The Washington herald., 1909-03-14
SPURIOUS COIN AS A LURE
Capt. Thomas J. Porter Talks Of the
Psychology of Counterfeiting.
Man Who Wants TO Get Rich Quick
ly Argues that He l. Not
Criminal.

Like the fy which lights on paper
carefully smesred with molasses for his
i benefit. the man who lets his thoughts
dwell upon queer money is caught hard
and fast unless he gets the idea out Of
I his head as soon as il enters" That IS
/ the psychology OF counterfeitinE as ex-
plained 10y Capt. Thomas j. Porter. Of
the United States Secret Service recent
+ ly anent the arrest Of Attorney Charles
( A Brown or charge Of counterfeiting.
SAYS the Milwaukee Free Press
{ As further illustration Of this theory.
I Capt Porter reverted 20 the case Of Rev.
James r. Kaye. the Oak Park minister
convicted Of a similar charge.
Men who counterfeit want 10 get rich
quickly" exclaimed capt Porter. 1T is
funny. though. how the game attracts a
man who is otherwise honest The man
who Is attracted al first By the prospect
OF making money easily in this way ar
/ gues that he is doing no wrong.
He simply says 10 himeslC that he
VIII make a few thousand dollars Of spur
Z ious money and then shove il out in a
l safe way He argues with himself that
n one
and that IL really is the same as the
money stamped as legal tender by the
government, and only the government
viii lose.
He begins 10 read about counterfeit
/ ing. and the more he reads the easier the
thing seems. . Ten 10 one he has a taste
/ for mechanics. and any man with sim
/ pie knowledge Of metals. IF he has the
| proper dies. can turn out a pretty fair
representation OF dollar or other silver
coins.
Most Of the ,id-time counterfeiters
have gone out Of business or are serv-
| ing terms in penitentiaries, and many OF
/ the spurious coins made ar the present
/ time are manufactured by men who are
respected IN the communities In which
they live.
'-COunJerfeiting hank notes Is more
difficult than making spurious coins. but
after man has been successful with sill
yer pieces he takes up the other and.
with study and perseverance. can turn
out a few bills. However these makers
/ OF bad money never last long They
are run to earth sooner or later. Then
/ comes their. realization Of the crime they
/ have been involved in. The government
! is a relentless enemy and the punishment
/ for making spurious money IS severe. but
: the WrOngdoerS never ledllLe lnlS until
! they are fairly caught
Every man believes in his own heart
that he is sharper and shrewder than his
neighbor When he reads stories Of coun-
terfefters who flouriShed years ago he
/ sees what blunders they made and how
( they came 10 be caught
e I can do better than that fellow did
l and those dub detectives could never
/ have caught me in the trap they laid for
I him.. is the way the amateur counter
! feiter muses.. He figures it all out to his
own satisfaction. but he fails TO give the
men in Uncle Sans service credit for
any brains or originality of thought. He
I thinks that they work the same way on
every case and that all he has TO do is TO
observe the pitfalls that the other men
! fell into and be careful not 10 walk into
them himself
This point settled. tine deluded victim
/ Of the get-rich-quick craze has a few
more steps TO take. The first thing that
/ he does. generally. IL 10 manufacture
homemade dies of plaster Of paris. They
are crude molds OF silver pieces. and 50
our deluded friend experiments a little
! by pouring pure led into these casts. and
20 his surprise and delight he turns out
few pieces Of metal which bear a re-
I semblance to money