The Minneapolis journal., 1901-12-26

Ielt Dill would cause no one loss, Mrs.
Brown, now a prisoner in the Hennepin
county Jail, studied chemistry and pho
tography a year and half to perfect
| herself In the art of making spurious
money. So far as mechanical work was
concerned her counterfeiting was success
full, but she lacked the nerve necessary
to put the money into circulation. AS
she attempted to pass her second bill,
some question was raised and she prompt
ly gave up and admitted her crime. She
is 81 years Of age.
The case is not without pathos, and in
some respects presents interesting fea-
lures to those interested In the phychol-
ogy Of crime. Her attitude toward her
Keepers, her expressed loathing of the
crime which she has committed, the story
OF her former happy life and the tale of
the path which she trod, leading to her
downfall, has awakened the sympathy of
1ailers and prosecutors alike.
Mrs. Brown was arrested sometime ago
in the southern part of the city for pass
ing counterfeit bill. Her residence was
on Twentieth avenue s. In her rooms
were found the instruments with which
she prepared the spurious bills. At the
time Of her arrest she denied the offense
and connected fictitious persons with the
crime When her mind, dazed by the
sudden downfall of cherished hopes, had
| regained its normal condition, she ad-
mitted that she, alone and unaided, had
made the counterfeits; no one, not even
her landlord, suspected her employment
! She was connected with no gang" and
had no acquaintance with rough charac-
! ters. She never knew Of raised bills or
other method of count erfeiting than the
one she employed.
Estranged From Friends.
While relating her story yesterday in
| the sitting-room of the jail, Mrs Brown
| had the appearance of woman discour-
! aged, defeated, alone in the world She
| looked her questioner sQuarely in the eye,
| with an occasional averted glance as the
! full horror Of the situation came over her
| She had the appearance and voice Of q
woman Of education and refinement, and
| as the story was told relief seemed to
show in her face.
! AS a child she was cared for by re-
ligious parents and was taught the diff
| ference between right and wrong The
| child grew into woman of religious and
| correct tendencies; her devotional nature
was developed and faith in the teachings
| of her church grew strong. 1t was not
| until past the fftieth year that her con
! fdence 4wavered, but when the change
| came and she believed that her eyes had
been blinded, that she was practically
| the dupe of her religious monitors, the
revulsion of feeling was strong and she
became as set in the opposite way.
| According to Mrs. Browns story, per-
secution began, at first hardly perceptible,
| sort Of a mild boycott, but gradually
! open and countenanced among the chill
! dren by their elders. The woman had
renounced opinions held sacred by the
| majority Of her townsmen, and at first
| involuntarily and then voluntarily they
| showed their feelings. The trouble in
| vaded the family circle and disrupted re-
lations which had been loving for over
half century. Mrs. Brown determined
to so elsewhere. She took her ready
money, some 81, ,100 and came from her
| distant home to Minneapolis.
A New Theory of COunterfeitinE.
This lone woman, cut off from her rela-
tlves and others to whom she would
naturally turn for support in old age, saw
her untnvested savings dwindle slowly
with nothing coming in to recuperate the
loss. She tried sewing, but her failing
eyesight would allow work only during
the sunlit hours and the income was not
over rs cents day.
1t was at this point that her steps
wavered from the right. Circumstances
which turned her mind in the directio of
counterfeiting seemed to cumulate at one
time. In magazine article she read that
bills interjected into the currency of 1.-THE
nation worked no loss on anyone The
article led her to believe that bank notes
were never presented for redemption in
the coin which they represented When
the notes were worn out and came in for
renewal, other bills were sent into circu-
lation and no one lost, except perhaps
the bank which Mrs. Brown seemed to
believe would be recompensed in some
way for the actual cost of printing. This
erroneous idea stuck in her head
About this time she saw an advertise
ment of book which explained the trans
ferring of pictures and colors by photog-
raphy. This book she sent for and 1t was
the only one which she obtained under an
assumed name. The outcome Of the peru
sal OF this book was that she began the
study OF the chemistry OF photography
and purchased volume after volume. In
turn came the purchase OF a camera and
complete photographing outfit. These
materials cost money but the woman saw
returns as soon as abe could make bills
herself.
Conscience Spoke Weakly.
Early during her research Mrs. Brown
happened to draw bill through her damp
fingers and discovered that the bill an
parently q good one, left a green stain
upon her hands. To this day she does
not know whether 1t was IS note issued
by the government or one falsely uttered.
but the result was the same. 1t gave her
an luea. AT later time In handling some
money the corner OF note split This
was another accident which developed an
idea in her brain.
In the course of eighteen months study
the question often arose in her mind as
to whether it was right. Not as a child
would she have done it for the world. but
the woman, under the circumstances.
seemed to have made herself believe that
she was injuring no one. Still she had
settled conviction that were she taken
in the act, punishment would and ought
to follow. Once she considered going into
photography as a business, but the en-
couragement was anything but hearteninE.
Conscientious study, without the accom-
panying constant guilty fear OF the
ordinary criminal, after many attempts re-
suited in the photographing Of a So bill
and the transferrence to paper. Her
workroom, which was changed from time
to time to different parts of the city. was
Uttered up with spoiled prints and bills
which she intended to destroy, but which
were found by Captain Lawrence OF the
secret service of the government and Po-
lice Inspector Morrisey. 1t was only the
"good" bills that she expected to use.
Ones that would pass muster and thus
cause no one to lose, as she believed
Discovery and Confession.
Finally the time was at hand after
eighteen months to begin to realize on the