a secret process Of blending copper plates
which has made him so successful. He has
never yet impaired this secret to anyone
and perhaps never will He has Travelled
on that secret and borrowed money on it
by sort of con game. Old man Brock
way is now, | think, serving his last SEN
tence. He IS aged and very feeble"
Jimmy Courtney, alias Dr. Burdell. is an,
other queer" maker and manipulation who
came into the mind of the secret service
chief. photograph of the Doctor hangs
cOnspicucusly over Mr. Hazen's desk He
is a clerical-looking individual and might
easily be mistaken for an up-to-date par
son. Jimmy dresses in faultless attire
wears gray moustache and benevolent
expression He was an associate of Brock
way Harry Cole and aged Charles ITlrich
who fled to Germany, his native country
TO avoid the strict espionage of the secret
service officers, who watched him like
hawks.
This clever fellow was arrested with the
j3rockway gang, but there was not suf-
ficient evidence to convict him He was.
however taken to Detroit in 1885 and tried
on an indictment for counterfeiting then
twenty-five years old ~"
The secret service officials regard this as
one of the strangest cases on record Wit
nesses were found who knew Courtney
twenty-eight years before. Their memo
ries were still fresh as to the facts in TIE
case. The culprit was convicted. but his
counsel moved for a postponement Of SEN
teuce. Several months later the prisoner
was pardoned by President Cleveland IN
known 10 any one connected with the Sc
cret service on the ground that he had
already served a term of Imprisonment
for the English government for the Of
Tense charged
1t appears that Courtney had made forg-
ed United States gold certificates In can
ada and for that offensc was punished bv
the Dominion authorities. The charge
against him in Detroit, upon which he V as
indicted, was bringing the forged certif-
Gates into the United States. The amount
involved was about $4,000 Of bogus money.
Mics Ogle, who was recently stricken
with paralysis. while serving q fifteen
years term in the penitenUary at Column
bus, o., Is another thirty-third degree