The times., 1899-05-12
THOSE MONEY PLATES.
The Authorities Do Not Believe in
the Theory of Criminal Intent.

The Authorities Do Not Believe In
the Theory of Criminal Intent.
Since the published statements of the
finding of Photographic negatives of S. and
$40 bills in the Patent Office. the officials
of the Secret Service and the Patent Of
fce have been actively at work to get at
the bottom of the mystery. 1t is UNDER
stood that they have been cognizant of the
existence OF the negatives since Friday.
and were anxious that publicity should
be avoided in the interests of justice.
Notwithstanding their efforts, however,
the story leaked out by accident, and it
now appears that the theory of the author
tiles is to discredit the idea of a counter
felt manufacture of bills and show, too.
that the negatives found were made by
persons interested in photography as an
experiment and not with any criminal in
tent.
Although Chief Wilkie states positively
that no money has been counterfeited
from the negatives In his possession, or
rather that no money counterfeited from
the plates has been put in circulation, he
does not deny positively that there may
have been a criminal intent in producing
the negatives. He stated last night to a
Times reporter that while he was OF the
opinion that there was no criminal intent
he had made no such statement. 1t was
called to the attention of the Chief that in
an interview he had been credited with a
positive statement and he again denied 1t.
The question of counterfeitiDg possibil-
tiles by photography has attracted consid-
cradle attention from persons well versed
in the art of the camera. While opinions
of photographers and those of the Secret
Service officials on the subject differ, the
consensus of opinion seems to be that a
good imitation of paper money can be
made by the photographs process. for
mer Patent Office employe who Is familiar
with photography in all its details, when
questioned last night expressed the firm
belief that counterfeit bill could be made
in the manner suggested and to such a
degree of perfection as to defy detection by
the average handler of money. The mat
ter is simple enough" he said. THE diff
Guilty of obtaining the proper color for the
paper is the thing popularity supposed to
be insurmountable. But that is not a
difficult matter One can use bond paper
prepared for an ordinary blue print. and
then dip the paper in a solution after 1t
has been printed and the result will be
that the money green color is produced.
The solution? Yes.e can give you the
formula. Its ingredients are red prussiate
of potash. ammonia, citrate of iron, and
yellow prussiate of potash.
have been printed from a negative it is
a simple matter to determine it. hut when
the plates have been vanished thousands
of prints could be made, and, as the sensi-
tiveness of the plate has been destroyed it
would be impossible to state whether a
print had been made from it or not. After
the print has been made and the pai.er
dipped in the solution as described. all that
remains is to add the color to the serial
number and the seal. That Is also simple,
and though It must be surface work, Is that
not done in photography every day. and
| does it show? Such a bill as could be
made in the manner have given would be
accepted not only by an Indian or CuDar.,
! but by many persons who handle paper
money every day
The fact that the secret service officers
do not believe there was any criminal in
| tent in the making of the plates is sup
| posed to be shown in their failure to make
arrests. Probably they have some infor-
nation not open to the public. The plates
| in question were found wrapped in news
| paper of an 1897 date. 1t is assumed,
therefore, that they were made in that
| year; but of course this assumption is only
tentative. Chief Wilkie and his assistants
are using their best efforts to locate the
people whose devotion to photography was
strong enough to lead them into an un-
pleasant predicament If detected. The
question whether there has been any at
tempt TO produce bills from the photo
graphic plates or not is an open one
There was a rumor last night that some
had been uttered and could be produced
but it was not tangible.