The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-15
CLEVER NOTE TRICK.
BOSTON FLOODED WITH BILLS WHICH
DECEIVED GOOD JUDGES.


Clippings From Fourteen Bills Made
One That Has Passed Muster EAsily-I'
Puzzled Bank Note Expert
Boston has seen a good many smooth
games in the line III raSSing ''the queer
in the last few years. but the one hnoOsh;
10 light few days ago SENS 10 be worthy
Of place in the front TOW.
The scheme wss 10 take "a IS bills and
make Is out OF them This was not done
by any sleicht Of hand means, bun the in
geni0Us method Of clipping half an inch
out Of each bin and putting The parts to-
gether, 80 that is pieoed bills, esch with
only one cur scross its face. were obtained
from The u bills taken ST the start
In order 70 work this scheme IL does not
appear necessary for the operator 10 con
fine himself to working with u bills He
can take more, say. 20, and make his cuts
shorter By so doing the chance Of discov-
cry Is less. for the mutilated bills would
not be as much short Of the regulation
ength as these clipped when IA are used.
The method used, while an old one, is so
unusual that il is worthy Of detailed de-
scription, so that people may be warned
and can distinguish between one of these
The bills used were the new issue OF Is
silver certificates, bearing in the center
the design with three female figures, one
Of which is holding aloft an electric light
bulb These bills have so much pictorial
work on them that they invite the "shovsr
Of the queer" TO tamper with them.
The first bill cut would be clipped half
an inch. One Of the new $5 bills is about
seven inches long leaving Ii without its
white margin at the right end and part of
the scroll border. This discrepancy would
not be noticed by the average person, as
many new bills are not cut squarely when
they come from the treasury.
The second bill is cut an inch from the
end In place Of this strip, the half inch
taken from the first bill is pasted to the
end Of the second, being held by a piece Of
tough tissue paper such rs Is commonly
used in patching bills that have been torn.
Then the bill il crumpled TO give color 70
the opinion, IL question should arise, that
it was accidentally torn and had been
patched.
The third bill Is cut an inch and a half
from the end, and 10 the bill Is pasted the
inch that was cut from the second bill
This makes the third bill, like the other
two, just half an inch short of standard
measure.
The fourth bill is cut two inches from
the end, and the piece cut from the third |
bill is pasted on TO 10. Thus the cutting Is |
carried on up 20 the seventh bill, when the |
division comes about in the middle of the |
bill. carving the beautiful female figure |
in twain. Then the piece cut of in each |
Of the succeeding bills Is longer than tho |
one that remains. until at the last cutting |
the left hand edge Of the bill is cut of and |
to ID Is pasted. in the same manner as in |
the preceding cases, the piece cut off the |
preceding bill
When this FASTING is done, fifteenth |
bill remains in the hand of the workman |
with its left border clipped off and nothing |
to paste on it. It is the same sort of bill 1
that the first one was only the other end |
is missing.
IL is not an uncommon thing for store |
keeper to have torn bills offered him by /
his customers, and therefore the passing of |
these bills is easy 10 smooth" man /
who can make the right kind of tall" as |
he draws patched bill off roll and offers |
it in payment for purchase
1t was the discrepancy in numbering of /
the clipped bills that first brought the
operations OF the clippers to the attention
OF the police recently One of the clipped |
bills came into the hands of Paying Teller
Smith of the Shoe and Leather bank He
noticed that the numbers did not CORE
fpond on the ends of the bills He thought
about 1t some time and kept watch for
other bills Of the same issue.
Finally another came that was patched
and had misfit numbers. Then the pay
ng teller felt assured that the misfits were
not the result OF carelessness in mending
'orn bills. and he notified the bank squad
'f the police department.
The weak spot in the piecing system is
hat the gap Of half an inch on 10 of the
bills breaks the continuity OF the design to
uch degree that careful examination
hows letters or figures to be missing The
issue helps cover up the deficiency, but in |
he bills that are cut across the middle the
gap is quite pronounced, owing TO the pic.
orial nature Of the design and the group.
ng Of the figures.
II the bill clippers were caught, they
'ould not be charged with counterfeitine.
The TACT that one has mutilated bills in his |
possession does not count against one. He
would lose the face value of the bills.
which would not be accepted in place of
lood ones by the government, as is the
ase with bills mutilated in the ordinary
curse Of business. The United States law
makes 1t felony to mutilate the coin Of
he realm. and the punishment for that
'nense is heavy one.-Boston Globe