Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-04-06

Following is the conclusion TO the
reminiscent sketch relating 20 the
Yellow Creek district in the days Of
"Jm" ana Dan" Brown, the counter
feiters. being II continuation of the
narrative of an old resident repro
duced from the Cuyahoga Falls Rcpor-
tel in the Democrat last Saturday:
The making of coins was carried on
with no great effort at secrecy. No
elaborate preparations were made
work. The operator made up his mind
that he would tackle any coin that
was long enough in circulation TO he
old. lie had only to secure his model
and take repeated imprints from it
In a mould. 1t was more rapid to
work with ten or more coins nt Il time.
The moulds were made In boxes, say
II inches long by I broad by ~ to .
inches deep. The matriS was usually
g.. some carefully worked clay, like
finely ground pottcrs' clay. In some
cases plaster of Paris was used in
later work. The boxes were carefully
made and Joined together by pin or
dowci on two opposite sides. The
moulding material was dcnsely and
smoothly filed into each box and II
slight surplus left over filling cacl
box. The model coin was then place.
In position on the lower half Of moulc
and pressed partly into the clay. The
other box was placed in position and
the two put into n press and squeezed
together. This operation WIS dupli
Gated across the face of the moulC
till II Is filed. Each impression was
then very carefully busted with finely
powdered sand or charcoal and thu
mould put away for n very careful
seasoning. when dry each matriX i
examined and If perfect enough hn,
lead holes and ventilation holes cu
TO II from n general pouring hole.
The metal | used to see used wa
q composition made of pewter an
glass and melted nt tolcrably loN
heat aud solldlfcd with n slight swc
In the mould.
have seen one man work up n chun
as big MS "A parlor stove during one VIII
ter. After securing II satislactor
mould II was then only n mn tier of poul
ing hot metal, and half dollars Coul
be made as easily m bullets, only cac
"pour' hung together like bunch q
grapes. This separation was shol
matter aud was done with shar
knife or a file. Some trouble was In
in getting the proper milling on th
edges but this was only matter q
skill.
The next stage was the sIlycrng G
the coin | cannot tell how this wa
done, except ms 1t looked. a pot of he
"sllver" was prepared over n fire an
the coins dipped In bodily mt the cn
OF wire. If n strictly high grade a
ticle was being made, two dips wen
given. After cooling, the little bar wa
cut OFF the edge, the milling cut In an
some composition rubbed on to make
look right. The colns were now read
for business, but too bright 10 pass cll
rcntly. The next step was To blnc
them over or aging them. This WI
done Ia quantities by placing the coil
z in "A shallow tray and blackIng the
over with something like old fashion,
4 shoe paste, This would then rub q
and leave the coin looking all right bl
distinctly as If 1t had seen better day
aud would pass one by one upon II
unsuspiclous public. 4 great maj
honest O. men got their start in tho
days by Just this kind Of financial n
sstance
This money was traded for good, II
on various proportions but usually
small deals, 800 for $50 of good. al
IN larger deals whch moved blocks
stock 1t even went as low ms shillil
on a dollar 1t went to the cities
the bagful, ana was there put out
change. Cleveland got some of