The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-08-06

..
penitentiary, Philadelphia, to the Federal
prison. Atlanta. there to serve the re-
naming four years of their sentences,
marks the closing chapters Of the most
audacieus and stupendous plot in the MIS-
tory of counterfeiting
Crafty and boldly planned, this brill
liant enterprise. backed by men or con-
summate skill and daring. had for it's
stake vast fortune. In the words OF
that arch-conspirator, w. w. JACOBS. II
was either '$15. OOO, 900 or fifteen years.
Jacobs and his confederate. Kendig. got
twelve years each. Taylor and Bredell,
the counterfeiters. received shorter terms.
Not a dollar was made by the Illicit
transaction, and the gigantic scheme.
which had brought into play large imam
cial capital and the intellectual powers
of men worthy of effort in legitimate pur-
suits, fell to the ground with crash,
carving nearly a dozen men with 1t I'M
der the ruins.
History Of the Plot.
Early in April, 1899. the Secret Service
men got hold Of clew which led to the
ruin of the counterfeiters. Working on
this clew they eventually raided the cigar
factory of one w. w. Jacobs, In Lam
caster. There they discovered nine tons
of paper in imitation of paper used for
cigar ldDelS. Ills WOulu nave OoSh q
sufficient quantity to put 4OO0oo,ooo cigars
on the market The Jacobs and Kendig
factories put out an annual average OF
1000, 90 cigars, buying revenue stamps In
big patches at from $3.50 to $3.50 day The
saving represented by the counterfeit
cigar labels alone would have amounted
to about $500, 900 a year. not counting the
profits made out Of the cigars themselves
Jacobs the Prime Instigator.
The whole plot was the fruit of Jacobs
brain. He had approached Taylor ana
Bredell, then prosperous young engravers,
several years before with a proposition
to counterfeit cigar labels. The result
was the production by them of plate So
cleverly engraved that the government
authorities themselves found It difficult to
distinguish between the bogus and the
genuine labels.
In the Jacobs factory elaborate plans
had been laid to carry on the counterfeit
ing business on a large scale. A small
mill was installed for the manufacture OF
paper, but the contrivance would not
work properly. The counterfeiters, sue
cessful as they had been. were not able
to produce the water mark containing
the letters u. S. I. r., which stand for
United States Internal Revenue. So they
sent to France and had the paper manu-
featured with the desired letters, under
cover of the artful ruse that 1t was to
be used for patent medicine labels to be
known as Uncle Sans Indian Remedy
The Counterfeit Labels.
When the paper at last arrived thou
sands of labels were at once struck of.
and hundreds of boxes sealed with the
bogus stamps slipped through the hands
of the revenue inspectors. The decrease
in the purchase of stamps of course
strengthened the suspicious which the
authorities were gradually drawing like a
net around the unsuspecting indicators.
Then it was ascertained that the output
OF the two factories had not lessened.
After this there was only one way to
reconcile the various phases of the situa-
tion-if Jacobs was not buying the cigar
labels he was counterfeiting them.
But the government spies had been
gathering other evidence for months.
Kendig and Jacobs were not able to buy
single article in Lancaster or Philadel-
phat without the knowledge OF the Sc
cret service men. Among their purchases
were afterward found lot of chemicals
for the bleaching and sizing OF pdpe,
| puIp wire gauze. castings for wneels anu
rollers, iron tanks. etc.
In all the history of counterreitlng tris
was the first time the counterfeiters wen.
| as far as that. II IS wen Nh. .t,,,;
among counterfeit detectives thar lhaolii-
ty to secure the proper kind OF paper Is
| accountable for failure. If a man mad
| the capital and nerve to erect paper MIL
and turn out paper approximating that
| used nv the government. there would ne
practically no limit to the bogus notes
n circulation This is precisely what ia
cobs attempted to do. All the parapher-
ra1io wore bought by TAYLOR and Bredell
and sent to Lancaster. Taylor was the
skilled eneraver; Bredell, the brilliant
mechanical genius
| Tavlor and Bredell were the tools of
Jacobs and Kendig, They did the expert
| u,orL the crude mechanical end being
| t,ondIad In the Jacobs factory nv num-
her of smaller accomplires. Tho cigars
| were manufactured in the Kendig fac
tory. The Jaccbs's establishment, was