Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-09-30
By CAPTAIN PATRICK D. TYRgELL

copyright. 1905. by Marion G. Scheitlinl
1t was one day in the early spring OF
the year 1878 that young man sign
ing the application form as George C.
King, No. S73 West Adams street, Chi
cago, Ill.," appeared at the money or
der window of the Chicago post Office
and asked for two money orders aggre-
eating SIS in amount. payable to A. J.
Williams, of Canandaigua, N. Y. With
the application he handed the clerk a
800 note. The clerk made out the or
ders, gave them and $25 to the appli-
can't and the latter disappeared The
same day, in counting the cash re-
ceived at the money order window, the
chief clerk encountered the $100 note
and became suspicious Of its genuine
ness. 1t purported to be note Of the
issue of the Revere national bank, of
Boston.
Being notified that such note had
been received at the post Office, i'm
mediately made an examination of it
and pronounced 1t counterfeit. l then
took possession of the note and sub
mitted it to Fred M. Blount, who was
then cashier in the United States SUBJ
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 opin-
ion, was genuine. pointed out many
discrepancies between the note in hand
and one known to be genuine, but
Blount claimed he had frequently no.
ticed discrepancies as great between
two genuine notes Of the same issue
On his refusal to stamp the note
took it to Thomas P. Tallman, cashier
of the Traders national bank, whom
considered the most reliable expert in
such matters in any of the city banks.
Mr.. Tallman spent two hours making
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 be-
ginning the note was spurious, l deem
| ed it important to trace it. From the
post Office records the name and adj
dress given by the passer of the note
| were secured. and these were found to
| be correct
King was not at home when | called
at his house, but from his wife | learn
ed he had received a 500 bill from A.
J. Williams, a friend of her husbands
IN Canandaigua, N. Y. The passing of
the bill had been noted in my daily re-
port to Chief Brooks in Washington,
and as soon as learned that the note
had been received from the same man
to whom the money orders purchased
with 1t had been sent, suggested that
the eastern division of the secret sery-
ice take up the New York end of the
chain
The following day arrested King at
the La Sale street offices in which he
was employed and found in his possess
sion letter from his Canandaigua
friend. The letter itself was an inno-
cent, friendly missive, but in the en-
velope was separate note instructing
King to buy the money orders, keep
| S25 for himself and to keep his own
counsel" In my mind there was no
reasonable doubt that Williams, who
was a jeweler, and King at least had
guilty knowledge that the note in ques-
i ton was counterfeit.
In glancing back over long line
OF records for the years 1878 and 1879,
l select the foregoing incident as the
first thread the secret service picked UP
! in the skein Of events which afterward
connected east and west in 9ieantjr