The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-03-15

quarters were in Chicago, and many
g counterfeiter was sent over the
road by Jimmie" Cronin, as he was
affectionately called by his friends.
Cronin and Cheney were much the
same as regards ability, but ChenSe
had ambitious (and was achieving
them) beyond the mere detection of
crime. Cronin hadn't any ambitions
beyond the running down Of smooth
fingered gentleman or smashing a
gang of counterfeiters. He was a
great big, whole-souled Irishman, full
of Wit, and as brave as lion. He
was always poor; every cent he re-
ceived went through his fingers like
water, but, as he said to Cheney, with
a slight Irish brogue: "Phat the divil
good is money save to have fun wild?
Yei see, Jack, haven't any one de-
pendent on me, and when | get too
old to work I'll kiss the world good
by" Cronin could have been a
rich man had he any desire to be a
CRATER. A great deal of money had
been offered him at different times.
but each time refused. He was as
honest as a sturdy oak, and Cheney
counted Cronin as one of his stanch-
est and best friends. The head of the
treasury department secret service
on more than one occasion had
been Informed by Col. Cheney OF
some exceptionally good work that had
been done by Cronin.
Cronin came in Cheney's Office one
day. and after his salutation of .'Top
o the mornin' to We, Jack" threw six
bright silver dollars on the desk
and said:
What do you think of that bunch
of silver"
Cheney knew Immediately the
queer" money was being passed, and
Cronin had discovered it, and want
ed his advice and cooperation on the
case He picked up the silver dollars
= one by one, fingered them carefully,
took a microscope and infinitely eX-
amined the milling and stamping.
Then he passed each one between
the thumb and forefnger of his right
hand. After that pair of feather
weight scales came into play, aud
the coins were carefully weighed,
Cheney stacked five in one pile and
the sixth coin he tossed over to
Cronin.
THAT coins all right, Jimmie, but
these five are queer"
Right We are, Cheney, but that's
the 'queerest queer I've ever laid my
eyes on"
Yes, l notice it, The silver in
these five queer coins is of higher
alloy than the American coin. In
trinsicaliy, the spurious coins are of
more value than the real coin. That's
paradox, but it's true one
We'll, whatever paradox is, it
sounds all right to me-"
''Where'd you pick up these coins.
Jimmie?"
"Over in the First National three
weeks ago. Later / found them in
several other banks, and reports from
the west indicate that part of the
country is flooded with them"
ANY suspicious, Cronin?"
Mary one, Cheney. They come
from everywhere, country banks, big
stores, railroads. coal companies, and
what not. Why, hang it, any man
would take one of those coins and
never notice it. An expert expert
would be fooled. You would have
taken a number of them without a
murmur. So would /. Amt it so?"
Sure thing" murmured Cheney
At the same time he was studying the
coins with the microscope. "Cronin,"
he continued, these coins all bear
the mill mark of the San Francisco
mint Made any investigations along
that liner"
mo, not yet. I've just been feeling
around. 1 reported it to the chief,
and he directed me to run it down
Blamed easy thing for the chief to
sit in Washington and say run 'em
down. but it's not so easy to do it."
Cheney was busy, but heard every
word Cronin had spoken. He had
a dual intellect He could hear and
understand intelligently what a per-
son was talking about and at the
same time his mind could be working
out some sort of a problem
Excuse me a minute, Cronin,' he
said. and was gone.
The colonel came back in about Is
minutes and laid down one of the
coins with section cut out.
Il thought SO, Jimmie" he re-
marked.
Thought what?" snapped Cronin.
These coins are Mexican pesos.
Their value in United States money
is 37k cents. The man, or gang,
can hir all these Mexicans they
wan tecast them into our dollars,
and re. 621s cents profit Queer. too,
isn't it. Cronin, the counterfeits
are better silver than the good dol
lars?"
well. all that's news, Cheney, and
interesting. but what We want is to
find the man that's making this bum
money
You're good ways off from the
plant at this minute, Eronin"
;1lx