The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-05-04

were finished earlier than was expected,
and Taylr and Breden thought they
would make little money Of their own
without letting Jacobs know anything
about il. Jacobs plan was to keep the
plates until he had solved the paper prob
-em.
They made some paper by taking one
dollar notes and splitting them. You can
split tissue paper if you know how 10 do
it, and Taylor and Bredell understood.
After the one-dollar note had been split
they were bleached and the front and
back Of the Monroe 500 notes printed
from the plates. BY this method they
actually had government paper and al
that was necessary after the printing was
10 paste the two sides together.
Taylor and Bredell ran off about one
hundred, or $4,000 worth of notes. and
easily disposed of them. 1t was not IN
I'll the following January that an officer
Of the sub-Treasury at Philadelphia dis
covered the counterfeit.
So clever was the counterfeit that the
department called in the whole issue of
S26,OoG,0O0 One morning Jacobs read in
the newspapers that the issue had been
called in because of the circulation Of a
bogus 800 Monroe head note. That is
the first he knew of his plates being fin
ished
He came down to Philadelphia In a
Breder, his employees and carried back
the plates. We found them nicely packed
up in the Lancaster factory. 1t was ia
coo's plan to print some more notes in
h9r-a oir
the exchange bankers abroad.
Taylor and Bredell did not blow any
Of the $4,000. They bought some good
clothes and a little jewelry and took a
lew short trips through the South. They
were Immediately put to work on 500
Lincoln head certificate and a $50 and
$40 note. These were completed and the
printing was only being delayed untile
the paper plant could be made to work
satisfactorily.
1t was Jaob's intentions to bribe a re-
eelving teller Of the Sub-Treasury at New
York or Philadelphia to handle the
counterfeits in large lots He had made
study Of how government money was
wrapped up in packages. He intended
to deposit the notes in sums as large as
$4,000 at a time. get a certificate of de-
post, and later draw out the money in
bills of smaller denomina tons. so that he
would be sure not to ge tany of his own
money back.
1t was agreed that the s10.00Oo0O was
to be equally divided between Jacobs
Kendig. Burns. Taylor and BredeI, each
to receive 100000
Had it not been for the break made
by Taylor and BredeN in prematurely
the Monroe head 800 certificate
We would have never known of the exist
would have been flooded with $4,000 900
of bad money. It was only an accident
that We discovered the revenue stamp
fraud. We did not know of its exist
ence, but ran across it in running down
the other matter.
Jacobs has always been doing shady
sums, but he is not a rich man TODAY. He
has not more than $4,000 or $4,000 if
that much. He was continually being
heeced by his confederates. and besides
he was under heavy expenses. He paid
salaries to Kendig, Burns. Taylor and
Breden and spent large sums for info-r
nation even of the simplest character
He sold his cigars so cheaply that even
without having paid the government tax
the margin of profit was very small.
But he expected to recoup on the
scheme His plates were perfect. and if
ne could have got the paper he could
have turned the country upside down.
80 far as the counterfeitfng goes we
have caught every member of the COM |
oination so red-hauded that no defense
S possible, and they have had to throw
up their hands.
We were ready at any time in the past
three months to make the arrests but !
the service waited, waited. waited for the |
moment to arrive. and when that came |
We got exactly what we figured on get |
-inS"