The Breckenridge news., 1906-06-13
PUZZLED THE SHARPS
STORY OF THE CLEvEREST OF ALL
THE cOUNTERFEITERs.

| lTedSufy uOleS sOluellIneS uCuleNe WOu-
ders in the way of finished workman
ship. Yet any experienced secret serv-
ice man will tell you that the counter
feiters' device is a surprisingly simple
one in most instances and in what Is
| perhaps the most famous Of all cases Of
this kind-the Taylor case in
Philadelphia in 1S9G-97-an apt illustra-
ton is found of this fact That case
was run down by Chief John Il. Wilk.e
of the secret service and his men until
the two arch conspirators were safely
| in Jail, and still the counterfeiting con-
tinued. The crowning feature Of the
whole story came when it appeared
that Taylor and Bredell actually coun-
terfeited twenty dollar bills in the Phil
adelphia Jail and sent them by Taylor )
brother as a confederate to be worked
off on the outside. That they could do
this is one thing which secret service
men will point to when they say that
counterfeiting is really an amazingly
simple undertaking.
Yet Arthur Taylor and Baldwin s.
Bredell, expert engravers and chemists
Of no mean ability, hit upon a device
for duplicating the currency of the land
that marked new epoch in the history
Of counterfeiting in this country. In
the middle nineties at the Philadelphia
subtreasury one day there turned up a
Monroe" hundred dollar bill on which
the red seal on the face appeared to be
altogether too light in color. Otherwise
the bill was to all intents and purposes
with the light red seal, and ii was sent
to Washington for examination. There
the government experts took ii, sub
mitted II face and reverse to every
known test without being able to de-
tect through any of the recognized
symptoms the counterfeit, and final
ly. as the last resort. split it, to find to
their great astonishment that the Mon
roe 500 was as matter of fact the
halves Of two one dollar bills which
had been split, as one splits bit Of
birch bark, and pasted together again.
Many times before had split bills
been discovered by the department,
but almost invariably the workman
ship on the face and back had borne
some defect that gave away the coun-
terfeit Immediately. In this bill. how
ever, no such defects were traceable.
The myriad lines which the geOmetric
lathe had apparently put in the border
about the figures and the printing were
so near like the lines which bona file
latbes had put in the borders of non
est currency that no clew was offered.
even on second and third inspection,
TO the nature of the new counterfeit.
The letters themselves and the general
printing work on the bill measured up
with the letters and figures on the
original TO the last fraction of a milli-
meter. The portrait was a perfect re-
production, and, generally speaking.
the bill was as near the real thing
as it could possibly be-all but the red
seal; that wasn't dark enough. SO they
started up in Philadelphia the most
notable counterfeiting hunt of the cen
tury, and when warning had been
sent to all banks and other large han
Hers of money and to the subtreasu
ries throughout the country various
other Monroe" hundred dollar bills
turned up with the light red seal in the
corner. Several of them were traced
to well known race track. and finally
a man named Taylor, who generally
made and paid his debts by hundreds
came under suspicion. Yet the princi-
pals in the case could not be penned
down, and it was evident that this
Taylor who passed the money was sim
ply a subordinate in the gigantic swim
die. SO the government men bided
their time.
But they took Arthur Taylor, a broth
er of the race track spender, and his
associate, Baldwin S. Bredell, under
Months passed. The
which had taken up the
ease at first dropped it, and so far as
any one knew the mystery of the
Monroe" 500 was in a fair way to
go down in history unsolved. Chief
Wilkes men, however, never for
minute lost sight Of Arthur Taylor and
Bredell, and finally they fol
lONtu lutlu Ou II Trip " A4ShNaoiCi' H''
where they had conference with the
firm of Jacobs & Kendig, cigar manu-
facturers. AS result the revenue
stamps that went on the Jacobs &
Kendig cigar boxes were rather care
fully examined by the secret service
men, and the arrest of everybody con
cerned, including Taylor. Bredell, the
cigar manufacturers, eX-Assistant Dis
trlct Attorney Ingam of Philadelphia
and Philadelphia lawyer named New
lit followed.
One thing that puzzled the govern
ment sleuths even after the arrests
was the fact that the counterfeiters
to have no very extensive
plant. Plates were found Of the Mon
roe" hundred dollar bill and also Of a
Lincoln fifty dollar bill, so perfect
that the government thanked their
stars that none of them had been put
into circulation. Various preparations
OF acids were discovered also. but moth
ing to explain how the remarkably ac-
eurate reproduction Of the engraving
rould have been brought about. Final