Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1909-01-27
!: ROMANCE OF A
. COUNTERFEIT BILL.

our future. If this were not so. per-
haps at times we might defeat fate.
For instance. suppose in walking out
hesitate which of two streets to take.
If take the left hand one it doesn't
matter; If ] take the other viii meet
Z ln@sun who will influence my life
for evil. Knowing this. take the
left ha.G street and defeat fate Queer.
isn't T.;
mar. ie;l the woman destined to be
my wife. I'm the father of my chill
{. ell and pass through daily scenes all
n2e,'eesined by IA hunt for the original
sho,ef of Il counterfeit bill To find
tAiS shower ! was obliged to trace the
bill from one person to another till
got back to my starting point never
could understand why fate could not
have been satisfied with connecting
the life live today with the bill with
out bringing in circumstance re-
markable in itself.
When was very young man
went into the government secret scrv-
burg detected a counterfeit ten dollar
bill In the deposit Of retail merchant
who was considered above suspicion.
! was sent there to learn from whom
1t had emanated. The merchant told
me that he remembered the bill very
well. for he had needed change and
He had such bad luck with it in this
respect that he had put 1t in his de-
posit with checks In order to get rid
of 1t. 1t had been paid him as re
turned borrowed money. The borrow.
er had received it from greenyrocer.
who got 1t from a paperhanger. to
whom 1t was paid by wholesale pa.
per house.
AT the paper house the bill was idcn.
tilted by the cashier, who had suspect.
ed it Of being spurious. 1t had been
paid by man from Chicago for paper
sent to him there. went to Chicago
and found my man. He was bad
one and had bought the paper to pat
on the walls of dive. | was sure lie
YVES the original shower. but he proved
to me that he was making lots Of mon
ey in his dive and had NO knowledge
Of counterfeiting. Besides. he turned
me over to a leather man, who exam
ined the bill and admitted he had pass
ed it to the man l suspected. The
leather man sent me to Detroit on a
wild goose chase after shoemaker.
who in turn sent me back to Pittsburg.
Getting back. to Pittsburg looked rs
II was close on the trail, because
Pittsburg was the place where the bill
was first discovered. The Pittsbur1
supposed counterfeiter was dentist
was young then and prided myself
ON going to work on case the right
way, so instead of asking the dentist
where he got the bill went into his
Office professionally. He found sew
eral cavities IN my teeth 60 be plugged.
and l was enabled to pass two hours
In his dental chair. OF course talked
that is, whenever he took his rubber
dam out Of my mouth; thought the
two words Of the name should be
transposed-and as a man who pumps
usually interprets the information he
gets to suit himself l was sure the
dentist was the culprit.
When he finished the job and | went
out a young lady entered the operating
room. She smiled at the doctor, dis
playing such beautiful set of teeth
that wondered what use he could be
to her.
spent a good deal of time working
up case on the dentist, but | couldn't
be certain and finally decided to fright
en- him into admitting his guilt, went
to his office after he had finished his
work, produced the bill and accused
him of having made it. He didn't
brighten at all. He took the bill in his
hands. put a magnifying glass on it.
handed it back to me and said:
"That bill was handed me by James
B. Sterling, a merchant of this city, for
a piece of bridge work. I suspected it.
looked at it with glass. as have just
done. and noticed certain features in it
that have just seen again. | was I'M
certain about it. but did not care to
turn it back on Mr.. Sterling. Soon aft
err | visited Detroit. took the bill With
me and gave 1t out for pair of shoes"
sat listening to him till he had
finished. then got up and left his office
in a hurry. James B. Sterling was the
merchant who had originally deposited
the bill.
can't explain why felt sure that
Sterling was the guilty man. but did,
l went to his store, and as soon as !
saw the outside of it l not only knew
that he was the man had been after
so long, but that he had departed. The
store was shut up, and half dozen
ITO Rent" notices of different real es-
toto ooentS were tackled on the door