Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-08-19
Many Thousands of
Dollars Worth of
Spurious Bills Are
"Mlled'' by Gever
Glprit
Had Every Track
Covered BY One Ruse
or Another.

''ohn r. Wilkie. chief Of the secret
service division of the United States gov
eminent. has not only upheld the high
traditions of that very responsible post.
but has won special laurels by his per-
sonar success in several big cases. He
was born in Elgin, Ill.,, AZ years ago, and
before accepting the headship of the
secret service had made an enviable rep
uauon as a working Journalist. While
connected with the Chicago newspapers
ne made specially of criminal investi-
cation which probably accounts in part
Tor his unusual success as a detective.
During the Spanish-American war he or
Sanlzed a special emergency force of men
to checSmate Spanish spies in this coun-
try. AS consequence he succeeded in
arresting their best spies and driving
most of the others off the soil of the
United States.)
~ NE Monday morning, not many
years ago, smartly dressed
man strolled down lower Broad
way and entered one of the
Trust company buildings in the
heart of the financial district Of
New York. He was what is known
to the patrons of the turf as a
bookmaker, and he had called at the
bank for the purpose of securing roll
or bank notes that he had left there
on the previous Saturday night for
safe-keeping. 1t was promptly handed
to him, roll as big as both of his
lists. He counted it over rapidly to
see that the amount was correct, and
when he got near the end of the roll
he paused long and looked earnestly
at $500 gold certificate that lay there
conspicuously among the bills of
smaller denominations. He continued
his study of the yellow back for
considerable period, and finally thrust
ing the balance of the bills in his
pantaloons pocket, walked over to the
cashier and handed him the bill.
whats the matter with this note?"
he asked.
The bank official looked at it cas-.
ually and handed it back with smile.
Nothing" he answered, Except
that it's counterfeit"
The bookmaker gasped with astonish-
ment He went over his roll and
found three or four more notes of
the same kind. That morning he mott
fed his fellow bookmakers and before
"a hours had passed 80 or 40 of the
counterfeit notes had been located in
New York city. Samples were imme-
diately secured by the authorities and
forwarded to John w. Wilkie, the
chief of the secret service division of
the United States treasury depart.
ment. That night urgent public BUSH
ness compelled Chief Wilkie to go to
Buffalo. The following morning while
he was seated in the Office OF the
United States district attorney in that
city man from the Knlckerbocker
race track entered the room and
showed the district attorney hun
dred-dollar counterfeit note that had
been given him on the track the pre-
vious day. Wilkie began to do some
hard thinking. The note was a COM
panion of those that had been located
in New York city. 1t looked very
much as if there had been a conspir-
acy to circulate these hundred-dollar
notes simultaneously at the race
tracks in all of the large cities of the
United States.
The chief dropped the business in
hand and Immediately turned his at
tention to the new developments in
the hundred-dollar counterfeits. Tele.
grams were sent to the agents of the
secret service instructing them to visit
the race tracks in their vicinity and
look out for bogus bills. These in
structions applied particularly to Gin
cinnati, Louisville, Memphis, New Or.
leans and St. Louis.
At St. Louis Capt. John Murphy, the
secret service agent in charge of that
district, went to the Delaware race
track and posted the bookmakers to
look out for any 500 bills that might
be offered them. Agents of the serv-
ice were posted in various parts of the
track, and it was agreed that If any
Of these certificates were offered by
any of the patrons the bookmakers
should at once give the secret serv-
ice a pre-arranged signal. In less than
two hours one Of the agents received a
signal and hurried to the booth occu-
pied by the bookmaker. He made a
careful examination of the bill that
had been given to the "bO0kie" and
found that it was one of the counter
feits. The agents were then posted at
spots where they could see the patrons
Of the track in the act of ''cashing in"
their winnings. The man who had
put up the 500 bill bet on the favor
tie, and he came out winner. When
the victor called to receive his win
nings he was Immediately placed un
der surveillance. There was nothing
about the man to attract particular at
tention. He was neatly but plainly
dressed, and bore s1l the outward in.
dications of a prosperous business
man. After receiving his winnings
he walked into the rear of the grand
stand, and making roll out of the
money he had just received, placed it
in his trousers .,ocket. Then he took
aut Of his vest pocket another 500