The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-01
the Government plate. really, for 1t gave

the Government plate. really, for 1t gave clearer impression.
 "In another of his plates he got the letters in two reversed, so that they read 'owt,' and yet the bills printed from that plate got into circulation.
 Johnson was even better engraver than UIrich, and in each of the four plates he made after the first one to counterfeit this bill he endeavored to cor rect an error. Yet in each one he made another error. He simply could not help it. he said. so long as he 0was at the crooked work.
 His last error-that is, the one on the last of the five plates-was in the Treas ury numbers. In that plate the s was not uniform with the rest of the numer- als. So throughout the series of plates he another. and no effort would save him from making one.
 They Do Bungling Work.
 "A person would scarcely believe that a s bill with the word owing spelled 'c.ynig' could get into circulation, but this happened with bank note counter feited after one of a Tamaqua. Pa., bank. In another instance the word thousand came out on the counterfeit thou ud.'
 "who pays attention to a cent-especi- ally in New York7 But one gang cir culated bogus cents. They had good plate. but the copper they bought was not of uniform quality and the Indians head came out clumsily.
 ''These people operated largely in Bos- ton and got little girls to put the bad cents in circulation through Chinese laun- dries, which use a lot of cents. The girls would go to the laundries with bum dles of 100 cents, of which 30 per cent. would be good coins, and they would get change from the Chinaman. These coun- terfeiters were caught finally.
 "The counterfeit half dollars and quar- ters which were circulated so largely here not so long ago through the street car lines of Manhattan and Brooklyn had only slight defects and those were such that anyone would say that there expert criminals. But they went through the banks of both companies and were detected at the subtreasury.
 These coins were made of silver .942 fine, or thirty points finer than the United States coin silver. But in the 50 cent piece the word half was spelled hale and in the quarters the g was dropped below the line in one plate. while in an- other the r was ahove the line.
 This reminds me of a counterfeit 50 kroner note of the Swedish bank, the Oiiy QclcCt OL hHiCh WdS tHc mdtCA mark, in which O leaned toward the b.' The maker of that note we caught here. He had his plant in Brook lyn. He shot himself in. West Street.
 Failed to Cross a T.
 "In another instance counterfeit plate was perfect except for the lack of crossing of a t. The maker of that plate was run down and caught eventu- ally, but not until after a long chase and after he had done other work.
 He acknowledged that he had pur- der to find out how long 1t would be be- fore the Government got on to the fact that counterfeit of that particular note was In circulation. So soon as the coun- terfeit was advertised from Washington he crossed the 't' in the plate and printed more notes, but an error in the plate discovered afterward made that attempt a failure also.
 Tt seems a queer thing. but people often write to Washington asking to have counterfeit notes or coins redeemed. It is possible to have a bill that has been fraudulently raised redeemed at is original face value, but Congress in its wisdom has not yet seen fit to provide for the redemption of notes printed from counterfeit plates.
 There have been counterfeters ever since history began. apparently, and the counterfeiter began his work In this country early. Samuel Browne, a tailor, was indicted in the province of New Jer- sey for altering a-iottery ticket from the