The San Francisco call., 1899-05-07

Government. The worst of the case is
that the plan in contemplation was TO
flood the country with new issues of
paper before the people were fully ac-
quainted with the genuine, and in this
manner the counterfeit would put itself
on plane of equality with the real
Attention was first called to the opera
uons of the gang In January, 1898. George
Cramer of the sub-treasury in Philadel-
phia then submitted to the officials of the
Treasury Department in Washington five
Monroe head silver certificates of the
value of 500 each, stating that he was
sure they were counterfeited, but desired
the judgment of his superiors at head
quarters on the question The bills had
come to him in the ordinary course of
business, three having been accepted
without suspicion at the Custom-house
and two having been turned in by banks.
The color of the seal of the suspected
bills was salmon-pnk instead of carmine.
as it should have been. and the paper
seemed thicker than the genuine
CONSERVATION reigned in the Treasury
Department when the spuriousness of the
certificates was demonstrated. There
were 100000 of the genuine bills in Circu-
lauon. and how many of these marvel
Gus limitations were out no one could sur
mise. The Government was in a way to
lose an enormous sum, which would con-
tinue to grow greater until the makers
of these counterfeits should be discov-
cred and their nefarious operations
stopped. The matter fell within the
scope of Assistant Secretary of the Treas
ury Vanderlip, who has supervision of the
Secret Service Bureau, and he felt that a
great responsibility lay on his shoulders.
John E. Wilkie, a Chicago newspaper
man, had recently been made chief of the
bureau at 8lr. Vanderlip's suggestion and
To him fell the task of running the coun-
tcrfeiters to earth. AS a police reporter
and then city editor of one of Chicago's 5
biggest dailies he had done some remark
ably clever detective work; indeed, it was
his record there thar had recommended
him to Mr.. Vanderlip. He now set about
his task with a will. and the result has
abundantly justified his superiors conf
dence in him.
The Secret Service Bureau owes not
little of its success 10 the secrecy of it's
methods, and the precise processes ii en-
pioyed in this case are not to be revealed
Even its own employees worked in ignor-
aTce of each others movements. No two
detectives were allowed to meet and while
one man was at work on one branch of
the mystery other agents were employed
to watch him.
Ihe greater frequsnce of the detection
of these spurious certificates in the neigh
borhood of Philadelphia pointed to the
Quaker City as the field of the counter
feiters' operations. Accordingly the
sharpest detectives in the bureau were set
to work there. The certificates were so
skillfully made that they were evidently
the work of no ordinary criminals. Final
ly every expert engraVer in Philadelphia
was made the subject of the most rigid
espionage. His business affairs. his so
cial relations, his personal habits were
subjected to the most careful scrutiny,
and wherever he went he was faithfully
shadowed by the sleuthhounds of the law
Presently it was noticed that the firm
of Taylor & Bredell, having offices al $50
FIlbert street, was not doing a large
enough business to warrant them in
resorting to loose work" Then it was
recalled that in 1897 the firm had sus-
tanned relations with two tobacco men in