New-York tribune., 1908-05-24
LONG CRIMINAL CHAIN
Secret Service Rezcarded after
Years of Effort.
IFrom The Tribune Buresul


Washington May z3.-Chief Wilkie of the Secret
Service received telegram from Denver to-day
announcing The arrest of Sas c. Stevens. who was
held under 15oo ball. and with the receipt of that
piece OF news was able to begin the last chapter of
a case that has engaged the attention of his de-
tectives for eight years In the pursuit Of the men
responsible for the remarkable series of crimes
that have beer brought the attention of the
vice, more than hundred have been caught,
tried, convicted and prison for their share
in the gigantic affair. which must have netted
those who worked il hundreds of thousands of dol
lars
The operations Of the gang gangs extended
from the New England to the Middle and North
western states, and the members were especially
ao along the Canadian border In every case
run down by the Secret Service men the same
means was used 10 separate the victim from his
money! note either the Bank of New Bruins
wick n. j. or the Merchants and Planters Bank
Of Atlanta, Ga. given to him, and he found
only too late that the bank had not been IN ex-
istence since 1852. when the national banking act
went into force.
Tf--s seemed to be end to the supply Of these
notes and for a long time the Secret Service OH
cials were at loss to know where they came
from. All the notes of the IS and slo oenon-
nations and TO the farmers and tradesmen of the
rural districts who not familiar with modern
national bank notes they looked good The first
stumbling block encountered by the Secret Service
after they had gathered in a few of the note
passS-s came in the shape Of court decisions that
held that the New Brunswick and Atlanta
banks had really existed and the notes which were
passed We're genuine, although out of date and
worthless the men who passed them were not
guilty under the counterfeitng laws. and the cases
were therefore thrown out of court.
Prosecutions then begun successfully
under the state laws In the mean time the Secret
Service men learned that the New Brunswick notes
had come originally from dealer in waste paper
who had purchased them In bulk from the bank
r-Aa ba1 haar c1le5 and n
validated by the passage OF the banking act had
been thrown into the waste paper bin The JUNK
dealer in his turn had sold the notes TO various
curio dealers throughout the West, and they in
their turn had sold them TO the swindlers All told,
New Brunswick notes TO the value Of soo,oo were
found and conhscated by the government. Finally,
after running down many clews and sending up
many different men Chief Wilkie learned that the
chief house of issue of these notes was the curlo
store conducted by Silas c. Stevens, in Chicago
Before proceeding against Stevens CHIEF Wiikle
sent representative TO him and asked him to quit
the business. He was warned that he Woulo De
prosecuted under the criminal statutes unless ne
stopped selling the paper Stevens asked 1or ufhe
70 think Il over and after q few days lhiorheu
Chief Wilkie that he had consulted his attorneys
and had been advised that the government couAo
not uolest him He ended his reply to the chleI OF
the Secret Service by politely telling him ana mis-
detectives that he would see them II " al 'ii7' "
mate before he would quit.
Chief Wilkie bided his time A man HaiIeO
Hulster was arrested for passing the olo Al'ah'a
hank notes and it was discovered that he hao
made the fatal OF pasting the notes together
and inserting between the sheets silken threaos
such as distinguish genuine United States paper
money The notes issued by the obsqlete pahhs
were printed only side. and by pasuhs
them together Hulster made bill that looked up
~ date He also indicted under the leoe'dl
,1,,n-ersettng laws In the hope OF getting OH
"a sier Huister all he knew and informed the
detectives that he got his stock Of notes from
Stevens
lust 10 make things interesting for the man
who had defied him. Chief Wilkie instructed man
in Ct Louis to write Stevens and negotiate Ior
the purchase of a quantity Of the old notes Inc
decoy wrote that he man recently let out
~ the pententiary and locking Tor some
stuff that would pass for good money IN the
country Stevens took the bait like bass striking
a ry He had just what the st. Louis man was
looking for and named terms That was all Chlei
yytIkie wanted. He had Stevens arrested In 81
,outs. obtained indictments against Stevens ana
FIuster in Denver for using the mails for fraudu-
lent purposes and Is now waiting for the Cnlted
States District Attorney 10 SET date for the trla
lust IF present Mr.. Stevens IS not issuing any
notes Of defiance the Secret Service