The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-01-07
A DANGEROUS COUNTERFEIT
SIX OF THEM TAKEN IN . BY
TREASURY OFFICIALS

Five 800 Counterfeit Silver Certificates
Received at the Philadelphia
ury-Oae Found Among the Cash in the
Treasury Departmental Silver fertif-
Gates of This Denomination Called in
The Plates to be Observation-Disclosures
of the Counterfeit
Washington, January 3.-One of the
most dangerous counterfeits ever dis
covered has made it's appearance. Mr..
John Cramer, of the sub-treasury at
Philadelphia, todaybrought to the secret
service FIVE 500 counterfeit silver GER
~tificates, head of Preside Monroe.
Their general appearance - excellent
and after close examination the officials
Of the treasury cash room were unde-
cided as to their g~enuineness n only
after the notes had been soaked in hot
water, when the two pieces forming the
front and back of the note came apart,
were they convinced of the fraud. On
examination Of the days treasury cash
another of the spurious notes was dis
covered.
The notes brought over by Mr.. Cram
er had been turned into the sub-treas-
ury by the leading banks and the Phil
adelphia custom house, who received
them as genuine
Agents of the secret service every
where have been wired a description OF
the notes with instructions to be on the
lookout for persons attempting to pass
them. Inquiries have also been sent to
all the leading cities as to whether any
of the notes nave appeared other than
in Philadelphia and Washington, and
the best men in the service will be put
on the case.
Following is a description of the note
as furnished by the secret service:
1.-The note Of the series of 1891, check
letter D., face plate l, Tillman, register;
Morgan treasurer; portrait James Mon
roe. All numbers 80 far seen begin
with 345. The mostmarked differences
between this note and the genuine,
however, are found in the seal and the
numbering, the former being a shade
lighter han in the genuine and the lat
ter slightly different in formation.
Especially is his true OF the ) and the
4. In the figure 3, the lower loop does
not extend up as far toward the CEN
tire Of the figure as in the genuine, and
in the figure 4 the space between the
base and the center cross line is mar
rover than in the genuine. One OF the
principal points of difference, however,
is that the new counterfeit is one six
teenth Of an inch shorter than the gen.
uine."
In view of the dangerous character OF
the counterfeit Secretary Gage today
decided to stop issuing and to call in all
800 silver certificates, of which there
are about 500, 600, 900 outstanding. These
will be exchanged for silver certificates
of smaller denominations and the
plates destroyed. AS sOon as new
pilates can be engraved a new series
will be issued. Assistant treasurers
at all Of the sub-treaSury cities Will be
requested to send to the treasury. in
Washington all 800 silver certificates
i'm their possession and to request ALL
Blanks, trust companies and other
monied institutions to do the same.
Secretary Gage desired the statement
made that in his judgment it was un-
safe for business men or others to ac-
cept silver certificates of this demon
ination and in case any were now on
hand they should be sent to the banks
for transmission to Washington.