The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-06
Caught in an Oakland
Cottage.
PART OF THE OUTFIT FOUND
GOOD WORK OF SECRET SERVICE
OFFICER BROWNE.
When Confronted With Evidence Of
Their Guilt One of the Pris-
oners Makes a Con-
fessIon.

| A counterfeiting scheme was cleverly
nipped in the bud in Oakland late yester-
day afternoon by United States Secret
Service officers Browne and Cronin, when
| two men, giving their names as Amos II.
! Vliet, aged 81 years, and H. D. Pell, A
| years, were arrested on suspicion of coun-
terfeiting.
They are charged with felony on the
small book at the Oakland City Prison,
| where they occupy separate cells. The Of
! ficers have possession of part of the out
! fit consisting of crucibles, metal, plaster
! of paris and other appliances used by the
counterfeters, also a bogus dollar.
About three weeks ago Vliet and Pell
rented the small cottage at $40 orty-
fourth street. No furniture, however, was
moved in. During the daytime the mouse
was deserted, but at night there was &C
| tivity in one of the rear rooms and the
men usually remained up all night. There
! was usually considerable hammering dur
! ing the night and this attracted the at
! tention of neighbors, who last Wednesday
notified the police that the place and it's
occupants would bear watching.
Friday night Chief of Police Fletcher
had officers Kahn and Pardee visit the
cottage at $40 Forty-fourth street, but
though the officers searched carefully they
found nothing aside from an old blanket
and a large valise. The counterfeiters,
moreover, did not put in an appearance
that night.
When Secret Service officers Cronin and
Browne arrested the prisoners the latter
offered no resistance.
PelI has virtually confessed his connec-
ton with the scheme His story is that
of man who, being unable to earn money
with which to secure the comforts of life,
decided to manufacture money -.
Both prisoners claim to be from the
East. Pell was raised in Kentucky,
while Vliet says he halls from New YORK.
They met in San Francisco four weeks
ago Vliet claims to be a carpenter, while
Pells occupation is given by MIN as
piano tuner.
Never mind, we don't care to talk TO re,
porters about this affair at all, said
VIiet to a Call reporter. We d1dn 90
anything wrong anu lived in that cot
tage because it was cheaper than living
in San Francisco. What kept US up late
at night was the fact that Pell usually
He's a piano tuner and gives lessons, too,
and we can live here for 90 cents a day;
The officers found no money on me, for L
Pei after a time admitted that it was
their intention to manufacture counterfeit
money.
hardly got started" said Pell. ut was
more of an experiment, but it hadn prov
The dollar the officers found might
have been dropped by me, but you see "a
rather not talk about this business until
l have engaged counsel. We only nag
little of the metal, only about half
pound. and. as 1 tell you, it was simply
an experiment.
what court his case will be tried before;
IF it is to be, tried IN San FRANCISCO,
quaintances over there. am a piano
tuner by occupation, but things have been
rather dull lately. L was born in Ken
lucky, and came TO San Francisco nine
wears ago About four weeks ago met
Vliet. He's a carpenter and he was hard
up, too, so we decided to rent little
cottage over in Oakland, because 1t was
cheaper than living in San Francisco.
What kind of coins did we propose to
make Y Whore We Made a Pny
we were only experimenting,
There has been an unusually large
amount of spurious money in dimes and
local circulation of late and the authori-
ties feel confident that they now have be-
hind the bars two men whom they believe
are none other than clever counterfelters:
The accused counterfeiters are men of
medium stature. Both have sandy mus
taches, and are anything but neat or per
sonal appearance. While apparently not
endowed with an oVerabundance OF intel
ligence they evidently knew enough to
destroy some of the utensils used in their
enterprise, or at least hide them where
the officers have been unable to locate
what they believe to be sufficient evidence
to convict they have thus far failed to
discover any dies, milling apparatus or
hammers, the noise of which aroused the
suspicion of neighbors and led to their
capture.
Some time ago we were informed that
counterfeit halves and quarters were be-
ing passed in San Jose. A little later there
came to us similar complaint from Oak
land, and this in turn was followed by one
from San Francisco. The halves and
quarters were of very superior kind and
ABOUT ten days ago I received notice
from one Of my special agents in Oakland
that two strange men had rented house
at 500 Forty-fourth street. The curiosity of
house was attracted by the fact that
light was kept burning nearly all night,
and this. added to the additional fac. that
no one seemed to know anything of the
men, had aroused their suspicious. By
my orders the men were Swallowed. They
came frequently to San Francisco and
were largely in evidence in the tenderloin.
Finally we decided that they were the
men we wanted and j. F. Cronin, one of
my deputies, and myself made the arrest.
1.-THE men were greatly surprised when
officers, and that we wanted to search the
premises. At first they denied being
counterfeiters or having any counterfeit
tioning, in which ! managed to tangle
them up. Vliet confessed that they had
been making counterfeit dollars. We re-
covered a crucible that they melted
their metal in and also some plaster of
paris, which they used for making molds.
/ also have in my possession sample of
one of the counterfeit dollars that was
made by them. 1t is light in weight and
the lettering is crudely done, but other
wise it is a good counterfeit anu could be
passed. We found in the house a small
brick oven that had been built in one of
the rooms. The men were using coke in
this, which fact in itself is very Suspi-
cious. I am not certain yet that these are
the men who have been operating in San
Jose. Oakland and this city. There is at
present in circulation in San Francisco
counterfeit nickel that Is an excellent i'm
itation."
CAPTAIN BARNES RECOVERING.
Ex-District Attorney Had a Narrow