Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-26

VIM. E. Brockwav.
to be old practically helpless, and to be
cast upon the world with the brand of the
criminal stamped all over. Brockway's past
has always been a mystery to the secret
service detectives, and his record in the
secret service office here contains little about
who he was or what are his connections
All that is known is that Brockway denied
that he had kith or kin, and that what he
said must have been true. Despite the fact
that the detectives succeeded in landing
him in prison. it is admitted that good luck
was with them throughout, and that the
unraveling of the schemes of Brockway
were accomplished almost by accident.
Brockway's Career.
Brockway, or "Col. E. w. Spencer" as
he was known among his friends, was
successful counterfeiter during the last
years of the civil war, but the government
failed to make case against him until
March 7, 1896, when he was convicted in
New Jersey of making counterfeit $500
gold certificates and 800 Canadian notes.
Samples of Brockway's work on these
securities, hanging in frame in the office
of the chief Of the secret service, show that
they were so deceptive that, as stated, ex-
perts differed widely concerning their
genuinenesS. Fortunately none of them
got into circulation except the Canadian
certificates.
bTOCkWdy LOOK no interest III making
counterfeits of small denominations. He
always said that he did not want to
swindle the poor. He was after the rich.
Bonds and large hills were his specialties.
Way back in the late eos he made
spurious 7-3O $1,000 United States bond
that was so much like the genuine that 1t
has always been claimed that the Treasury
Department redeemed some of them as
genuine and then sued afterward for the
recovery of the money. The subject is a
tender one with treasury officials, who will
not admit the accuracy of the published
statements, but there is authority for the
belief that the United States treasury did
redeem about seventy-fve of these bonds
from brokerage establishment in Wash
ington that went out of business years ago.
Suit was afterward brought to recover the
money paid for their redemption, but was
not successful. The defense was that the
bonds were bought as genuine and were be-
ieved to be genuine; in fact, were genuine.
The government knew that there had been
counterfeits somewhere, as duplicate bonds
of the same number were discovered. How
many of these bonds were ever put on the
market not even the secret service knows.
The late Col. VIM. p. Wood, who was at
that time chief of the secret service,
claimed large reward on the ground that
he recovered the original plates, but the
evidence of Mr.. Geo. w. Casilear, the then
chief of the engraving division Of the
bureau Of engraving and printing proved
that the plates were forgeries, and the
claim was disallowed.
$1,000 Six Per Cent Bonds.
He was never even arrested for doing the
work, as there was no evidence that he was
guilty. His success, however, caused him a
few years later to begin work on another
$1,000 United States bond, that time a s
per cent security. His experience with
that bond shows the bad luck in which he
played throughout his years of counterfeit
ing This bond was turned out in 1880, but
hot H.
forfeited a $500 legal tender note, which
was detected soon after being put in crcu-
lation, and for which Brockway could not
be connected, although officers were GER
tain that he was the promoter.
1t was in 1879 that a dangerous 500 ma
uonal bank note made it's appearance in
New York. Secret service men in several
squads were put to work to run down the
cOunterfeiters. 1t was too dangerous a
note to get into circulation Brockway had
then been for years under suspicion in con-
nection with various counterfeits and his
every movement was closely watched One
day James B. Doyle of Chicago was seen to
visit Brockway. He was a stranger to the
secret service men, but they concluded to
watch him. After he had several confer enccs
with Brockway he took a train for Chicago.
Secret service men were on the same train,
and they felt sure Doyle was taking away
with him large batch of the 500 national
bank notes to put in circulation. They tel
egraphed the Chicago agents to have war
which he could be held. When he reached
Chicago he was arrested. Packed in some
old clothes in his valise were 20S 81 600 cou-
pom 9 per cent bonds, the best counterfeits
ever seen by the officers. The surprise to
them was complete. Doyle had been given
the bonds to hypothecate in Chicago. AL
though positive that Brockway had been
the father of this latest counterfeit the Sc
cret service officers were unable to prove it,
They managed to get some kind of con-
fession out of sBrockway, however aud
made an agreement with him that If he
would plead guilty his sentence would be
suspended. He did this, and in the mean
time managed to dispose of the plates of
the national bank notes, thereby stoppIrg
their circulation. His arrest and narrow
escape took his nerve, and for tine he
gave the service no further trouble.
Brockway's Engraver.
Brockway's entire outfit in the turning
out Of the bank notes and the bonds were
captured and destroyed much to the relief
of the government. Arrested with Brock
way at the same time was Charles Smith,
the man who really did all the engraving
for the extraordinary counterfeits. Smith
was a splendid engraver employed by
bank note company in New York. He was
not inclined to be criminal. but Brockway