The San Francisco call., 1904-11-18
GOLD DRILLING
CHARMS CARY
Young Lawyer Fascinated
by His Own Artistic Work
OH the Double Eagles
RESIGNED 10 HIS FATE
He Says He Could Have
Flooded the City With
Bored Coins, but Did Not

There is a peculiar psychological
mystery about the case of James n.
Cary, the young attorney arrested by
Secret Service Agents Hazen and Fos-
ter last Wednesday for drilling double
eagles and extracting gold theretrom.
According to his own story, he seldom
drank to excess, did not gamble. and
was earning 500 per month in the prac-
tice of his profession. If this is true 1t
was not the pinch of poverty that drove
him to the crime. Neither was 1t the
greed of gain, for he satisfied himself
with an average of So per day from
his unlawful tampering with coins,
when without very hard labor ne
could have realized at least $l5 per
day without increasing the chances or
detection. He took a pride in his
work: it was unexcelled in the annals
of counterfeiting. Probably, when the
scheme suggested itself to him-foT he
saws it was his original conception-t
fascinated him to such an extent as
to destroy all his finer moral sensibill-
ties From the moment he was taken
into custody he never attempted TO
deny or excuse his crime Although ne
knew that detection was inevitable, ne
followed the fascinating pursuit for
three years. In all that period, While
the Government officers were studying
his tracks trying to make out an uh-
assailable case against him, he took
but one vacation from the work ana
that was last summer, when he went
to the hop fields for two months, leaV-
ing his tools behind him. When he re-
turned to his room, which was both
workshop and laboratory for him, the
old fascination twined it's tendrils
about his soul and held him prisoner
for evil.
The newspapers have told all that
there is to be stated" he said yester-
day as he sat in Chief Hazen's office.
Il don't know that 1 can add anything
to what has been published. l don't
know how l got into this thing. 1t was
wrong, certainly, but what 1 did was
not as a criminal-not with criminal
intent 1 was not a gambler and
didn't drink to excess. 1 was earning
500 per month at my profession. The
SO per diem that 1 averaged by drill
ing the coins certainly should not have
been any inducement to commit the
crime, for it must be remembered that
1 could easily have made five or six
times that sum and by the aid of con-
federates have flooded the country
with drilled double eagles. knew all
along that it was only matter of
time when I would be caught"
Mr.. Cary was smoothly shaved, we'll
groomed and stylishly dressed. His
manner was calm and at a casual
glance, unconcerned. He said:
Had I been a poor man. tempted by priva-
tion, he could probably find some excuse for
me- but in my case it is just the other way.
am all the more culpable because 1 not In
such condition. But / had no criminal in
tent. am not a professional criminal.
might have wronged thousands of people by
some fraudulent scheme with less risk of de-
lection and punishment had 1 been really
criminal at heart But 1 must make up my
mind to bear patiently with all the conse-
quences of my acts.
In the afternoon the prisoner was
taken before United States Commis-
sioner Heacock and the complaint
was read to him after he had
been properly identified by United
States Secret Service Agent George w.
Hazen. Judge Heacock set November
% at p. m. as the time for the pre-
liminary examination. Bail was fixed
at $4,000, in default of which Cary was
remanded to the custody of the United
States Marshal. The case for the Gov
ernment is being handled by Charles
NJ. F1ckert, Assistant United States
District Attorney.