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

John. In all the annals Of counterfeit
! ing in the United States the name or
| Thomas Ballard must stand out most
| prominent. and 1 shall take the liberty
/ of telling enough about this remarkable
! criminal character to give my readers
/ some conception of his Importance in
! "kOniaCkinG' history
First let not the members OF the
! Masonic fraternity be shocked when 4
I say that Thomas Ballard. at the sum-
| NIT of his success as Countertelter-
/ was the master Of Park lodge, A a., -
| A. N. in New York City He
! of good family, never smoked
! nor took a drink Of Intoxicating llc=
| was married to an estimable Won
/ and. like many of his kind. was
! model family man" He was born in .
/ New York state in 1910. and learned
| the trade of fancy carriage painting
/ When Is years old ne went TO work Tor
! Henry Human. a wealthy carnage
] builder Of New York City. and related
I by marriage to Joshua D. Miner. h
! prominent New York politician and city
! contractor. Human observed the gen
l JUS of young Ballard and induced him
/ to learn the trade OF bank note engrav-
| ing at which he served four years
| Aided by Miner. Ballard obtained val
| liable information from the engraving
/ department Of the government In
! 1862 Ballard produced for Miner and
! Henry 9. Cole u plate of the 81 United
| States treasury note His next was a
! plate of the 81 bills of the National
4
| From that ne went 70 so counterfeitS
| Of three national banks Of Poughkeep-
sic. the $50 bill OF the Shoe and Leath-
er bank. and then to the 500 and $500
''oId issue United States treasury
! notes.
Ballard had d comfortable residence
at 225 West Fifty-third street, and here
was supposed to be q painter he leIt
home every morning at o'clock TO go
to the carriage factory IN which he
was interested but instead OF going
there ne went to 256 RiVingtOn street
where his brother John lived, where
the cOunterfeiting plant was located.
The neighbors at 256 Rivington street
believed Ballard 10 be a Waterman in
the custom house, and he left there
regularly in the evening TO goe to
work. but in reality went home He
lived this dual life without detection
for years.
The government at that time had a..
contract with the Glenn mills. at West
Chester. Pa. for its entire output OF
the celebrated fiber paper, the mills
being run under supervision OF gov
eminent officials TO prevent the paper
or the secret of its manufacture be-
ing stolen Ballard. in addition TO be
ing high class engraver, was the only
man IN the world who could success
fully make this paper outside Of the
Glenn mills. As an engraver, chemist,
paper maker and ink manufacturer
Ballard was uneXcelIed. The treas
fury OFFICIALS anu money experts gen
orally gelieved the fiber" papes, %. be
a complete guard against cOtfL.s fEeit-
ing, and they were amazed 4, WI pro-
duct of Thomas Ballard IL. before
such man Was knawn to -Y1e secret
service. The presses of Human. Min
CT and Ballard turned out bogus mon
ey in such amounts that the lawful
currency became disparaged. and the
capture of the makers of the clever
counterfeits became a matter of i'm
ir7nnvrlnPp He CaHrnr
in 1871. broke Jail soon afterward. and
his subsequent history would fill d good
sized volume.
Arrested in Buf1lo for engraving a.
plate Of a $500 treasury note, which
was pronounced superior to the genu-
inc Ballard was sent 10 Auburn peni-
tertiary, from which institution he
esca ped. While in Buffalo he had also
worked on a plate with which. he
said, he was going to bankrupt Can
ada" and from the perfection of the
work he seemed in fair way 10 make
good his intention.
In 1873 he was sentenced to serve
thirty years in the penitentiary, after
having been at large about three years
with A standing reward of 5000 for
his capture. In 1873 he ripped open
bis own abdomen and severed an in
TESTING in trying to take his life but
sharp knife across his throat severinE
the wtndpipe and muscles of the neck,
and again recovered.
1t was during the walderings fol-
lowing Thomas Billiards. first arrest,
and while the reward of $1,000 was
hanging over him. that he and his two
brothers came west and took I'D their
residence on farm near Clear Lake.
Ia. They assumed the family name of
Watson, and. naturally. fell into as
ISOLATION with the cOunterfeiters operat-
ing in the northwest. They became &C
Iuainted with the BoscobeI and ST.
Paul gangs and with Frank Conway.
vhich fact accounts for the frequency
with which 7 encountered the assumed
'amily name of the Billiards. while try
ng the identify the man who had been
arrested in Vandalia. The st Paul
contingent OF couuterfeiters had in
heir possession. IT was afterwards
ound. the PoUghkeepsie and PeeksxiI
plates that had been made in the east
" Ballard and had issued money from
hem. There was no evidence that
he Billiards. accomplished much in
he line Of producing "coney" while in
he west.
II is only fair that here call atten-
ion to the fact that from this point any
.rodit accTuing to the secret service for
he ultimate discovery of the engravers
md producers of the S1C0 Wilkes barre
Boston and New Bedford bills should
e bestowed on A l. Drummond and
ither operatives in the eastern division
4 the service. In the west we had
irSt found the bills determined he
-ond doubt their eastern origin. showed
he connection between Conway and
he Billiards. and indicated that in Con-
rays associates While in the east the