The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-04-26
THos. HALLS. WHO SUCCEEDS CAIRNS
IN THIS CITY, WAS IN 1T.
Gevernment VIII Give Certain Relief
10 Innocent Cignr Purchasers
STORY OF the Plot

ana the remaining -tFV were taken from TWO
other houses.
Thomas +. Halls. OF this city. who has re-
Gently been appointed to a position in the
United States secret service, and who was
one OF the officers who rnade the raid at
Lancaster, Pa, returned to the city yester-
day noon. lie has been assigned as chief OF
this district 10 succeed Frank Cairns. trans
ferred 10 Cuba. Mr.. Halls at once took
possession of the office.
The Internal Revenue Bureau at Wash
ington has in course OF preparation a cir
cular letter to collectors in which they are
directed to forward to the bureau all appli-
cations for relief from innocent holders Of
cigars stamped with counterfeit stamps and
purchased from Jacobs. the Lancaster, Pa,
cigar manufacturer. 1t is probable that in
nocent dealers who have paid for the cigars
will be permitted to retain them on condi-
ton that they restamp them. Cigars not
paid for will be sold and the proceeds turned
in to the treasury. 1t is not thought that
Jacobs was able to use counterfeit stamps
to the extent of over so, 600 or Sl2, 900.
The raid. which has resulted in the large
confscation of cigars in all parts of the
country, was the greatest one in the his
tory of the United States secret service.
About a year and a half ago a o~ne-hundre6-
dollar bill was presented at the Treasury
Department concerning the genuineness OF
which there was some doubt. A number Of
treasury experts pronounced it genuine. and
that il was n counterfeit was only ascer-
tanned after the bill had been steamed. and
it was found it was made in two pieces. The
counterfeit was the most DANCE rous ever
presented to the government and the full
force of the secret service department was
4 ,H,t n+ ,t~orIr a. D~I tho vIaNo frA~. vr1;oh 80
was made. The work was not recognized as
twenty-eight of these bills had turned up, the
secretary of the treasury called in the en-
tire issue of those bills. as the counterfeit
was a most dangerous one.
FIRST CLEW IN PHILADELPHIA.
1t was found that two men in Philadel-
phia, Arthur Taylor and b. S. Berdseli, both
expert engravers, had made the plates, but
that they were made for other parties. and
| the other clew was run down. 1t led to
Lancaster, Pa, and revealed one of the
most perfect outfits ever discovered. Those
implicated In Lancaster were w. NJ. Jacobs,
one of the most highly respected business
nen in the city, and w. l.. kendig, his part
rer, who stood exceptionally high and had
married the daughter of the most prominent
banker In the city. These two men were in
partnership in a tobacco warehouse and in
a cigar factory. 1t was later found that
two other cigar factories of that city were
owned by them, although operated under
other names. The third man in Lancaster
was James Burns, who was commonly re
warehouse. This warehouse was a fine look
ing. four story building. which stood di-
public place that could have been selected.
The secret service rnen learned that the
plate they SOUGHT WAS for these men,
Last wednesday night was the time Sc
lected for the raid and during the night ten
secret service officers slipped into Lam
caster. broke into the warehouse and Sc
crcted themselves. The building was. appar-
emily, what it seemed: The front of the low
er floor was occupied by the public offices
and the private offices of the firm. The Sec
ond, third and fourth floors were heavily
beamed and ribbed. as though to hold up
great weights OF tobacco. and the floors
were filed with tobacco In cases. AT the
front of the fourth floor a partition which
did not reach TO the ceiling had been put
up and in this was one door. on which was
a Yale lock. IT was in this room that the
outfit was found.
SIGNALED WITH A TOWEL.
Across the street from the warehouse two
other secret service men had taken a room,
and in the window they placed a towel. 1t
was desired to make the arrests separately
and to hurry the men to some place where
an outcry could not be made. so that the
others would not learn what was going on.
The first man to arrive at the warehouse
was Burns, who had the reputation of be-
ing an athlete and an ugly man to handle.
AS he approached. the men in the room
across the street lowered the towel. the man
on watch in the front OF the building on the
fourth floor signaled to a man back by the
| elevator shaft and he In turn tapped on the
shaft. The men on the ground floor gathered
near the door and as Burns came in they
threw themselves on him. He was quickly
overpowered and handcuffed to one of the
officers. who hustled him up on the fourth
floor where he could be neither seen nor
heard, and would be unable to let the 9TH
ers know that anything was wrong. The
same plan was followed until Jacobs and
Kendig were under arrest and then the
In the meantime, Taylor and Berdsell had
been arrested I'm Philadelphia, and ii was
believed the entire crowd had beer. caught.
THE ENGRAVERS A~VARICIOUS.
An examination Of the factory was then
made. In the small room at the front of
the top floor was found the plate from
which the hundred-dollar bill had been
made. This plate was covered with bees
wax. and thereby hangs a tale. When Tay-
lor and Berdsell had completed making 1t
they were so well pleased with their work
that they could not resist the temptation
to strike off d few bills. and they ran off
aOO0G WV OCLOlS AllE ll0
plate. Ten of these bills were deposited in
a Philadelphia bank and were checked
against. 1t was one Of these bills which
turned UP in the Treasury Department and
made the counterfeit known. Jacobs. Ken
dig and Burns were afraid TO risk any more
OF the bills and so never struck any of them
off, as the counterfeit had been detected.
but covered the plate with beeswax for
future use.
Three equally perfect plates-one for fifty
dollar bills; one for ten-dollar bills and one
for fiVe-dOllar billS-Were found, but they
had not been used as yet. The plates for
the revenue stamps were also found. None
of these were printed except for boxes to
contain fifty cigars. Stamps of this denomi-
were found by the officers. In addition to
this find three tanks, zinc lined, which were
TO be used to make the paper for the bills,
were found and five boxes of silk TO be used
in the bills. The investigation was extended
TO the cases of tobacco in the warehouse.
and in some of them tobacco was found
and In others paper was found When this
| search had been completed five tons of
water-lined paper to be used in making the
counterfeit bills had been turned out of
! supposed cases Of tobacco. The press for
printing TIE bills and stamps was of the
for the most extensive cCUnterfeiting estab-
lishnent ever attempted i'm the country.
Jacobs and Kendig mode much money by
their saving on revenue stamps. Their
three cigar factories turned cut many
cigars a week. one factory alone had a
capacity OF 10000 cigars a week. All
were machine made. and the cigars came
out as wheat out of a threshing machine.
The manufacture of money had not yet
been commenced.
a further investigation showed that fed
eral officials were concerned in the plan and
/ u K Ncurcft aN-diStriCt attorney ~ pbia-