The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-08-31
INNOCENT Of CRIME
Are Passers of Old New
Brunswick Bank Notes,
NOT TO BE PUNISHED
Mos Probably Though Law
Declares It Unlawful.

Washington, Aug The Secret Ser
vice is not paying much attention TO the
censure and threats which are hurled at
ii by interested parties in connection with
its seizure Of worthless New Brunswick
On j. State banknotes. hoated in vast
quantities in the cities of the Pacific
Coast and and along the Canadian Dor
der. The owners Of the notes are not
counterfeit, ana do not pretend on their
face to be issues of any Federal institu-
ton.
The excuse ignores the rather elastic
Interpretation given by the courts to the
passage in section $50 of the Revised
Statutes. directing the fine and impris-
onment OF every person . who has
in his possession or custody. except IN
der the authority Of the Treasury or
other proper officer any obligation or
other security. engraved and printed after
the similitude OF any obligation or other
security issued under the authority Of
the United States. with intent to sell or
otherwise use the same" Under this law
the Treasury has been proceeding for
years against parties quite as guiltless
as the latest offenders Of a deliberate in
tent to defy the statutes against coun-
terfeiting.
The natural defense of the persons who
have been selling and circulating the New
Brunswick banknotes is that these notes
were not engraved and printed after the
similtude' Of a government note or
national banknote. How is similitu6e"
TO be judged? If We study the face Of
the offending note, we find the denomin-
alton figure in the upper right-hand cor
ner very much like the corresponding
figure on the Washington head one
dollar greenback. Turn the note over,
and we find the back almost covered
with greenlathework. after the style Of
most Of our government notes until the
present administration wisely changed
the designs so as TO show more white
paper. But the best test of all is the fact
that thousands of these notes have been
received by persons in the course OF retail
trade under the impression that they were
receiving greenbacks. That thing which
is so like another as to deceive thous-
ands of persons OF ordinary intelligence
may fairly be regarded as after the
similitude" of the other. An Illustrative
case in point was that of the warrants
of the State of Mississippi. issued in 1894.
and seized by the Federal Government as
falling within the ''similitude" provision.
The governor, State Auditor. and Treas
urer were arrested, and a grand jury
composed of thei rown nelghbors and
friends came to the very verge of in
dieting them, but paused there, and was
Indignantly discharged by the United
States Judge for failure to do his duty.
Here was no question OF technical
counterfeiting or of criminal intent. and
the state was recognized by the federal
government as sovereign in it's own ter
ritory, where most Of the warrants would
have circulated. A case involving some
of the same principles was that of three
persons who pleaded guilty in Kansas
City and were punished for passing old
confederate notes. This offense differed
from the other in the fact that the So
called government which purported 70
have issued them never was recognized
by the government Of the United States
as having lawful existence.
The persons concerned in the present
affair make a further excuse that they
did not handle the New Brunswick notes
as money. but only as curios and sold
them IN good faith to dealers as such ma
terial. But against thi Stands the fact
that the shop which does probably the
largest trade in cUrios in all the United
States considered itself sufficiently stock
ed with a couple of hundred OF New
Brunswick notes. and had 1s3 left when
visited By the officers. whereas the other
dealers" on the Pacific coast and at
the other points where the notes were
most in circulation ordered them in
quantities like z.500 at a time. II this
were not enough TO invite sObeshdrl T.
were not enough 10 excite the suspicious f
OF anyone having the notes for sale.it is +
hard to see how he could have bee MIN
pressed with anything less potent than {
a bludgeon.