The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-01-18

licitude on the part OF two of the in
| ternal revenue men. Samuel DOwney
| and James Burns. who always seemed
! 10 have money and who made no scru-
pie of trying to pump their fellow gov
| eminent servant as to the reason OF his
/ presence in Lancaster. Acting up 70
! tho part of an ignorant political pro-
tege, Manus blurted out something
about stolen cigar stamps. giving his
] hearers to understand that several
I packages of internal revenue stamps
1 were missing from Washington, and
! that he was on a wild goose chase.
( hoping TO catch the thieves red-hended
trying tors sell STAMPS
/ Apparently realizing that he had
| spoken too much. Manus bes0ught TIE
! internal revenue men not for the word
to mention what he had. said, saying
/ that it would cost him his head If his
/ chief got to know that he had blabbed
/ so easily His appeal, literally inter-
! spersed with admissions that he was
| now in their power had the desired eff
! feet. Upon his assuring them with al
most fearful earnestneSs that be had
\ not breathed word of his errand to
! living soul but themselves, they eventu-
/ ally agreed TO keep the matter quiet.
/ but at the same tine. as a matter of
] self protection they advised him to go
yers there who would see that he came
/ TO no harm even though the story of
his foolishness should reach headquar-
ters.
When Manus reported tos Chief Will
| kie the advice he had received, he was
/ ordered to act upon it at once. 1t be-
| gan to look now as if the ramihcations
/ of this gang were endless. The afOre-
! mentioned legal firm was one of the
most respectable in Philadelphia. It's
members. Ellery P. Nyham and Harvey
| - H. n
est standing at the Philadelphia bar.
Each had in turn occupied the distin-
/ guished position of United States dis
/ triet attorney, second in Importance
only to a judge on the federal bench
and but a step removed from attorney
/ generalship OF the United States. One
7 of the partners was already mentioned
for elevation to the federal bench, and
| the other was a prospective candidate
| for high political honors. Both We're
/ reputed to be fairly vel TO do and men
| of the highest integrity. That they
should knowingly have any connection
| with a gang of counterfeiterS was more
than even Chief Wilkie could bring
himself TO believe
But when Manus sent his first report
| from Philadelphia the matter was no
| longer one of doubt. His story was
brief. He had been severely lectured
upon the improperly of his conduct
/ duced to a condition of helpless de-
tendency, temptation bold and dazzling
had been thrust at him. Having ad-
I mitted a betrayal of secret service Sc
( crets already, he was informed that
| only by further betrayal could ne Sc
cure immunity for himself And to
| make it worth while, he was handed
roll of greenbacks amounting to $1500
| as advance payment for any further in
| formation he might communicate to the
! lawyers regarding his instructions in
hunting down the mythical cigar stamp
! thieves. With the roll of bills in his
| pocket he returned at once to LancaS-
/ ter. laid the whole plot before his chief,
I and proceeded as before to act the bar
room lounger.
The time had now arrived to strike.
| Up to this moment not an inkling of
the actions of the secret service de-
partment had reached the ears of the
counterfeiters save the false news so
| innOcently disclosed by Manus. The
| engraving shop in Philadelphia was do
ing business in the same old way and
around the Lancaster cigar factory
there was apparently no attempt to
! conceal anything.
Upon an agreed night Chief Wilkie
and a dozen Of his men, all armed, en-
! tered the Lancaster cigar factory
| while Captain Burns, with three assist
ants, made a similar visit to the Phila-
| delphia engraving works. Locks which
| yielded easily to the open sesame of the
secret service were as carefully closed
again, and everything in both places
was left uHdisturbed, while the agents
| of the law secreted themselves behind
| cUpboards and doors.
g 9 q
The story of the conspiracy was an
amazing one Three years before the
date Of his arrest, Jacobs had conceived
the idea of eounterfeiting internal rev
enue stamps, and for that purpose had
| induced Bredell and Taylor to leave
| their employment and set UP in bust
ness for themselves as engravers ar
Philadelphia. The bogus stamps turned
| out by this pair were faultlesS The
! paper, procured from an out-of-the-
way mill, was to aNl appearances iden-
teal with that used by the government.
| But having procured the forgeries
there remained the problem of finding
means for their USE
| Government inspectors visited the CT
gar factory every week, taking away
records of the amount of tobacco on
the premises, the amount purchased
and the amount sold. Comparing this
with the number of stamps purcha sed
by the firm, it was possible TO arrive
at very accurate estimate of the
number of cigar boxes used and the
stamps required. To meet this inspec-
ton Jacobs adopted the daring plan
of running his factory double; that is.
with two sets of books, two sets of
employees. two sources of supply. two
outlets for shipment and two sets of
cigar stamps. The one open for gov
eminent inspection turned out $50 600
boxes of cigars, while the product of
the other was frequently over five
times this number. The free cigars
had an immense sale. while in every
box of the duty paid" the firm either
made next to nothing or actually lost
money. When matters began to grow
too strong for further concealment.
Jacobs boldly took the two inspectors
into camp. paid them literally to keen
their mouths shut and eventually
landed them in prison.
Emboldened by his success with the
cigar stamp Jacobs next asked the
young engrayers, whom he paid we'll
to try their hand at counterfeitfng
United States greenback. The result
was a marvellous success. the most ac-
curate and remarkable in the history
of forged printing. To secure the fibre
/ paper was a more difficult matter No
/ regular paper mill would entertain the
suggestion for a moment. 1t was
therefore necessary to own a paper
mill outright, get his proteges, Bredell
and Taylor, to learn the business, and
in the course of time proceed with the
manufacture
At the outset Jacobs took his con-
| federates into his confidence and ex-