Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-05-21
some new COUNYERPEI7S.
Spring Styles in Bogus Money In
clude Some Novel Designs.
Some bills Have Two races and NC
Back-"Flash Money" 10 the
Amount Of s12s,ooo.0oO Con-
Ascated Last Year.
(t'rom tho Brooklyn Eagle.)

| to you. There may be some queer stun
| in it, You may find, for example. bill
or two that exhibit the ecccntrcity of
| having two faces and no back. Quite
lot of this sort OF paper cash is in cir
| culation just at present. Tho secret Of
| II is a brand new swindle which the secret
| service has only just discovered. Gov
| eminent sleuths are hunting it down
and hope soon to land tho guilty parties
| in Jail, but, meanwhile, n rich haul has
been made by certain ingenious persons
| One curious feature of the fraud is that
| the worthless currency concerned. with
| which parts of tho west and South have
| been flooded. is not counterfeit at all.
| but real money. That is to say, it was
perfectly good once upon time, though
| valucless to-day.
Certain state banks it appears such
as the Merchants and Planters Of At
lanta. which became defunct long ago.
| used to issue notes which in general ap-
pea rance closely rescmblcd tho national
bank notes of to-day. When they went
out of business. great qualities of their
| currency, being no longer r"deemable,
| were sold waste paper. Millions Of
dollars worth of tho stuff. il value rep
| resented. eventually found its way into
the hands of INSCRIPTIONS dealers. who
are scattering it widc'j, and passing it
| off 40 real money.
| Tho notes in question were printed
| only on ono side. the backs being blank
a fact which would deter even ignorant
people from accepting them. were it not
that resort is had to tho clever expedi-
ent of pasting two of them together,
back to back. Few persons TO whom
| money is paid take the trouble to cx-
| anime both sides of it. and, accordingly.
| the bills thus disguised readily pass cur
rent. As an incidental touch to lend
verisimiltude, silk threads arc scattered
| between the two halves of each COM
posite note, initiating the fiber in the
paper used by the government
| Anything that initiates the currency,
and which is not counterfeit. comes under
the head of what the secret service calls
flash" money! designation technically
applica BILE to these dcfunct notes. though
once they were lawful cash. Most flash
money. however is issued for advertis
| ng purposes merely, and would be harm
less, were it not that it is frequently
| passed off upon ignorant people. particu-
larly newly arrived aliens as a mode of
| swindling them. on this account. the
manufacture and circulation Of all such
stuff discountenanced and prohibited.
One finds in cigar stores. nowadays, for
sale. at 40 cents for 81 900 worth"
called tainted money which looks a
good deal like treasury notes, being
marked with various denominations from
s. to 500. Many persons buy it, just for
fun. II annoys the secret service good
deal, but the selling of il cannot be
stopped in some localities. though unlaw
full in others. II the local district at
torney decides that il Guts not violate
the law. II cannot be coniiscated.
Thus It happens that an imitation
Of the currency is lawful in one jurisdic
1! ton. and not SO in another. But. legal
or not, fake money Is something that
people will persist in making, and not
all the efforts of the government au-
thorites have sufficed to put stop TO it.
Thanks to the persistent efforts of the
secret service. counterfeting has been
practically stopped in this country. but
the manufacture of tho flash stuff
goes merrily on. In tho South, few
years ago considerable quantities Of
pasteboard money were in circulation
among the negroes.
The total quantity Of counterfets both
paper and coin, captured during the last
fiscal year was less than $27n OF
was relatively enormous. During eight
consecutive years no less than sl2S, 400 600
worth Of the stun On value representcd)
was seized and destroyed. Artists even
paint pictures. some of which are beauti-
fully executed, representing greenbacks
r nd not long ago a brush rawing on a
s. silver certificate. two feet long, was
captured in Newark, where a bootmaker
was using it to advertise the fact that
this sum would buy any pair Of shoes in
his window.
The walls Of the Office Of tho chief Of
the secret service at Washington arc
handsomely adorned with paintings OF
this kind. which have been confscatcd at
various times But, whore ordinary
"nash money" is concerned. few more
artistic examples have been turned ont
than some baseball currency which found
it's way into circulation In Chicago a
while ago, with an attractive picture of
, the Windy city team or the back. II the
treasury permitted this sort Of thing. the
whole country would soon he flooded
with such limitations.
Men used to actually travel about with
: engraved plates and take orders from
business firms FOR quantities of near
money In the form OF small handh'lls
one-third Of which was fair imitation
? of banknote while the remaining two
thirds were occupied by an advertise
\ ment This was stopped. Pasteboard
: wallets with greenbacks sticking ont al
the ends (Which deluded people were ex-
r pected to pick up on the streets were
= formerly manufactured in large qua nti.
Q ties. Tho government conlscatcd then
wholesale. But there are some evasions
IL, l., nl,tt tor hft