The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-05
FIRST jim IK PENNAN
ORIGINAL HANDT MAN wrrH THE
PEN CONCLUDES HIS TERM
IN PRISON
CoUNTERFEITED FOR YEARS
His Arrest sIades1 ON. the Complaint
of Groeeris CIerk-secret OFF,
GERS Had Been After
HIM for Years.


The six-year sentence imposed upon
Emanuel Ninger, the Jim the Penman of
the counterfeiting profession, in 1S96-al-
lowing for good time"-expired last
Monday at the Erie county, New York,
prison.
Here IS man who completely baff1ed
the officers Of the law for more than fiji
teen years. There is always touch
Of the romantic about the story of q
counterfeiter, but the case Of Ninger is by
far more like fiction than that of any
other bogus note maker ever known to
the secret service.
Early IN the year 1879 there was re-
ceived at the redemption bureau of the
treasury department.; in a batch OF notes
from one of the suhtreasuries, a $50 legal
tender note which the eye of the expert
iexamfner detected as5ceunterfeit, but I'M
like any previously discovered spurious
production Careful scrutiny under a
magnifying glass disclosed a startling
fact. The note was a free hand drawing
with pen and ink and yet its likeness was
so close to the genuine as to practically
defy detection at the hands Of any but
the most expert. The secret service Of
f1cials were Immediately notified. but
Were unable to do anything because the
tellers at the subtreasury from which the
note came were unable to say how it
came into their possession.
From that time until Ringers arrest, In
March, 1886, these marvellous works of
art turned up at more or less regular
intervals, usually arriving at the treasury
in remittancese from banks where they
had escaped detection. Nor did they
come from any particular quarter, every
section of the country contributing it's
share to the history of these now famous
notes. Try as hard as they would the
secret service. agents could get no clue
to the makea,t tfie5 general appearance
or the notes was SO good that no shop
keeper hesitated tor accept them, and,
In the course of a few days when they
reached the bank. it was an even chance
they would pass scrutiny, so that officers
We're blocked at every turn in endeavor-
ing to trace thEn1 from hand to hand.
A theory was advanced by some that
the author Of these amazing counterfeits
was a person EOf leisure, gifted with the
FACULTY OF imitation, who had developed
this strange fad as an amusement 1t
pleased him to lead Uncle Sans detec-
tlyes merry dance in pursuit Of will
Up to sNovembef, 1893, all of these pen
and ink notes received at the treasury
were. tWenties and =fifties. Them how
ever, a fresh specimen of this mans
handwork was discovered like the first.
in remittance from q subtreasury. 1t
was a $lQO legal tender issue of the series
of 1880, bearing the portrait of Lincoln
In aid save the demo minationF it was like
previous specimens by the same author
Warnings Of these ceunterfeats were re-
peatedly given widest publicity and nu=
merous points wherein they differed from
the genuine, as well as methods for de
lection, were INCORPORATED, in these warn
dngs. One of9these methods was to pass
g. motstened finger across the serial NUM-
Der: Under this Test the ink would blur,
It was the: Uniptentional application of
this test which caused Ringers down
fal.
When be started out from Flagtown,- N.
Js, on Saturday fleFnins,, March g. 1896,
N1nger had in his possession six $40 notes
and one $50 note, which together were the
product Of fifteen weeks work He passed
i've of the tWenties without any difficulty.
The sixth nearly brought him to- grief.
Entering J. Weyman,s grocery store, No.
162 Third avenue, New York city, he call
ed for a bottle ofewhisky and gave the $40
note in payment, Immediately after his
departure the cashier, while taking an ac-
count of cash noticed the blurred con-
d1tfon Of the number on twenty as 1t
passed underSher moistened thumb, and
quickly realizing that something was
wrong with the note, clerks were sent in