The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-08-06
CoUNgGRrEIT2R CAUgHTT
lie Csed steel Dies Instead IT Pasier
of Paris JsO!,is

ofParis I.O1tis-
Alfred 5. Cunningham has been a
prisoner in jail in Chicago since Satur-
day afternoon, and since the hour OF
his arrest, for the first time in over
IJur years, Chicago has been free from
the circulation Of the best counterfeit
half-doliars tnat ever were put on the
market. The king of the Chicago
counterfeiterS" is what the govern
ment secret service officers call their
prisoner, and to support this state.
ment they have almost 600 of the
bogus coins and the best outfit that
was ever seized in this district.
Cunningham has eluded the secret
service officers since 1898, and is con-
ceded to be one Of the shrewdest
makers Of spurious coins in the coun-
try. Capt. Porter and his assistant,
A. L. Gallaher made the arrest in a
house at the rear of 80 Morgan street.
and behind the false wall of a closet
there the government detectives found
complete plan and several sacks OF
counterfeit coins.
Cunningham was one of the few
counterfeiters in the country who
used steel dies instead Of plaster Of
paris moldS for making the coin. AS
result the money turned out Of his
flat was hardly discernible as counter
felt. The half-dollarS contained as
much pure silver as the genuine coins
of the government and for this reason
the maker never had trouble in pass
ing them. He admitted to the secret
service men that he had been making
them since 1898. He said he had had
no accomplice and had passed num-
! Der which he could not estimate.
Cunningham was machiniSt by
trade and the neighbOrs who saw him
for the last five years going to and
from his lonely workshop understood
that he was an inventor. His three
rooms in the house at the rear OF 50
Morgan street, on the third floor, were
reached by narrow stairwayS and
walks which led around the house in
front. Occasionally he invited some
old man from the neighborhoOd to
smoke or drink in his kitchen, but
none of his callers suspected that one
of the best counterfeiting plants IN
the country was hidden carefully in
an adjoining room.
Capt. Porter and Operative Gallaher
had been looking several years for the
maker of these half-dollarS, which had
been accepted by every storekeeper to
whom they we're eudered and were dis
covered as counterfeit only when they
came to the sub-treaSury.
Capt. Porter received word Statur-
day by telephone that counterfeiter
was to be found in the Morgan street
house. The government officer went
at once with Mr.. Gallaher to the Of
fee of United States Commissioner
Foote and procured search warrant.
An hour later the two officers had
rented room overlooking Cunning
hams fat.
They waited in the room until they
saw Cunningham Walk into his fiat.
The officers we're; almost at his heels
and they interrupted the tenant while
he was drinking beer with a neighbor.
He was startled for moment after he
learned the mission of his callers, but
be smilingly told them to take what
they could find. Deputy Marshal Pat
terson had arrived by that time and
he took Cunningham. Telephone
me at the jail when you want to re-
lease me-" said the aged prisoners as
ne walked off in custody OF the mar
shall
Porter and Gallaher after two hours
search were almost convinced that the
prisoners claim of innocence was well
founded. But they went carefully
through the same rooms again and
again.
Gallaher kicked wooden block
aside carelsssly and noticed that it was
hearey. Capt. Porter picked it up
and found that it consisted of two
parts fastened closely together. He
pulled these apart and in a cylindrical
space he found a steel die bearing the
impression of the face Of half-dollar.
Gallaher took this to the county jail
and showed it to the prisoner, who
trembled and then cried, and finally
told where the rest of the counterfeit
ing plant could be found. But in the
meanwhile Capt. Porter and Deputy
Marshal Patterson had continued the
search and before Gallaher returned
they had uncovered the whole outfit.
The working bench was taken apart
and in every part Of the wooden sup
porters holes were found. When small
plugs had been removed from these
other dies revealed. Within a half
hour the officers had found 20 Of these
steel cylinders bearing impression OF
haif-dollars.
In another room Capt. Porter
made soundings around the inclosure
of a bathtub and found several sacks.
These contained about 900 OF the
cnrriOuc c0iOS