The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-24


pretended to be unable to locate them.
He also told Chief Drummond that he
had sunk one Of his plates in a metallic
case to the bottom of the East river
The case was secured by a wire to a
spot on the williamsburg side of the
river under several inches of sand and
mud, But this plate was never found
B1ockway took the detectives to the
| spot where the wire was supposed to be
fastened, but it was not there. Yet an
| other plate, the famous rs, Morris head,
1 treasury note for one thousand dollars,
Brockway declares is lying at the bot
tom of the East river.
| He says that only one hundred notes
We're printed from it, These he intrust-
ed to a confederate, who went to st.
| Louis and passed two of them at one of
the banks in that city. He then got in
toxicated and was arrested. One of the
bills was found on him, and as he could
not give good account of himself it
was sent to the treasury at Washing
! ton, where it was pronounced to be
counterfeit. When Brockway learned of
this, he says, he dropped the plate into
the river, to prevent the possibility of
evidence being found against him. 1t
| does not appear what became of the 9TH
er ninety-seven notes, and, judging
from his cleverness in dsposing of other
| counterfeits, Brockway could we'll afford
| to drop the plate into the river But it
| is believed by the secret service men
that If Brockway ever did drop the
plate into the river it had String" to
it, like the other which he professed to
nave sunk. Brockway spent nine years
In making this plate, it is said, and 1t is
hardly likely that he would throw it
| away beyond recovery.
Another spot where Brockway said
that he had buried five hundred dol
lar plate was beneath one of the Long
Island railroad bridges. He said that
the Workmen in making the bridge had
buried 1T under twenty feet of earth.
1T is somewhat significant that most Of
BrockWay's plates, according to his own
stories We're buried where it was impos-
slple TO prove that they We're not.
A Fascinating Career.
The career of William Elias Brockway
is one of the most fascinating criminal
stories ever recorded. For half a centu-
ry the archives Of the United States Sc
cret service have been filled with his
plots, conspiracles and counterfeitng
schemes He has caused more trouble
to the secret service officials, without
any doubt, than any other ten men, liv-
ing or dead. He was not petty coun-
terfeiter He made only bills of large
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS hundred, five hun
dred and one thousand dollar notes and
bonds of railway and other companies
In 1861 he engraved plates and printed
more than one hundred thousand dol
lars worth of government war bonds.
and so perfect were they that ninety
thousand dollars worth of them got into
the treasury vaults before they We're
discovered to be counterfeit They were
traced to Brockway, but by surrender
ing the plates he escaped imprisonment
Next he swindled the great financier
Jay Cooke out of eighty thousand dol
lars by selling him bogus government
bonds Jay Cooke was so certain that
the bonds were genuine that he sued the
government for their value, but he lost
the case.
Brockway then turned his attention to
counterfeiting railroad bonds. operating
in Wall street to cover his disposal Of
them. He has been arrested a dozen
times, usually on the eve of some grand
coup, but in spite of these frustrated
plans he managed to carry through
many schemes successfully
Counterfeiting with him is an art He
is as devoted to it as is the painter to
his brush. In personal appearance
Brockway is striking figure. He
stands six feet three-quarters of an inch
and weighs one hundred and seventy
pounds. His eyes are a cold, gray blue,
and his hair and beard, when he was
sent to prison the last time, were white.
He is polished gentleman. Although
he only received a common school edu-
cation he applied himself to reading
and thoroughly informed himself. He
is daring, but was never known TO
boast of his achievements. He is retir-
ing and reticent.
A Man of Refinement.
He is not typical criminal, for he
seldom associated with the criminal
class. He is hated and despised by most |
of the lower class, criminals, who have
always envied his ability and have
tried on various occasions to betray |
him into the hands of the authorities.
He is refined in his tastes, a man of in |
tellect and strong will He drew |
around him, when he needed pals" the |
better class of rogues. He was never |
vicious in tie common acceptance of the |
term. Aside from his counterfeiting op-
erations he lived, so far as is known,
moral and respectable life. He was
married and treated his wife well. He |
purchased fine house in Brooklyn,
which he made over to her She got
divorce from him when he was sent to
Sing Sing, in 1884, and is now living I'M
der an assumed name in the City of
Churches. Tt was his theory that If he
could turn out notes equal to those of
government make, which he believed he
could, he was doing no wrong He said
once, when on trial, that he didn't con-
slider himself criminal at all
my bills" he once said, "are finer
specimens Of workmanship than those
in circulation and I consider that any
man has right to make all the money
he wants to if he makes it as good as
the government people Who is to be
the loser if the bill is an exact duplicate
of the government security? It goes on
and no one is any the wiser"
Brockway's philosophy is well ex-
pressed in the following characteristic
IT wouldn't give ten cents to spread