The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-09-11

have him arrested Ninger told the man
he would return the $50 and offered At
the same time to make the bartender a
present of IS more. The offer was re-
fused and Ringer turned over to a DO
liceman and escorted to the Church street
police station. where he gave his name
as Joseph Gilbert, and stated that he
lived in Wilksbarre, Pennsylvania, and
that he was not married. He claimed
that he had received the counterfeit bill
in the corridor of the Union Trust Bank
building. to whom he had sold two United
States 500 bonds. Secret service officers
in New York were notified and when
they saw Ninger and the notes which
- had been passing they were convinced
that he WAS the man who had caused
them so many sleepless nights The fact
of his arrest did not solve the whole
question by any means That he could
be convicted of passing the counterfeit
notes there was no doubt but who was
the maker of the notes Proof % the
fact must be secured at all hazards. These
notes had deceived bankers and business
men all over the country for many years
and to be unable to discover the real
counterfeiter was losing more than half
the CANT NAilENA was 80 u
sweating process which was so successful
tht he admitted his true name and said
that he alone was responsible for the
existence of the pen and ink notes. This
was proven when the police went to Mn
gers home in Flagtown, and secured
his outfit, which. besides pens and PEN
ellis, and three kinds of ink included some
blocks Of water colors
Ringers arrest and the unique fea-
lures of the case attracted wide atten-
ton throughout the country and especial
ly among the handwriting experts. Near
~ an of them were inereduous and re-
fused to accept the explanations of the
secret service men as to how they were
made. One of them went so far as to
offer a 500 bill for a $40 note that would
deceive a newsboy One of the prominent
New York newspapers accepted the bet
and the result was that the expert "craw-
flshed" and went into long explana-
ton of how he had been deceived.
Nnger's First Work.
Ningers first work turned up at the
treasury department in the redemption
division in 1879 In a batch of notes from
one of the sub-treasuries, was $40
counterfeit The expert counter detected
the spuriousness of the note, and at once
began an investigation. careful scru-
tiny under a magnifying glass revealed
the fact that the note was free hand
drawing with pen and Ink and the per-
feet likeness Of the note was so wonder
full as to practically defy detection at
the hands of any but an expert. Secret
Service officers were at once notified, but
thew were unable to do anything because
the tellers Of the sub-treasury, from
which the note was received, were unable
to tell how the note came into their
possession. For more than fifteen years
afterwards these marvellous works of art
turned up at more less frequent inter-
walls, usually arriving at the treasury in
remittances from banks, where they had
escaped detection. They came from all
over the country, every section contribute
ing its share to these now famous notes.
Secret Service detectives worked night
and day but they could obtain no clew.
The general appearance of the note was
so good that no shopl1eeper hesitated
about accepting them and when they
reached the banks the chances were even
that they would again escape detection,
so that the officers were blocked at every
stage in endeavoring to trace them from
hand to hand.
The chief of the Secret Service bureau
and his assistants advanced every theory
One of them was that the maker of the
notes. was q person of leisure, gifted with
the faculty of imitation, who developed
this strange fad as an amusement and
that 1t pleased him to lead the secret
service sleuths a merry chase in pursuit
Until November. 1895, all the notes re-
ceived at the treasury departmet were
SOS and $50's. Then new specimen of
Jim the Penman's" handiworlS turned
up 1t was a 500 legal tender, issue of
1880, bearing the portrait of Lincoln, and,
like the first, received in a remittance
from a subtreasury. Warnings, of this
the widest publicity. Numerous points
were given wherein they differed from
the genuine, and how to detect them
One of the suggestions was that by pass
ing moistened finger over the serial
number the INK would blur, while in the
genuine notes this was not So 1t was in
the accidental application of this test
that finally caused Ninger's downfall.
Worked Alone.
The secret service officers attributed
Nir,ger's long immunity from arrest to
the fact that he worked alone. having no
confederates, and that he did not at
tempt to put many bills on the market at
the same time. The first thing Ninger did
was to secure bond paper of about this
as that upon which the gen.
uine notes are printed with the excep-
ton of course that this paper was with
out the silk threads to be found in the
genuine Cutting the paper the exact
size of the notes, Ringer immersed it