The Rich Hill tribune. (Rich Hill, Mo.) 1903-1911, 1903-04-02
A slngulsr Fact Observed b TIRE
Secret service Men.


"Ii Il certain. be continued. THAT
perfect counterfeit has never been
made and. strange az if may appear.
with all the viii and endeay0r ia the
world the connterfeiters seem % %
wholly unable 10 complete a peri Z
job. although they may get many de-
tails Of the bill or coin 20 absolute per
fection.
Some strange power appears 70 get
possession ~ these criminals ~
crucial moment On their fraudulent
work aud 20 render their ART vain. The
real reason Tor this have never been
able 20 fathom.
1T may be psychic. You may smile
some people will--hul the criminals
themselves, so far as ! have ever talk
ed With them on the subject after we
have captured them. have indicated to
me that they believe that IL Is a CON
science which bRlks them"
During HE term az the head Of the
secret service Mr. Hazeu had a large
experience with counterfeiters. he
record OF captures for those years be-
Ing a longer one than later times have
shown. Having noted that all counter
felts were defective IN some particular
lie made Inquiries as to the reason Of
this.
Il is not. By the way. always by
reason o. defect that counterfeit is
detected. Sometimes suspicion Is
raised merely by an indebnahle feel
ing on the part Of a treasury OF bank
employee that a bin or coin does not
look or feel just right. and then exam
inaron discl0ses the fatal error IN the
bogus money.
Even the most expert engravers.'
Air. Hazen said. Aand Il Of course IS
known that some cf the best have
gone into the cuunterfeiting business.
cannot turn out In their counterfeit
work the perfect results which they
can readily get IN legitimate work.
With counterfeit bonds Il is the same
as with notes and coins.
"One Of the most remarkable cases
occurred with counterfeiting OF the old
United States T-3os by the notorious
Brockwsy- Smith gang. One OF the
members OF the gang got his freedom
by Offering 70 90 20 Washington and
pick our the spurious from the good
bonds. Tor the government experts
themselves could not DO Il at 6rst- he
was Charles Ulrich. who Is straight
now. one of the few Of whom that can
be said
"iie said that az soule point or other
conscience was sure 20 prevent him
from making q perfect Job at crooked
work. Tho only crrOr iu those bond
plates was IN the lathe work border
Up in one corner this border tn the
counterfeit was not uniform in its
lines
Thomas Johnson, now dead. who
made the counterfeit Window s.
notes. had q curious experience with
his plates lc made ivc plates. each
one wrong ga some minor particular.
lu one plate the error vas iu the right
eye. which was so drawn thai 10 gave
She portrait The appearance GA close
examination Of being cross-eyed-
"Iie said thar when he ,sas making
that part q the plate hc was trightc 4
"a hy some noise n thing that would
oct have bothered him la the least II
he was al honest work AZ he was an
expert eaggayer Had Il not been for
( this error She plate would have been a
amer one than the government plate.
( really. for ID gave a clearer impression.
IN another of his plates be got the
( letters In two reversed. 80 that they
Z read 'owt and yet the bills printed
I from that plate eot into circulation
johnson was even a better enerav-
er than Ulrich. and In each OF the four
plates he made after the FIRST one to
e counterfeit this hlil he cndcaYOred %
( correct an error Yet 10 each one be
made another error. lie simply could
/ not help t. he said. 90 long as hs vas
Z az the crooked work
E "llis last error. that is. the one on
+ che lasi 81 the ave plates, was In the
Treasury numbers In that, the -
vas not uniform With the rest 0f tho
numerals So throughout the series II
+ plates. be would correc' one error only
E 10 make another, and 40 enort would
Z save him lsom mskius enc.
A person would scarcely believe
( thai a g. bGi With the word 'owihg
spelled nWuig could set INTO circuia
tiun. hat ihis happened With hanh
Z note cnuntrrfcHei Dltet one az q
ramaQua Pa bank. IN another in
stance che wpri thousand came oui
. on iha counterfeit thousand
"rhe counterfeit haa dollars and
E quarters which were circulated 81
largely here NOT So long aEo throusf
3 tha street car tines Qt Manhattan and
I Rrooklyn had only sllgh, defects. and
those were such that anypuc Nouih
/ saw that there vas no excuse tor thra
iu ihe work oi expert criminals Bl.
they went through The banks % boil
companies and we're detected az thS
Hnb treasury
These coins were made % silver
aig nnc or 3o points inner than lhS
I United States coin silver But in Gas
nfty-ceni piece thc word hair wa'
spelled hale aud iu tho quarters a.,
- was dropped hcloN ibp line 10 oa,
plate. while ln another the a Wa'
above the line
Il remember one bogus note ii
which the couniertoigcr failed 90 mak'
The little drops of water that in thi
good noie iricklc'from The oar Tha
may have been mere oNefsiEht
"ln another instance a copnicrfot
plate was ptricct exeent for ne lael
nf crossing ct The maker @
that plato VAS run down and caughi
eventually. hut not untl after a l0nI
chase ana after he had done oihc
work
There have been countcrfoltcr
T ever rNHNN HthANIN tNaeHf Af'tAtt.HNt
and the c0unieFitlfcf tCrar his wofl
iin ihls conntry early Samuel hcowpe
tailor VAS indicted in the prosinr'
~ New Jersey Cor altering a laiicf'
tickci lram ihc number fctf ta totl
im ifi3 so auahbmeuj tnf tls gfim
! is rtrrnic1
enut Ia islt IohR sioNcas vas Aaug
"a ln me same New irfaey icf rasslnI
..4 Mr.. 81 fa1N = 4ra.IIIs.I la.f.