Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1901-01-12
SILVER GO.IITERFEITERS.
Secret Service Officials Make an In.
portant Series Of Captures
in New York.
RIVALS FOR UNCLE SANS MINT DROPS.
1he Independent Mus. Where the
hl-Silver Counterfeit Coins Were
Mace, Discovered and Se,Frd. To.
rether with EiEht ltauans Nhs
Conducted Them.


Washington, Jan. 6-For al leas'
two months the secret service peopl,
have been st work 10 discover th,
makers Of 8 large number Of au sill
yer counterfeit coins mostly quarter,
and halves, which were being freely
circulated in New York cry. Friday
night and Saturday morning officials
of the secret service Of the treasury
department. under Chief WILKES ds
recuon, arrested Pic Paris and sever
companions all Italians.
NH-SiIver Counterfeits.
The fact that large numbers Of
these au-silyer couRterfeits were be
ing freely circulated in New Iork dur.
ing the last two years has given Chief
Wilkie a great deal Of trouble. The
coins being Of almost pure silver, 9oC
fine, and fairly well made, they readi.
" passed wherever presented, and
rendered extremely difficult the task
Of locating the makers and passers
The arrest came about in this way:
The First Clew Secured.
Some time ago two Italians called
on Messrs Platt & Co. OF Gold street
New York. dealers in sheet silver and
gold, and purchased a thousand .
ounces Of sheet silver One Of the
men was observed at the time Of the
purchase to compare one OF She
sheets with q coin which he took from
his pocket, The circumstance was
made known to the secret service of.
fcials. The men took only
part Of their purchase with them
After time they again appeared
and took away another small quauti.
", 70 III Mangin street, on the east
side Of New York From there they
Were Swallowed to IS Watts street. on
the West side.
Swallowed by Detectives.
Detectives Swallowed them, with the
result that their lodging places were t
discovered and the fact established 4
beyond doubt that at both of these u
numbers work was being carried on. RI
Friday morning one of the roomers in y
the Mangin street house became sus. o
pieious that the men on the floor be,
low were doing some sort of crooked il
work, and he at once notified police t.
man on that beat of his suspicious. k
money from the start and at the end I;
Of six years he returned home with a fl
fortune. Ia
Nearly Spoiled the job. II
The policeman not knowing that "
the authorities were watching the
house, went to the door and pounded K
for admittance. He was not an.
sWere, and went away. One of the W
gang who had been watching from
he next street corner at once went
% the house, notified the gang of the
circumstances. and all pre-
'ipItatcly fled to the Watts street at
place, carrying with them many OF y,
heir dies, coins and blanks. NJ
Further Delay Dangerous or
The secret service officials, realiz. OIL
ng the danger of further delay. i'm GO
nediately forced an entrance into NJ
both houses, where they found sew VI
raj OF the men, eight in all, at work. NJ
II he Mangin street house, as well as Ie
he house on Watts street, was fully IS
qupped with modern machinery for WI
olIIng silver, punching blanks. etc GI'
one of the places 4 screw press -
,elghng five tons, was in operation. M
bout a thousand ounces of silver .
nd quite large basket full of steel ~
les We're secured
Mutilated the Dies.
Many of the dies, however, had
cen so mutiIated as to be beyond
Sc. 1t seemed that as soon as the u u"
oHeeman had given the alarm, the l"'
began to file away the ,ei
ices OF their dies to prevent them y va
ON being used as evidence. a.
Chief Wilkie said that this GANG 7o'
'obably was responsible for at least si''
per cent. Of all the silver counter. are ar,
ITS which have been in circulation me
New York during the last two On
Ears. rot
T lay