The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-01
BUNGLE THEIR WORK
pEnrEcr MONEY RARELY MADE
 BY CoUNTEaFMTERS.
Limitations Always Lacldng-Inex- cusable Errors in Spelling Not Of Infrequent ocurrence-Ex-
 perts Detect Spurious Notes.

New York Sun.
 "It is apparently an absolute 1mpossi- bility for man to make periec. cour terfett coin or note," said William F. Hagen. formerly Chief of the United states Secret Service, in a conversation a few days ago.
 ..It is certain" he continued, that a narfAct counterfeit has never been made and, strange as 1t may appear, with all the will and endeavor in the world, the counterfeiters seem to be wholly unaple to cdmplete a perfect job, although they get many details or the piii UT eoiA " absolute perfection.
 's5dme strange power appears to se. ,ossaasion of these criminals at a crucial mouaent in their fraudulent work, anu ,o rSnder their. art vain. The real req son kor this have never been apie to fathom. .,.
 .Ttf may he psychic. You may smile ~.n,J nson,e wiIl-but the criminals them- helyes, so far as I have ever talked "ith them on the subject after we have cap turea them. have indicated to me that thevI believe that it is conscience which balks them"
 During his term at the head of the Be- cret Service, Mir. Hagen had large ex- perience with counterfeiters, the record or captures for those years being longer pne than later times have shown. Hay
  fectiye in some particular, nc maoe in- nuiries as to the reason of this.
 How They are Detected.
 If is not, by the way, always by req son of A defect that a counterfeit is de- tected. Sometimes suspicion Is raised hv an indefinable feeling on the part or Q Treasury or bank employe that a plli or coin does not look or feel just right, and. then examination discloses the fatai error in the bogus money.
 '.Even the most expert ensravers' MT. ffazen said, land 1t of course Is well kHown that some of the best have gone into the counterfeiting business. cannot turn out in their counterfeit work the per feet results which they can readily get in legitimate work. With counterfeit honds 1t is the same as with notes or coin.
 "One of the most remarkable cases oc- cured with the counterfeiting Of the old United States 7-3os by the notorious BrockwAY-Smith gang. One of the mem her of that gang got his freedom by of- fering to go to Washington and pick out The spurious from the good bonds. for the Government experts themselves could not do tt at first. He was Charles Uiricn, who is straight now, one of the few or whom that can be said
 ''He said that at some point or other conscience was sure 10 prevent mn iaoiA making a perfect job at crooked work. Tbe onlv error in those bond plates was Tn tbe Iathe-work border. Up in one cor ner this border in the counterfeit was not uniform en its lines.
 His Plates Were Defective.
 "Thomas Johnson, now dead, who maoe the counterfeit windom g notes, had a curious experience with his plates He made five plates, each one wrong In some minor particular. In one plate the error was in the right eye, which was so drawn that it gave the appearance on close eX- animation of being cross-eyed.
 'He said that when he was making that part of the plate he was frightened by some noise, a thing that would not have bothered him in the least if he was at honest work, as he was an expert engrav- CT. Had it not been for this error the plate would have been a finer one than