Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1903-09-14
Manufactured by Conviets in
Eastern Penitentiary Of
Pennsylvania.
DARING SCHEME MADE PUBLIC
Iloeus Silver Pieces, With Metals and
Chemicals Used, Now in Hands OF
Inspectors - investigation Still In
Progress.

Philadelphia, Sept 14-Following
closely upon the exposure or gross ir-
fegularities in the cigar department OF
the eastern state penitentiary came
the public announcement that the H.
legal coinage of minor silver pieces
big institution. No details of the
counterfeiting scheme can be learned
from any of the officials connected
with the prison or from the govern
ment officers that have been assigned
to the case.
The fact that such daring scheme
had been carried on in the peniten-
tiary was made public by George
Vaux, Jr., one of the prison inspec-
tors, who summoned newspaper men
to his home and voluntarily made the
disclosure. He gave out brief state,
ment, which is as follows:
Evidence in Hands of inspectors.
DIR w. D. Robinson and George
Vaux, Jr., who are at present the Wis.
iting inspectors on duty at the east
ern state penitentiary, make the state
ment that there has come to their Of
fetal knowledge that within short
time an attempt has been made by
certain convicts now confined in the
penitentiary to manufacture counte--
felt silver coins But few pieces
were made and a number OF these
have come into the possession of the
inspectors, together with the metals
and chemicals used, the attempt thus
being nipped In the bud The evil
but all that has been secured has been
submitted to the United States au.
thorities"
Mr.. Vaux refused absolutely to give
any more details than contained in
this statement From other sources
however, it was learned that dimes,
quarters and half dollars were the
coins manufactured The discovery
was made several days ago and
United States secret service officers
were called in. Their investigation,
it is learned, is still in progress, their
principal object being to learn whether
there was collision between the con-
victs and employees OF the institution.
Penitentiary in Charge of Chaplain.
It is believed the discovery of coun-
terfeiters in the prison was the result
OF the general investigation now being
carried on in the place as a result OF
the irregularities in the cigar depart
ment These irregularities became
public matter last week, and pending
an investigation Warden Daniel w
Bussinger and the overseer of the
cigar department were temporarily re
l3eved from duty and the penitentiary
placed in charge of the Rev. Joseph
WEIGH, the chaplain. 1t is alleged
that thousands of cigars made by con
victs are unaccounted for; that thou
sands of them did not contain the In
ternal revenue stamps, and that in
many instances the law requiring
prison-made cigars to be stamped ICON
vict-made" was ignored How long
this has been carried on is yet to be
learned
The government of the peniten-
tiary is vested in a board of five In
spectors appointed by the governor,
who serve without salary This boar
is now making an inspection of each
branch OF the institution and has en-
ployed an expert accountant to SO
over the books. In addition to this
the internal revenue officers are car
rying on a separate investigation.
Bogus Money Given as Tips.
Further details of the counterfeiting
scheme has leaked out. These are to
the effect that five men were engage
in the work, the head of the counter
feiters being a Philadelphia now com
pleting his second term for this of
Tense. The others were professional
criminals who secured through the
plumbing department of the prison the
necessary metal made or solder, tin
and ground glass. The molds, it is be
lieved, were made of plaster paris
scraped from the walls of cells Some
Of the coins got into circulation, blu.
in what manner has not yet been fully
determined. There is a belief that
certain employees who did fayors for
the prisoners, such as mailing letters
in violation of the rules of the insti-
tuition, were given the bogus money
as tips and that they innocently passed
IL into circulation.
The counterfeiting was discovered
about the middle of July and stopped
but for some reason it was not made