The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-06-05
COUNTERFE|T|NG IN PRISON
Conv,cts Say That Their Attorney
Aided and Advised Them.
LAWYER PLACED UNDER ARREST

). T.. 'Semplc, Of Camden, n. j., Accused
of Inducing Two Members of the Ja-
cobs-Kendig Gang to Make Bogus
Money in Moyamensing Prison - 81
Notes Washed and Issued as $50 Bills.
Philadelphia.-An alleged conspiracy
to hoodwink and defraud the Govern
ment was unearthed when Secret Ser
vice Chief Wilkie arrested John L.
Semple, a prominent criminal lawyer,
of Camden. n. j., on charge Of con.
spring with others to make counter.
felt twenty dollar Hamilton head sill
Ter certificates.
At a hearing before Commissioner
Edmunds, Arthur Taylor and Baldwin
S. Bredell. who are awaiting sentence
for completely in the famous kendig-
Jacobs bS-Ingham-Newitt counterfeiting
case, testified that upon Semple's ad-
vice they have been engaged In coun-
terfeiting while in Moyamensing Pri-
son. Upon their evidence Semple was
held in $4,000 bail.
Taylor and Bredell are regarded as
among the most expert engravers IN
the world. They were arrested April
20. 1899, and committed to Moyamen-
sing Prison as counterfeiters. Just af-
ter their arrest. in thepresence of Sem
pie. the prisoners told Chief Wilkie
that the plates for ten-dollar Sheri-
dan note were at Snow Hill, Md. These
were dug up by Secret Service men,
but the Government refused to take
this surrender as an act which should
be reciprocated with small sentence
for the Kendig-Jacobs affair.
Later. according to their story. Sem
pie visited Taylor and Bredell in pri-
son, and advised them to start making
a twenty-dollar Hamilton head coun-
terfeit note. They were furnished ma
terials ana stealthily engraved the
plates right in Jail. The job was be-
gun in December, 1899, and ended in
April, 1900.
Piece by piece small press was
smuggled into the cell, and while
guards paced the corridor the prison
ers kept it going. turning out bogus
money. Then Harry Taylor, Arthurs
brother, it is said. would smuggle the
notes from JAIL and pass them, in COM
pany with Daniel r. Hayes, both Of
whom are also under arrest. The
paper upon which the $50 notes were
made were one-dollar silver certif-
Gates that had been treated to pro-
cess of washing out
"One day Mr.. Semple was down."
said Taylor. in the course of his testi.
mony, land We had several impress
sions on Japanese paper of the twenty.
dollar Hamilton-head note. He asked
us If we could print more. We told
him we could print twenty-dollar notes
from the new One-dollar notes. He
said if we could give him check for
$3.50 he would get US $3.50 worth Of
one-dollar notes with which to print
the twenties. Semple gave us the $3.50
worth in three lots. This. was some
time in April, 1000.
"The bills were cleaned off, making
practically new paper. Then we went
to work and made 100 new $50 bogus
bills. About fifty Of these were de-
stroyed in experiments. We showed
some to Semple. He said they were
very good, and that no trouble would
be experienced in selling them. Ten
of these same notes were missed when
he left the cell.
81 gave the bills to my brother to
circulate. He came down on Monday
or Tuesday. A few days later my
brother was arrested for circulating
some Of the notes. Semple came to
me and asked me not to tell anybody
of his (Semple's) connection with the
case.
"Bredell and myself made up a
scheme to hide the plates and send
letter to the authorities. Then. when
they came to see us, we would refer
the officials to our attorney, Semple.
Semple advised US as to various steps
we should take in the scheme"
Semple absolutely denied the charges
at the hearing.