The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-06

tiheate, the only change being that the
name of theatrical company was IN
serted where the letters United States Oh
America are printed. The company came
to Canada and Travelled all through the
dominion, scattering these documents
everywhere. Some of them reached the
United States and we seized them we
had our government to take the question
up With the English government, which
succeeded in arranging with the ntho-
graphers to destroy the plates from which
they were printed. We would never have
allowed that In this country, no mattef
If some other government was being I'M
posed upon.
How the Italians Work.
The Italian counterfeiters work IN
gangs and their methods are entirely
different from the Americans. They
organize into oathbound bodies, take nor
rible oaths, scratch their arms with
stlettoes and sign their names In their
own blood. The manufacturer OF the
money sells 1t to a wholesaler, the latter
to jobber and then 1t gets to retailers.
The business is done just like American
business men buy and sell dry goods or
groceries The manufacturer sells the
spurious coins for so much on the dollar,
generally 20 to 25 cents; the wholesaler
gets 30 to 40 cents and so on down. Fruit
peddlers, boot blacks and other classes
pass the money and keep 1t going. The
favorite coin is the 50-cent piece. There
Is much counterfeiting here of bills and
notes, but we have had cases where 20 and
~ notes of this country were Imported
from Italy. The printing of the notes
was done in that country and they were
sent here along with shipments OF olive
OIL The money was placed in empty
cans that had another can inside, oil be-
ing placed in between the two so that
custom officials could not detect the
fraud. 1t went on a good many years and
the holiness of ii shows how thoroughly
the Italians stick together and how clan
nish they are. The wholesalers of the
money were so bold that they sent sam
pies through the mails of the United
States, just like a business man of any
kind sends samples to his customers How
long the thing would have gone on it Is
impossible TO say. but for the fact that
one of the letters, sent to an Italian in
| a Canadian city. was returned to the
dead letter office here where the facts
were revealed.
1.-The Italian counterfeiter makes pref
ty deceptive stuff but the American
counterfeter takes more pains with his
product There are occasionally cases
where the counterfeit coins are made of
silver, but this is not often. Coins of
genuine silver are quite expensive in the
way of mechanical contrivances. Genuine
silver has to be struck with a die and
takes a machine, while the base metal
coin. which is so prevalent among count
erfeiters, is simply molten metal poured
into plaster mould. There is no silver
in the mixture at ALL the composition
tin and antimony, the latter to make the
coin hard and stiff. The Italian counter
feiter will put a thin plate of nitrate of
silver something else over the coin and
the brightness soon disappears the coin
becoming black. The American makes
the plating much thicker and it stays
bright much longer. The Americans
counterfeit costs much more than the
Italian.
1.-The American counterfeiter has few
people in with him in his plans He gen.
orally forms a partnership with two or
three other fellows. They make up lots of
coin or turn out many notes. They then
go out through the country distributing
them among the people, stopping only
short time IN each place and going to
another as fast as possible. We follow
them from city to city The italian gang
generally stays In the same city and
works off a good deal of money before
they are detected. No, 1t is by no means
easy to impose counterfeits on ignorant
Italians. They know the genuine too well
and the counterfeiters cannot get the
best OF their own people. Fruit peddlers
in every city know a good piece OF sill
Yer money when they see it and turn
down the counterfeit quickly.
The Aristocracy of Criminals.
1.-THE counterfelter of whatever nation
atty he may be regards himself as an
aristocrat He is a specialist and is not
Identified with criminals in other lines.
Men who are otherwise honest will go into
counterfeiting and will disdain to speak
to or be seen in the company of an ordi-
nary criminal When we are looking for
counterfeiters we never thing of going
into the usual haunts of criminals. They
don't mix and don't like each other at
all. A confirmed thief or pickpocket can
not be induced to handle counterfeit or
connect himself with a counterfeter He
has a wholesome fear of the United States
government and its rigid enforcement OF
| law. He will take chances against state
| laws and state officials. but no rubbing
against the federal government for him.
He hates a counterfeiter because he fears
| that II h should come into possession
! of counterfeit and should be found with
! IT he would at once be arrested and
! charged with passing counterfeit money.
We get valuable tips from crooks in other
lines OF business VINO happen to get In
formation az to counterfeiting outfits.
"A counterfeiter seems to feel that to
beat the government is fair game and he
| proceeds upon that line. He would not
| like to be accused of picking a pocket,
and yet he forgets that 1t is the individ-
ual man who loses the money, poor people
who often suffer. The laws against coun-
terfeiting are not so much for the protec-
ton of the government as for the protec-
| ton of citizens The interest of the gov
eminent Is maintaining the integrity of
| Its money, but 1t does not lose cent by
| all the counterfeit money in existence,
| there being no instance of where the
! United States treasury has accepted spu-
rious stuff IL the government should not
strictly enforce the counterfeit laws sus-
picion would sooner or later attach to all
money and that would cause trouble In
actual dollars and cents, though the
government does not lose a thing at any
time"
The Papal Flag.
From the Chicago Journal.
Do daC &c arat iN.aIxv nm