The evening times., 1898-07-08
CAUGHT A BAD CROOK.
The Secret Service Bureau Makes
ap Importsnt Capture.

The Secret Service Bureau Makes
an lmportsnt Capture.
| The Secret Service Bureau was notified
| TODAY of the arrest in Milwaukee of w.
P. Shaw, alias Mason. Shaw was a con-
| federate of James L. Wilcox. alias Will
| liams, who was a wel-known crook,
whose speciality is the trimming of gold
pieces.
| Wilcox was arrested in St. Louis on the
| 26th of June. 1t was known at the time
| that he had as his confederates a man
and a woman, but before the Secret Serv-
ice officials could capture them they fled.
AS they had four days start of the de-
| tectives it took the latter some time to
| locate them. --..-.. 80
AS soon as Wilcox was arrested Mason
| went to their lodgings. packed up the
kit of tools and carried 1t off with him.
| The kit was, however. captured with
Mason in Milwaukee. Mason will be sent
to St Louis for trial.
Wilcox has been engaged in this busi-
ness for a long time and has but recently
been released from the Maryland peniten-
| tiary where he served term of four
years for a similar offense. In 1894 Will
cox and his wife went to Baltimore where
| they flooded the town with lightweight
SOlQ cGlnS. 30 dNlNe were tues III tHiS
enterprise that on one day they pro-
cured $500 in gold from a bank and in two
hours had trimmed every piece of II and
were ON the streets engaged in exchang-
ing it for currency. The Secret Service
officials secured sixteen indictments
against them. but owing to a popularity
of the law at that time, which limited the
punishment for this offense, they were
enabled to secure a sentence Of only four
years for the remaining counts. The law
at the time did not provide for the prose-
cution of persons engaged in passing
lightweight coins, even If they were aware
of the fact that they had been trimmed
or "sweated." Consequently Mrs. Wilcox
got off without a term of imprisonment.
Since then, however, as the result of the
Wilcox case a new statute was passed
providing for the punishment of persons
engaged in trimming" or sweating
gold coins.
Wilcox was released from the Mary
land penitentiary about three months ago
and apparently went Immediately to st.
Louis, where he again engaged In the
trimming of coins. Formerly he used
a lathe but this time 1t appears that he
fitted his implements to a sewing machine.
The presence of a sewing machine was
naturally attached to that of a woman
and excited no comment. The sewing
machine was captured in Milwaukee.
The methods of Wilcox and his CON-
federates in trimming the coin were
very simple The coin was placed in
the machine so that 1t could be held
firmly and a file was held against the
milled edges while the coin was rapidly
revolved. "A few turns of the wheel
took the edges of the coin and then
'reedfng'' tool, whic his a corrugated
wheel. was placed against the coin and
held firmly in position. A few more
turns Of the wheel and the normal ap-
pearance OF the coin was restored. This
work required delicate touch in order
that too much Of the coin might not be
removed, thus injuring the little rim
which comes between the milling on the
outside and the milling on the inside.
Wilcox will probably get a much longer
sentence than his last one.