The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-07-16

Copyright. 1903. by Marion G. Scheit-
ln)
IT was. one day i'm the early spring
Of the year 1873 that a young man
signing the application form as
George G. King, S73 West Adams
street, Chicago, ILL.," appeared at the
money order window of the Chicago
postoffiGe and asked for two money
orders aggregating $75 in amount. pay
able to A. J. Williams of Canandaigua
n Y With the application he handed
the clerk. a 500 note. The clerk made
out the orders, gave them and S25 to
the applicant and the latter disappear
ed. The same day. in counting the
cash he received at the money order
window. the chief encountered the 800
note and became suspicious of its gen
uineness. 1t purported to be a note
Of the issue of the Revere National
Bank of Boston.
Being notified that such a note had
been received at the postoffice, 1 i'm
medlately made an examination of il
and pronounced it a counterfeit.
then took possession of the note and
s'Jbmbittd il to Fred NJ. BlOunt, who
was then cashier in the United States
sub-treaSury in Chicago. asking him
TO place the government Counterfeit
stamp on it, This he refused to do on
the ground that the note, in his opinion
was genuine. 1 pointed out many dis
crepancies between the note in hand
and one known to be genuine. but
BioUnt claimed he had frequently no
ticed discrepancies as great between
two genuine notes and of the same is
sue.
on his refusal to stamp the note l
took il to Thomas p. Tallman, cashier
of the Traders National Bank. whom l
considered the most reliable expert in
such matters in any Of the city banks.
Mr.. Tallman spent two hours making a
minute examination of the note, and at
the end of that time concurred in my
original opinion that the note was
counterfeit Having been thoroughly
satisfied in my own mind from the
deemed il important to trace it. From
the postoffice records the name and
address, given by the passer of the
note were secured, and these were
found to be correct.
King was not at home when I called
at his house. but from his wife I
learned he had received a 500 bill from
A. J. Williams, a friend of her hUs-
bands, in Canandaigua, n. Y. The
passing of the bill had been noted in
my daily report to Chief Brooks in
Washington. and as soon as I learned
that the note had been received from
the same man TO whom the money or
derS purchased with il had been sent,
i
the secret service take up the New
York end of the chain.
The following day l arrested King at
the LaSalle street offices in which he
was employed and found in his poses
sion a letter from his Canandaigua
friend. The letter itself was an inno-
cent, friendly missive, but in the en-
VelOpe was a separate note instructins
King to buy the money orders keep
S25 for himself and keep his own
CO.. a-aFf II, I'D
reasonable doubt. that Williams, who
was a 1eweler. and King at least had
guilty knowledge that the note in ques-
ton was a counterfeit.
In glancing back over a long line of
records for the years 1873 and 1879. /
select the following incident as the first
thread in secret service picked up i'm
the Skein of events which afterward /
connected east and west in d gigantic
'koniaCking' Swindle that reached into |
the United States treasury building it
self; and ! set ii forth here merely on !
account of what IL suggested rather !
than on account OF it's intrinsic inn |
pOTtance.
Of the nations money is rap
idly passing into the category OF lost |
arts, the younger generation viii Won /
der at the extent of cOunterfeiting "A /
third Of a century ago as indicated by |
the narratives 1 have told and the one /
/ am about to relate And if there be |
any wonder on this score there will be !
greater when / say that Nelson briggs. |
Ben BOYD. Fred Biebush, Pete Nc /
CARNEY and "A score of others already !
mentioned were members of the west I
ern contingent only, while i'm the east /
was "A corresponding number just as /
skilled and just as active.
The connections between east and /
west crossed and interlaCed until they
formed a fiEuratiye free-masonry of /
counterfeitinG reaching from ocean to |
ocean and from Canada to the gulf. |
For this condition there was a most /
obvious explanation. We whose hairs
are gray VIII remember when the ne
,eSstties Of government during the war
If the rebellion compelled the issue of 4
hundreds Of millions of legal tender of !
new and various kinds. These issues
we're made hastily being demanded by
The exigencies of the Kaleidoscope
financial situation, and were imperfect
10 an extent that would now be con-
sidered ridiculous.
Much OF the new currency issued |
during the war and the existence of
he state banks was not only defective 1
IN the engraving. but was printed on !
PAPER which could be easily duplicated
~ a clever chemist. Scrip was in use.
md the government product, from the
'ngraver's viewpoint was not of a
nigh character. In short the large
'pawn OF koniackers" that did so
much enlawfully' TO initiate the-aoar-
'ency Of the country from 1880 TO 1880
we're bred by temptations arising FROM