Chicago eagle., 1909-04-17
! CATCHING coUNTERFElTERs
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Sherlock Holmes, besides being n
successful character IN fiction. serves
"a n model for real detective work.
The following story, from the Boston
Herald. shows how the gencrn! work
Ing hypothesis Of Conan Doyle's de.
fectlve have been put Into practical !
operation. This time II was counter.
letting case. A teller In a Philadelphia
bank had noticed that two-hundretl-
dollar Monroe head silver certificates
had scals that were "OfY color"
He did not think for an instant that
the notes were counterfeit. for they
looked absolutely perfect. lie merely
thought that the red Ink used on the
seals was had, and took the notes ia
washington and showed them TO the
| officials.
Al the Treasury Department II was
plain that the notes were not like
those turnetl.0ut by the government II.
self. still. II was not imagined that
they were counterfeit. II was sun.
posed that the two notes Ind been sto.
lon from the Bucrau Of Engraving and
Printing, and that the seals had been
added nfterward.
II occurred 10 only one--Assistant
Chief Moran Of the Secret Service B,,.
rtau--that something was radically
wrong. but nobody believed him. The
notes stood the regular tests. They
seemed Identical with notes fresh from,
the vaults. But Moran soaked one Of
the suspected notes In hot water. II
split In halves.
The criminals were thus seen 70 In,
bigh-class men. They had split one
dollar silver certificates, had bleachetl
the backs ~ them, aud had thus been
enabled to use genuine paper In the
manufacture OF their spurious two.
| hundrcd-dOllar bills.
Tho counterfeit notes were next cx-
anllned by experts. They found that
the die-work must have taken about
elk months This led the detectives
back to the full OF 1907. The experts
also sud that the notes showed tue
work ~ two men, n pOrtrait.engraver
ana n square-letter man. The prob
lem now was to find two engravers
capable Of doing this quality OF work,
who during the latter six months Of
1907 were probably absent from their
customary employment.
Philadelphia, In proportion to its
population, Ia known to contain more
expert engravers than any other city
In the country. Moreover. the counter.
feits had turned up IN that city. 81
Moran and Chief Wilkle went there.
Wilkie disguised himself by letting
his beard grow. The two chummed
with the engravers Of the city. par
ticulary with the gossips among them
Soon they heard that Taylor and Bre-
dell had been In business for them,
selves since about the middle OF the
year 1897. They had left their regu,
lar work and had opened shop Of
their own, but charged such high prices
that they got no business. Yet they
were wearing diamonds ana taking
trips In special cars to Florida.
II was n moral, but not yet legal
certainty that these were the men
wanted. For fourteen months the Sc
cret service men worked on this cnse
and during the time not n word gOl
ont. They told the PHILADELPHIA police
nothing. In all, thirty secret servic,
men were shadowlng the suspects.
A complication was introduced by q
cigar manufacturer who was using
counterfeit internal revenue stamps
Twelve persons were finally implicated
including prominent lawyers In Phila
delphia. When the gang was round
ed In, every member went to prison
and the work Of the secret service was
justified.