The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-07
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A COUNTERFEIT MILLION.

mana ged his part with such skin anu
address that he, succeeded III puttiHe
into circulation bogus money totaiiIs
over 81 OO0, 900 on the American eoi.ei-
nent. many 50 closely resein oIliss -
genuine currency that il deceived even
the most experienced bank experts, ana
some Of which is still in circulation al
the present day.
II vas in 1880, during the months Of
March. ApriI and May. That a great
number Of dangerous counterfeit piil7
made their appearance in Canada Inelt
workmanship was of such extraoroi-
navy merit that they were accepted a.
genuine By banks over the whole couIl-
frv. Even officials whose signatures
vera forged 20 these deiusive creations
were unable 10 distinguish between
their own and the spurious caiigraphy-
Even when good and bad bills were
placed side by side the experts were
OBLIGED to employ scientific tests m or
der 10 tell which we're genuine It has
since been positively ascsrtained that
ever 81. 900 900 Of these astonishing Tor
xeries were successfully 0osted. In the
FAR northwest s20G. 900 OF this money
was paid for furs that we're shipped 70
England. Montreal and New York from
this remote country where there were
TO banks. and to the present time some
Of II Is On circulation and is accepted
as lawful money.
one Of the first Of the forEeries TO be
detected was q United states - OH
Of the government issue Of 1873. An ex-
pert employed In the treasury depart
ment at Washington CHANGED to run
across one Of the new bills. The work
msnship was exquisite, so much so that
It's Interpretation awakened the sus-
pisions of the expert. He took the bill,
looked I'D the series Of numbers and
discovered that IL was counterfeit Sc
cret service men were put TO work on
the case at once. but obtained no clue
10 the counterfeiteTs. The Canadian
counterfeits then began TO come 10 light
ana II became evident that a wholesale
cOunterfeiting OF Dominion bills had
occurred. Bank officials and business
men grew alarmed and appealed to the
authorities for aid, and the Canadian
government detailed John Wilson Muir
ray to take charge OF the investiga-
ton.
The choice of Murray for the work
in hand was very appropriate. During
five years OF service with the govern
ment of Canada he had figured in many
important cases and thoroughly proved
his resourcefulness and cunning. Also
the search for the author of the bad
money was one that he was peculiarly
remembered that prior to his eonnec-
ton with the Canadian government he
had distinguished himself as an exceed
ingly active member Of the United
States secret service. The instructions
given him were 10 apprehend the maker
or makers of the bills and above all to
secure the plates from which the false
notes were printed, thereby preventing
any further issue of the forgeries Muir
rays first step was TO examine the bad
bills already seized and he found them
to be as follows:
A $40 bill on the Bank Of Commerce.
whose head office is in Toronto, with
branches all over Canada.
A s. bill on the Bank Of Commerce
s. bill on the Bank OF British North
America, with branches all over the
country.
- $40 bill on the Ontario bank.
A 81 bill on the Dominion bank.
A 81 bill. Dominion Of Canada gov
eminent issue
From the start Murray knew that he
had before him the hardest problem he
had ever been asked to solve. Al
though he had once been familiar with
the tricks and wilss of the counterfeit
ing fraternity. several years had passed
since then and he had lost track OF
the movements and whereabouts of the
principal workers in that line. He first
went to New York, taking with him
specimens Of the Canada bills and OF
the United States bill, for the latter
was also being widely circulated in
Canada Arriving in New York, he
proceeded to visit in turn all Of tbs
"cooney" places, as the resorts fire.
quented by cOUnterfeiteTs are called. il
The hope OF Identifying some cTimina
who might be of service to him, but
found none and learned nothing A tril
TO Philadelphia. talk with the off
GERS Of that city and roundup OF thu
resorts there yielded no better results
and be went on to Washington.
While in the latter city he called upoI
John Sherman. secretary of the treas
ury, and held d. conference with Jane
Brooks, then chief of ths secret service
but gained no Information of any value
for the United States officers who wer
trying TO trace the cOunterfeiters had s.
far been unsuccessful
After thinking matters over. Murra-
resolved to go back TO New York an,
try his luck there again. He did 81
and by oint of much perseverance ant
patience managed to obtain track o
two or three OF the cOunteFfeiterS WHOM
he had known in the DAYS when he wa
United States secret service mar
Finally he succeeded in locating an in
dividual who had been an expert coun
terfeiter himself a. the time when Mur
ray was employed by the government
but had turned straight" and was n
longer wanted by the authorities AIur
ray exhibited his specimens of bad bill
TO this man. CounterfeiteTs, that is, I'll
sngraVers. the men who make tn
plates. usually know each others worl
An expert engraver of counterfe
plates can generally tell what membe
OF the forging fraternity made tn
plate from which a bill was printed
They seem TO recognize some indefir
ahte trait in the workmanship that er
sbles them 10 identity its maker or II
group from whence il came
The eX-counterfeiter examined Mn
rays bill with an admiring eve.
No doubt Of IT, they're a 1. frs
class beauties" he said. They niigl
be the work OF old John Hill. only /
has been locked up since he got Sie.0
for making those last plates of hi
still il looks like Hills hand"
The mention of HIS name didu
surprise Murray. for he had known
him before He was a crooked engTav,
~ great skill whose Err,,s ~, NJ