The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-16
WHO PASSED THE BILL.
Developments Expected
in Counterfeit 800 Case.

Sensational Developments Expected
in Counterfeit 800 Case.
Sensational developments are expect
ed in the counterfeit 500 bill case in
which Senator Ben Tillman figured
prominently as the victim some time
ago, to-day, and if the evidence now
said to be in the hands of the Off
Gals of the Commercial Bank. and
which will be turned over to the Sc
cret service men turns out to be as
correct as it is now believed to be,
some we'll known parties will be in
volved, and a number of arrests are
likely to follow.
Where suspicious were not even en-
tertained at first, actual evidence, 1t
is said, has been obtained, and if the
secret service man reaches Savannah
to-day arrests may be made before
night.
One Of the parties whom the bank
has under suspicion since the matter
first came to it's observation left Sa-
vannah Immediately after the publ
cation in the Morning News last Sat
urday. His whereabouts, however, are
known, and he can be had on short
notice.
1t was at first believed the bill came
into the possession of the bank
through the usual channel of trade,
but subsequent developments, it is
said, have proven that, although the
party who put it in the bank might
have been ignorant of where the bill
came from, he knew it was a coun-
terfeit. In the eyes of the law the
person who passes a counterfeit bill
is as guilty as the person who makes
it, and under this statute the party
who made the deposit, if he knew the
bill was a "forny," is guilty. The bank
claims to have evidence pointing to
the guilt of other parties, and the
case seems to be something like this:
A party found he had in some wise
come into possession of a counterfeit
bill. He did not want 70 take the
chances of passing the bill himself;
in fact, he had communicated the fact
to several friends that he had a coun-
terfeit bill before he thought of try
ing to see whether he could dispose
of it for its race value. lie accord
ingly secured the services of another
party, who made the deposit. 1t might
| throw light on the case to state that
| the person who made the deposit in
the bank had no means of getting so
| much money at one time, and made
deposits in such a manner as not to
| draw suspicion to himself, starting an
account with the bank several months
ago, and depositing $40 or SIS every
week. He gradually increased his de-
posits, but would draw checks against
| it through the week so that at no
time did he have more than $40 in
the bank at one time.
After continuing this practice for
a month or two he came to the bank
one afternoon and deposited a 500
| bill. At the time the matter did not
| attract much attention, but a few days
! later a check came in from the same
| party for $95, and in a few hours an
| other came in for IS, drawing out the
entire account of the depositor. Since
| that time no more deposits have been
| made, and 1t now appears to the bank
that the deposit of the bill was pre-
! meditated.
The man who was made the cats
paw has already been interviewed by
the bank officials. and although they will
| give out nothing. II is intimated that
! he made some interesting disclosures
which will involve other parties.
Since the publication OF the fact that
| Senator Tillman had been handed a
/ piece of bad money business houses
have been leary about changing bills
| of large denominations.