The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-24
ONCE LIVED IN This CITY.
OLD BILL BR0CKWAY, THE "KING
OF co Observation-Disclosures
Not Expected to Recoverable
1""oe Millions of Bogus Money und
"on"s-A Mystery About Him.

on"s-A Mystery About Him.
IL Is possible that the romance of
monte Cristo may some day be worked
OUT IN real life in the vicinity Of New
York All the details of the plot--bur-
led treasure, mysterious island, sole pos
SCISSOR in prison for life and possible con-
Hdant-eXist. The Able Faria in the
case is odd Bill" Brockway, the king
OF Counterfeiters," VINO Is serving a ten
year term in the New Jersey penitentia-
ry at Trenton.
Word comes from that institution that
BrockWay Is falling in health, and cam
not possibly live his sentence out. He
VIII probably not live more than year
or two, it is said, and he has yet seven
years of his sentence to serve. He is
now seVenty-seven years old, and while
OF extremely vigorous constitution and
Wonderful vitality, his prison life has
told upon him.
1t is generally believed by secret ser
vice men and others who know Brock
way that he has millions of treasure
buried somewhere near this city, He is
by Tar the most successful counterfeiter
mat ever operated in this country.
thousands of dollars Of his counterfeit
notes have been redeemed at the treas
ury in Washington, so perfect We're
they, and he would not now be spending
his last hours in prison had not William
P. Hazen, Of the local bureau of the Sc
cret service, who was then chief of the
government secret service, and George
r. Bagg, then in charge Of the local Of
flee, had him Swallowed for months by
secret service officers, just on general
principles. He must have amassed a
fortune, which he will never be able to
enjoy. Like a second Able Faria. he
could disclose his secret to some fellow
prisoner to whom he took a fancy and
make him nineteenth century Edmond
Dantes.
He has been betrayed so often that he
Is not likely to intrust his secret to any
person in the hope Of realizing the BEN
eft of his own money. Even those who
were most intimately connected with
Brockway in his schemes knew little of
his private affairs, and no one ever dis
covered what he did with his money.
Buried on an Island. j.
Oddly enough, the story of the Brock
way treasure, which might furnish the
plot for a novel, follows Dumas story
still further in that it is probably hid
den on an island. The island is small
one in Jamaica Bay, easily accessible
from Rockaway Beach. Its name is
Ruff1eplot, and it is a sandy little spot,
lying about two miles from Canarsie,
and is not more than mile in circum
ference 1t boasts a summer hotel and
20 ,o1y will
but most of the year it is Inhabited only
by simple fisher folk.
Here it was for three years that
Brockway and his two confederates-
Owens and Smith--made their rendez-
vous This was from 1882 to 1884. The
three men had a house on the island a
lonely cottage, facing the shore, where
1t is likely many Of their operations
were carried on. They owned boat,
and made many mysterious night trips
In 1t.
The most conclusive evidence that
Brockway secreted his treasure on Ruff
1eplot is story told by a man who
played detective at the time Brockway
was living there. He told the secret
service officers that he had frequently
watched Brockway on the beach. On
several occasions he had line with him
and was measuring with it, as If from
some given point to several others At
ter he had gone away the man went to
the spot, but could find nothing show
ing any marks left by Brockway. The
counterfeiter probably got the bearings
of the place during the day by heliome-
trio means and dug at night when the
tide was favorable. SO that signs Of his
work would be destroyed when the tide
came in.
In support of this story was the evil
dence of several of the residents of the
island, who saw Brockway digging
along the shore at different times. He
always made the excuse that he was
digging clans, and none of the simple
fisher folk suspected him of being no
torious counterfeiter, so no account was
taken of his actions.
After the arrest of Brockway and his
companons in 1884 for the counterfeiting
of one thousand dollars in six per cent.
government bonds, the idea struck the
Inhabitants of the island that Brock
way had probably secreted his treasure
there, and the island was pretty well |
dug UP by fortune hunters. Even the |
secret service men took a hand in the |
excavat ting operations, but the search
proved fruitless. Brockway If he had |
buried his treasure there, had hidden it |
we'll The secret service men, after they
were baff1ed in their search, pretended |
to believe that Brockway really had no |
hidden treasure, but had squandered his |
dishonest gains in Wall street.
Revealed Hiding Places.
The secret service men were strength
ened in their opinion that Brockway |
had buried his treasure on Ruff1eplot or |
some other place on account of his PEN
chant for burying his plates and bogus
money on numerous other occasions.
When Brockway was arrested in 1880, |
after disposing of two hundred and four
thousand dollars worth of six per cent.
United States bonds of one thousand |
dollars denominatio and sentenced to
thirty years Imprisonment, he offered
to surrender all his plates and other /
counterfeitng apparatus and what bad
money he had on hand on condition that
sentence be suspended. The authorities
accepted his offer, and he took Chief
Drun1mond to a grove near Jamaica, L.
T.. and dug up twenty-five steel plates,
O HINT fftv thousand dollars in counter
felt one hundred dollar national bank
notes and a large quantity Of fibre pa