Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-01-04
COSTLY COUNTERFEIT
Forces the Government to Call
in Sz6, o00, 900 Of Sill.
YER Certificates.
COMPLETE AND DANGEROUS FRAUD

Note for 800 That Cannot ne Told frou.
the Genuine Except by Careful Examine
tion-Even Deceived tho Treasury People
SO Perfect That Secretary Gage Warn.
Business Men to Have Nothing 10 DC
with That Denomination.
Washington, Jan. 4.-One Of the most
dangerous counterfeits ever discovered
has made its appearance. John Cram
er, of the sub-treasury at Philadelphia,
has brought to the secret service five
500 counterfeit silver certificates, head
Of President Monroe. Their general
appearance is excellent. After close
examination the officials of the treas
ury cash room were undecided as to
their .genuineness, and only after the
notes had been soaked in hot water,
when the two pieces forming the front
and back Of tie hote came apart, were
they convinced Of the fraud. ON ex-
animation of the days treasury cash
another Of the spurious notes was dis
covered. The notes brought over by
Cramer had been turned into the SUBJ
treasury by two leading banks and thu
Philadelphia custom house, which had
received them as genuine. Agents OF
the secret cervice everywhere have
been wired a description of the notes
with instructions to be on the lookout
for persons ATTEMPTED to pass them.
Description Of the Spurious Note.
Inquiries have also been sent to all
the leading cities as to whether any
OF the notes have 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: The note is Of the series Of
1881. check letter D. face place 1; Till
man. register: Morgan. treasurer; por-
trait Of James Monroe. All numbers so
far seen begin with 345. The most
marked differences between this note
and the genuine, however, are found in
the seal and the numbering, the former
being shade lighter than in the gen.
uine and the latter slightly different in
formation. Especially is this true OF
the and 4. In the figure 3 the lower
loop does not extend up as far toward
the center Of the figure as in the gen.
uine. and in the figure four the space
betweenthe base and the center cross
line Is narrower than in The genuine.
Very Dang crous Production.
One Of the principal points of differ
ence. too. is that the new counterfeit
is l-16 of an inch or less shorter than
the genuine. The chief engraver at the
bureau Of engraving and printing an
nounces the counterfeit a very danger
GUS production. 1t is engraved on steel
and printed on two pieces of paper
pasted together after colored silk fibre
had been distributed between them.
The worsI. he said. was that Of q very
careful and excellent eneraver, and
while there was no appreciate differ
ence between the genuine and the coun-
terfeit note to the casual observer, un-
der a glass many slight differences were
discerned. This. however. was ex-
tremely difficult of description.
Will Call in All the Certificates.
In view of the dangerous character
Of the counterfeit Secretary Gage has
decided to stop issuing and to call in
all 500 silver certificates, of which
there are about $26.000,OO0 outstanding.
These will be exchanged for silver GER
tificates Of smaller denominations, and
the plates destroyed. As soon as new
plates 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 500 silver certificates ir
their possession, and to request all
banks. trust companies and other mon
led institutions to do the same. Secre-
tary Gage desired the statement made
that in his judgment it was unsafe fol
business men or others to accept silver
certificates of this denomination, and In
case any were now on hand they should
be sent to the banks for transmission
to WASHINGTON