The suburban citizen., 1902-07-05
A DOLLAR or 1904.
curious History OF valuable Coin BE
lieVed to Be Genuine.

Gently an alleged 1904 dollar that has
set many Secret Service men to work.
If the dollar is genuine it is one Of the
rare coins of the United States, and is
worth about S3500 to collectors. If II
is bogus it will get some one into
trouble.
In 1904 the Government issued 1900
silver dollars. For some reason or
other 1t was decided to recall the ISSUE
1896 Of the dollars were returned to
the Treasury and destroyed -Four of
the dollars remained in circulation.
AS soon as this became known the
value of these dollars took a jump and
since that time collectors have anX-
.ously sought after them. 1t is claimed
that one of the original coins is still
missing. There have been many coun-
.erfeits of the dollars, but they were
SO poor that they were soon detected.
However, Captain Abbott is unable to
ell whether or not this 1904 dollar is
genuine. AS result it was forwarded
% the Chief of the Secret Service De-
)artment at Washington.
The coin in question was obtained
)y the Government officials from B. II.
Smith, at Lima, o., few days ago,
lpon the supposition that it was
counterfeit. Smith was taken to To-
ledo. 1t is said that he is a gambler
who travelled all over the State While
DIP one Of his trips he went to Lima,
where he became stranded. He par
took heavily Of morphine, it is claimed,
and acted strangely. Smith visited a
oawnbroker and wanted to pawn the
supposed 1904 dollar for $25. The
Dawnbroker knew the value of the 1904
lollar and became suspicious, and re-
ported the matter to the police, who in
urn reported tc the United States au-
,horties. The latter decided to arrest
Smith, as they were strongly Of the
opinion that the dollar was a counter
reit.
Smith is now in jail at Toledo await
ing the decision Of the authorities at
Washington as to whether or not the
dollar is a counterfeit. The whole
rase against Smith hinges upon this de-
,.sion. Captain Abbott and District
Attorney Sullivan were of the opinion
That the dollar was genuine money of
another date, but that its figures had
Oeen changed to read "1S04," A close
inspection of the coin, however, failed
10 establish ths theory
Smith claims that he got the dollar
from a school teacher at Hamilton, o.,
who was in hard luck one day and
gave him the coin as security for a $50
Ioan. The teacher failed to redeem the
roin, according to Smiths story. The
.eacher was sent for and he appeared
lOefore the authorities at Toledo. He
was asked how he came into posses
sion of the dollar, and he then told a
'ather strange story.
Smith claimed that the teacher had
told him he had had several such dol
Iars made in Cincinnati every year and
sold them. The authorities do not be-
lieve this.
The teacher explained that he got
he coin from an old German farmer in
the southern part of the State, at
whose home he stopped one night
while out on a hunting trip. During
the evening the subject of old coins
was discussed, during which the Ger
nan said he had pie.e of money that
was a relic. He then went to a drawer
and took out this 1904 dollar The
teacher asked the old man how much
! he would take for it. 1--WE been offered
S1.20 for it," the farmer replied, not
knowing its real worth. The teacher
said he then offered So for it, and that
the bargain was closed at once.
The teacher also said that the Ger.
man told the following story about
how the dollar came into his posses.
sion: II got it in South Africa many
years ago. l was a soldier in the Eng.
lish army and was sent to South Africa
for service. When | was discharged
[ was paid off, and among the coins in
my pay was this dollar did not
know what 1t was worth, or what II
was, except that it was an American
coin, and so / thought l would keep it
as a relic of the war and of the United
| States. shortly atter my discharge |
came to this country"
The alleged history of the dollar could
not be traced back any further 1t re.
mains to be seen whether or not Smith
was trying to pass counterfeit coin.
Whether or not Smith will ever get tho
dollar back is a question. If it is
counterfeit it will be confscated by the
Government. If 1t Is a genuine coin
the Government may confiscate it, as
all the 1904 dollars were called in short.
iy after they were issued The other
three existing dollars cannot be taken
by the Government, as they are owned
by certain persons, but this particular
coin has fallen into the hands of the
/ Government, which will probably re-
tain it.-Cleveland Leader.