The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-07-14
MONEY MARKED WITH A PIN.


"How is money marked 7" repeat
ed a headquarters detective. "Well,
it is not marked in the manner that
the public thinks it is.
"The average person, no doubt,
believes that money is marked by
private marks placed on the bills with
pen and ink; perhaps some employ
ers thus mark the bills they place in
the cash drawer which is being rob-
bed by dishonest clerk. Of course,
marked money of this kind is good
evidence in court on the trial of man
upon which it has been found. But
a check mark in ink, unless very ex-
pertly put on, might, with the aid of
a good lawyer for the accused, be
shown to have been perhaps acciden-
tai, and thus would the ever. sought,
reasonable doubt of the accused S par
ticipation in the robbery be raised.
"There are several different ways
of marking money by police experts
to the end that they may establish its
positive identity of having been in
their hands before the thief extracted
it. The way l personally employ,
and which is perhaps the safest to
secure certainty of conviction. is the
pin prick method
Let us take the familiar silver GER
ti6cate of the FIVE dollar denomina-
ton for an illustration one that has
been somewhat worn is better than a
new note from the Treasury. In the
centre is the we'll known vignette of
the head of an Indian chief in dress
regalia of feathers and trappings, pre-.
senting a full face view. We now
take this pin and make two punctures
right through the bill and directly
through the pupils of the eyes-so. I
hand you the bill and, even though
you saw me make the punctures, they
are not visible at a casual and even
critical glance.
~ now raise it to the light and you
can see the two tiny holes made by
the pin point as distinctly as windows
in building. l then apply the pin
point very neatly at the twist in the
neck of the large figure S at the two
upper extreme ends of the note. You
will observe that these diminutive
twists do not appear in the necks of
the two figures of S which are in both
ends at the bottom of the note. l
then pierce the note at the extreme
ends of the scrolls on either side of
the word 'ive,' which may be seen in
the direct centre of the note at its
lower edge.
"The marking of the note is now
complete. 1t is exhibited to pne or
two persons in the secret for the pur-
poses of preliminary examination and
Identification, and then placed in the
money drawer, perhaps with several
others of the same denomination, all
exactly marked alike with the great
est care. The thief may be on the
lookout for marked bills, usually ink
marks, but he is slick one who will
get on to the invisible but surely pres
ent pin pricks. You see, this class
of thieving does not admit of cru
cial examination Of the money before
taking it is susually done very quick
ly by palming the bills, placing them
in some preliminary place of safety,
to be later removed. Then we count
on detection with the bills on the per-
son before the thief has a chance to
exchange or to spend them.
"And the pin pricks remain! In
deed they do. The money is after
ward carefully placed in envelopes
and is not promiscuously handled.
When they are exhibited in court and
their preliminary preparation explain
ed under oath conviction is practi-
cally certain Washington Star.