Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-09-03
EDGEFIEID. c.. WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 3. 1902

But Mr. PattlSOn ADVISED them nOL W
trifle with justice, and through his in
terventi6n the plates were dug up and
put out Of harms way. While in jail,
however, they resolved to make an.
other effort to b1ackmail the govern
ment. The necessary materials were
smuggled in to them, and they rugged
up a tent of blankets, beneath which
they could work at night by the light
of a taper without being seen by the
guard in the corridor. Under these
trying conditions they produced plates
for printing very clever counterfeit
of the $40 note bearing the portrait
Of Hamilton: Bredell lured his fatho=
into helping him by pretence that
he had invented a mechanism for IRON
ing cuffs in laundry, and needed
small model to accompany his appll-
cation for patent. The son fur
nished the drawings, and the father
made the machine, which was actually
a press for printing false notes, and
SO small that it could be packed in an
ordinary cigar-boX, with space to
spare. With this apparatus Brcdell
and Taylor ran off 4 few bills, provid-
ing the paper in the same way as for
the $100 note first discovered. Tay-
lor's brother Harry was taken into the
secret, and the plan was, after few
of the counterfeits had been circulat-
ed, to send one to the treasury for
judgment on it's genuineness. 1t was
then expected that the government,
discovering so dangerous counterfeit
at large, would be ready to make al
most any terms with it's authors to
have it suppressed.
This scheme failed, however,
through an accident not necessary to
describe here Harry Taylor, who had
undertaken the handling of the notes
outside, and poor creature named
Hayes, whom he had employed as his
tool, were arrested within five days
of their beginning operations. This
last defeat seemed to break the spirit
of the engravers, who again confessed
their guilt but charged their Junior
counsel with having advised their
course; and on the strength of their
representations Semple was arrested,
but after two trials he was discharged
on verdict of mot guilty"
The trial of hewitt and Ingham re-
suited in their conviction, but an at
tempt to corrupt the jury was discov-
cred, and two more men, named Fair
banks and O'Dea, were arrested for
the offence. In all, 13 persons have
been brought to the bar of justice In
this remarkable case, and 12 con-
victed.
Between the counterfeit stamps,
which Jacobs had already used on mil
lions of cigars before his capture, and
the false silver certificates, the male
factors might today have been rolling
in wealth, and government and public
proportionately poorer, but for the
miscarriage of the first 500 note.
How came the defective seal on a
piece of work otherwise so admirable?
Poor human nature! The engravers
had been originally mere employees of
Jacobs, who was to pay them SIS
apiece, weekly, I'LL the profits Of the
scheme reached a certain figure. The
disproportion between their salaries
and their ambitions stirred their i'm
patience, till they decided one day to
test the plates already made by print
ing few notes and trying them on
bank. The right kind of carmine ink
was too expensive for their purpose,
and, as this was a strictly secret side
speculation, they could not borrow any
money of their richer partner. So
they bought some inferior ink, which
was bright enough while fresh, but
soon faded. The success of the ex-
pertinent was immediate and COM
plete, and they put out note after note.
Their greed, as we have seen, was
their undoing.-Harper's Weekly.