The evening times., 1899-03-20
READY 70 DESTROY
COUNTERFEIT MONEY
Coin and Paper Condemned
in the Past Two Years.
Work to Be Done Under Expert
Supervision.
More Than "a Billion Dollars in Bogus
Lucre to Be Melted
and Burned.

Counterfeit coin and bogus notes ac-
} cumulate in the Secret Service store rooms
much more rapidly than the public i'm
} agines.
There are now stored in room adjoining
the private Office of John E. Wilkie, Chief
of the Secret Service Division of the United
States Treasury, paper and coin represent
ing 81, ,221 300. .9SS.75. This spoil is boxed
and almost ready for total destruction.
) OF this amount Sill, 7,2436 90 represents
United States notes, Treasury notes, silver
certificates, bank notes, and fractional
currency; $10,02171 is in gold, silver,
nickel, and copper coin. The balance of
this gigantic sum, according TO Mr.. Wilk-
les report, is in limitations of United
States obligations and securities. including
fac SMILES of Confederate States notes,
Tennessee State warrants, Missouri defence
bonds, State bank notes, and flash" notes.
This represents a two years donation of
counterfeits TO gullible public.
AT the time Of capturing these various
representatives of Uncle Sans lucre, along
with the plates, dies, molds, and various
tools for their manufacture. a minute list
. is taken in the Secret Service ONCE, and
then each outfit is separately boxed and
labeled. These boxes are put in a room
adjoining the office of the chief, and guard
ed for TWO years. AT the end of that time,
a committee is appointed TO take an inven-
tory preparatory to the total destruction of
the collection
Holding u Post-Mortem.
Such committee is now at work. 1t is
tiresome task, owing to the miscella
neous lot of stuG used by the counter
feters consisting of the different sorts of
paper used for the printing; fine-cut silk
thread TO perfect a representation OF
, recent silver certificate; books of gold
leaf, Photographic outfits; boxes OF type
; for numbering notes. ladies, crucibles,
engravers tools printers varnish, paint
and oils in cans; printers ink, rollers, and
a large collection of tools and materials
, consisting of files, wrenches, tongs, pinch
} ers. screwdryers, reeding tools, printers
, plates, knives. hand bellows, bar tin and
. lead; also, chemicals of all kind used in
plating and photOgraphing.
The work of the committee is being done
} in the old "Rogues Gallery, once the
delight of morbid public where various
} photographs of famous counterfeiters-
many women being in the collection
adorned the walls, and cases OF tools and
packages of green goods filed glass cases,
} while grewsome collection of dirks, pis-
tolls, shotguns. etc, told the tale of self
preservation and the value rogue places
on life.
Uncle Sam grew jealous of the public
example set his already too precocous
children. or too economical, and closed it.
Save for few-not pretty-poTtraits that
! adorn the walls of the committee room,
1 all the treasures went the way of the
! present collection. The "Rogues' Gallery
is no more but that il lives in the hearts
of the public is evidenced by the eager
inquiry made every day.
How II Is Disposed OF.
Having convicted 269 of these counter
feiters through the medium of the Secret
Service Division while few hundred
4 more are yet on the anxious seat. the
! Government proceeds TO dispose OF the rec
ords of their too diligent handiwork.
In former years all of the metals in
J coins. dies. molds. plates, and tools were
sent TO the navy yard, each metal melted
separately and run into bars. On its jour-
ney there and during the melting process
the committee remained by the collection.
The cost to the Treasury Department was
about $3.50 This included a donation of
the metals TO the navy yard when run into
bars. This figure was thought too high,
and contract has been made this year
with Schneiders foundry. and to this place
the committee will accompany it. 1t is
thought that il will be a small saving TO
: the department.
The bond paper. onion paper. stamped
envelopes, photographs, and all fibrous
matter are consigned to that part of the
| Treasury well known to tOuTists-that
sub-cellar room hid away from the face
of the earth, where mutilated paper mon
| ey. etc, is macerated. After that it is found
| made into curious articles, animal busts
. etc. at the stands of souvenir merchants
all over the country. During the process
of maceration, as during that of melting
the metal, it never leaves the sight of the
committee from the time it leaves the
room in which it is stored until it runs
liquid from the great macerating machine
Mr.. Wilkie, Chief OF the Secret Service
= Department, gives some startling revela-
:, lions of the gullibiity of the average
: American. He frankly says 1t is pretty
much their own fault when taken in by
green goods men. as most of the flyers
and flash notes are exceedingly poor
limitations OF the real thing.
Upon his desk were two SO flash notes
= with the crudest work Imaginable upon
them. Really about the only thing to re-
commend them was IA general bilious green
color. He also showed a pretty fair mi-
tation of fifty-cent piece; its ring was
clear and nearly true: it bore the mark of
the keen insight, and few scratches show
ed coating of silver over copper. He says
if, when receiving money, the public would
give more than casual glance to the gen
eral appearance of silver certificate or
other tender, and not simply the denomina-
, tion less fraud would be attempted and
!. practiced.
In what way is the public most easily
gulled?" was asked
by Confederate fac SMILES originally
used as advertising matter and later COL
| ored and passed on ignorant people for
genuine money. They were used for ad-
vertising brands of cigars, etc, having the
face of a silver certificate and the adver-
tisement on the back. Some of these were
simply colored green on the back with little
s effort at design and passed for money 1t
led to crusade against this form of ad-
vertising, and quantities of the fac SMILES
= and the plates from which they were print
K ed were seized and destroyed. These ssiz-
ures account for the unusually large
! amount represented in my report. Another
abuse of the circulating medium has been
h found IN an advertising 'sticker attached
to the standard silver dollars. Coins bear
ing these 'stickers' cease to be legal ten
der and bankers through the West, where
they were most used, complained of the
use of coins for such purpose. An opinion
from the law officer of the department,
holding that coin bearing one of the
'stickers' is defaced within the meaning
| of the statutes, has resulted in partial
suppression of the nuisance through the
agents of the division