The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-07-07
Work at a Strange Trade.
From the Nev9'arleans rimes.Democrnt.

~ - III, 49, "
the mysterious fascination of counterfeit
ing, said an old Federal official at the
Custom House. ''There is, without
doubt, something about the work, aside
from its possible profits, that draws men
into it and keeps them there at the sacri-
fee of almost everything that would ap-
pear to make life worth living Once a
counterfeiter always counterfeiter' is an
axiom in the secret service, and it is borne
out by facts.
Yet counterfeiting would seem, on the
surface, to be one of the least attractive
branches of crime. 1t involves an i'm
mense amount of hard work, accompanied,
as rule, by exposure and privation, and
there is not one single case on record in
which maker or shower of the queer
retired in peace with anything like com
petence Indeed, there are very few
known instances in which counterfeiter
ever made as much as $4,000 out of the
operation. They are almost invariably
caught or driven to cover before they sue
ceed in floating enough of their wares to
pay them ordinary day wages for the time
they have put in.
'''rhe engraving of bogus Treasury
note is long and tedious operation. Even
in the Government Bureau at Washington,
where every modern labor saving appli
ance is at hand and the work is distributed
among dozen skillful operators-one do
ing the vignette, another the lettering,
another the scrolls, and so ONT takes
several months to finish plate. One
man, doing the whole thing and working
under cover in continual dread of discovery,
would easily be occupied two or three
years at the same task. And you must
bear in mind that an engraver competent
to turn out dangerous replica could
easily be earning from So to S12 day at
honest employment. In other words, he
puts all the way from 81, 500 to SO, 900
worth of work into the undertaking, and
when the plate is at last ready for the
press he has no assurance whatever that
dozen Of the bills will ever actually be
passed. The chances are about two to
one that the job will land him in prison.
"But in spite of all this, continued
the officer, ''some of the best engravers in
the country have turned counterfeiters and
persisted in it to the bitter end. 1t is very
strange. The same rule applies to all
grades of bogus mon eymaking. None of
it ever pays as business proposition
Some time ago an italian was arrested here
in New Orleans for manufacturing spurious
quarters. He turned out very cleverly
made white metal coin, but had shoYed
less than $40 worth when he was caught
and given term behind the bars. The
fake quarters were first cast in mold and
afterwards touched up or 'sharpened, as
it is called technically, by hand. The
'reding' around the edge was also hand
work and very tedious. | calculated that
he could finish not over eight coins day,
working hard for at least ten hours. Just
think of it ! Only 50 a day for highly
1 I I Al. 1, Ill, .
that amount as net profit. The coins had
to be passed, the object being, of course,
to secure good money in change. That
necessitated making some little purchase
with every piece, SO at best not more than
20 cents was actually realized on the trans
action. In short the Italian was obliged
to put in one day counterfeiting and the
best part of another day showing, all for
beggarly go, and meanwhile he was
constantly jeopardizing his liberty. He
| was man of considerable artistic ability,
and ought to have been able to have earned
SO or S4 day as pattern maker or de-
signer.
ssAlmost every one of the famous bank
note counterfeiters has had opportunities
to quit crooked work with full assurance
of no future molestation on the part Of the
authorities You see, the Government is
generally only too willing to make terms
with such dangerous fellows But it is no
use. Not one of them has ever stayed
straight six months after alleged reforma-
ton. They can't resist the fatal fascina
ton.