Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1907-11-19
ROMANCE OF A
COUNTERFEIT BILL,

[original.l
Providence has wisely concealed
from us the importance Of uifItnR
events that are destined TO influence
our future. II this were not so, per
haps at times we might defeat fate.
For instance. suppose In walking out
hesitate which Of two streets TO take
II / take the left hand one it doesn't
matter; If ] take the other | will meet
person who will Influence my life
for evil. Knowing this. ! take the
left hand street and defeat fate Queer,
isn't it?
l married the woman destined to be
my wife, am the father of my chill
dren and pass through daily scenes all
predestined by a hunt for the original
shower Of counterfeit bill. TO find
this shower l was obliged to trace the
bill from one person to another till |
got back to my starting point. | never
could understand why fate could not
have been satisfied with connecting
the life live today with the bill with
out bringing in circumstance re
markable in itself
When | was very young man |
went into the government secret serv-
ice. One day a bank teller in Pitts
burg detected a counterfeit ten dollar
bill in the deposit OF retail merchant
who was considered above suspicion.
was sent there TO learn from whom
it had emanated. The merchant told
me that he remembered the bill very
well, for he had needed change and
had nothing in his pocket but the bin.
He had such bad luck with II In this
respect that he had put 1t in his de
post with checks in order to get rid
Of it. 1t had been paid him as re
turned borrowed money. The borrow
er had received it from a greengrocer
who got II from paperhanger. tc
whom 1t was paid by a wholesale pa
per house.
At the paper house the bill was iden
tilted by the cashier, who had suspect
ed it Of being spurious. II had beer
paid by a man from Chicago for papei
sent to him there. went to Chicago
and found my man. He was n bad
one and had bought the paper to put
on the walls Of dive. | was sure h'
was the original shower. but he proved
to me that he was making lots Of mon
ey in his dive and had no knowledge
of counterfeiting. Besides, he turned
me over TO a leather man, who exam
ined the bill and admitted he had pass
ed t to the man | suspected. Tit
leather man sent me to Detroit on |
wild goose chase after a shoemaker
who In turn sent me back TO Plttsburg
, Getting back to Pittsburg looked a
If l was close on the trail, becaus
Pittsburg was the place where the bil
was first discovered The Pittsbnr
supposed counterfeiter was a dentist
/ was young then and prided mysel
on going to work on a case the RICH
! way, so instead Of asking the DENTS
! where he got the bin went into hi
: office professionally. He found seS
e eraI cavities in my teeth TO be plugged
= and / was enabled to pass two hour
! in his dental chair OF course l talke
: that il, whenever he took his rubbe
|. dam out Of my mouth; thought III
. two words Of the name should b
! transposed--and as a man who pump
usually interprets the information b
0 gets to suit himself ! was sure u
dentist was the cuIprit
e When he finished the Job and ] WEI
out a young lady entered the operatin
= room. She smiled at the doctor. al
playing such a beautiful set Of teet
; that wondered what use he could |
to her.
: / spent a good deal Of time workin
6 ND a case on the dentist. but couldn
y be certain and finally decided to frigh
= en- him into admitting bis guilt vel
to his Office after be had finished b
I work. produced the blu and accuse
him Of having made It He didn
3 brighten at all He took the bill In b
hands. put a magnifying glass On
handed it back to me and said:
y THAT bin was handed me By Jam
b. Sterling. merchant Of this city. q
. piece Of bridge work. I suspected
: looked at II with glass. Is have iu
done, and noticed certain features IN
that have Just seen again. was u