Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-23


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the engraving establishment This sur
VIGILANCE was rewarded a few weeks later
by my seeing man answering the De
scription of Lucius a. White enter the
building of the engravers. Satisfied that
he was the man wanted. ] called to my as
sistance a deputy United States marshal
and from the time he emerged from the
building till his arrest he was never out or
our sight, unless in his room at the MoSef
Hoxel. He made more than one trip to the
establishment where the work was being
done and in leaving he would pursue
zigzag course, as though he feared being
followed. He was waiting for the compile
ton of the work, and put in the time sight
seeing.
As the work was now about ready for de
livery, l believed the time was at hand to
take White into custody. In company with
deputy marshal we went to his hotel and
followed him into the dining room at din
ner time. After he had taken his seat the
deputy and l sat down at the same table.
AS soon as he had given his order / slid
my chair close to his and said, in voice
that would attract no attention at the next
table:
You may consider yourself my prisoner.
It will do you good to make scene
Great beads of perspiration stood on the
mans face but he collected himself almost
| instantly and said
| Il don't want a scene; what do you want
| me to dor
Come with U.S. said.
| We all arose quietly and walked out of
| the dining room without attracting atten-
| ton. White taken to the federal build
| ing and subjected to an informal examina-
! ton. When l searched him l found docu-
| ments bearing the milreis transaction
! and placing the firm that did the work in
| peculiar light. One of these papers was
| the formal bid made by the firm, Offering 10
| engrave an exact fac-simile of the front OF
the go milreis bill on stone for $40 and
| facsimile of the back for S210. or facsimiles
| of front and back on steel for $50 An
| ,,tIalf iocr a
| from the engraving firm for payment OF the
| Cigar labels and for a 2o0-milreis Brazil
| ian bill to be returned to White. Accord
ing to the pers found on White, ne nau
| increased the size of his order from 1000 to
| 5000 sheets of bills four bills on a sheet
| At first White denied any part in coun-
| terfeiting plot, but later broke down and
| admitted his guilt. He claimed to have a
| partner named Lane, but refused to give
| detailed information concerning him fur-
| Their than to say that he lived In Texas.
| From information that had been gained
before the arrest of Lucius White 1t was
| known that he had arranged with firm
| of engravers in New Orleans to engrave
| the back plate for the bill In New Orleans.
| United States Attorney Bliss had wired the
| federal authorities in that city to locate the
| firm having the work in charge, and here 1t
| was discovered that Lucius had a brother
| Joseph in Texas, and that kilograms rela-
| tive to the production of the counterfeit
had been sent to Joseph by Lucfus and vice
| versa Proofs had also been sent to Lucius
White while he was at his home in Texas.
| The materials found in the New orleans en-
| craving establishment were seized by the
| government
| AS nearly simultaneous with the arrest of
| Lucius White as possible seized the plate
and sheets in the ST. Louis engraving es-
| Establishment. While the case against Luc1us
seemed conclusive enough, there was at
| that time no evidence on which Joseph
White could be property arrested or held.
He had made none of the contracts. The
| correspondence with him by wire had re
| ferred to the bills cigar labels, and there
was no evidence that he knew they We're
! ANYTHING elSe-that is, no legal evidence.
The stuff seized by me had been sent to the
! federal building and delivered at the offices
of the United States attorney.
| l shall always question the proprlety OF
| the course followed by the federal attorney
in making his case against Joseph White,
| which was as follows: package was
made of $40 of the sheets l had brought In
| Attorney Bliss then wrote out a telegram to
the agent at Bloom, Texas, requesting him
to deliver a certain package to Joseph
| White, and had Lucius sign 1t. Deputy
| United States Marshal Wheeler and Assist
| ant United States Attorney Drummond
| were then hastened to Texas by the first
| train for the purpose of piping Joseph
| White as he took the package from the
| express Office and, later, of arrestlng MN
| with the counterfeits in his possession. The
| package and telegram were sent, giving
| Wheeler and Drummond sufficient time TO
| reach the destination first. 1t seems That
|
that Joseph White received the package, he
| was allowed in some way to take the pack
| age from the express office without being
| seen by the men who had been sent to
| watch him commit this very act. Joseph
| White took them to his home on his farm
near Bloom and placed them in q bureau
| drawer. Knowing the sheets were in his
| possession, although they had not seen him
| receive them the officers went to Whites
| home, placed him under arrest and searched
the house.
I'VE want that money" they said.
What money! asked White.
1.-The Brazilian counterfeit money
II have no money" declared White Il
have some cigar box labels sent here by
| my brother-that is all"
| The officers searched the house and found
| the 900 sheets in a bureau drawer.
White was taken into Waco and placed
in Jail in defaelt of $4,000 bond.
| In the meantime Lucius A. White, having
seen his plan fail miserably and himself
prisoner, gave the authorities complete
confession. While in Brazil he and his
brother had conceived the idea of manu-
featuring in the United States large issue
of Brazilian currency and returning to that
country to float it. Lucius admitted that
he was the originator of the Idea. The plan
locked feasible for many reasons, the prin-
| c.ral one being that all previous attempts
to counterfeit Brazilian currency had been
! uhworkmanlike and inartistic, the imita-
tions being easily detected. Whites plan
| was to have the best engrayers in this
country make the plates. one the front
| plate and some one else the reverse. The
| .'Duzentos Milreis" notes were brought
| back with the Whites as models. 1t was
| stipulated that the engraving on these
plates should be of the very highest char
| acter and that the paper on which the
| printing was done should be of kind that
would split easily. After the printed sheets
| were in the hands of the Whites they were
| to be split, the fronts and backs pasted
anc pressed together by a process they had
| studied and the fronts then numbered with
| a machine to be bought by them. When
| the officers searched the home of Joseph
| White they expected to find the numbering
| machine, but were disappointed.