Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-23
SEIZE BOGUS MONEY
Officials Get S3OO,OOO in
Nicaraguan Counterfeit.
THREE ARRESTS ARE MADE
Secret Service Men Take Wild Taxi
cab Ride After Tip"
PLATES TAKEN FROM PRESS
Mexican, According to Story, In
duced Chicago Firms to Manu-
facture Bills for Him.

CHICAGO. October 2c-Three hundred
guam five-pesos notes freshly printed were
seized. and the printer accused of max
ing them. the engraver accused of making
the plates, and the man charged with Sc
curing their manufacture were arrested
here today by Capt. Porter OF the United
States secret service and his operatives.
The notes had only been printed, not
having the official seals or numbers
impressed. There were 10000 notes, each
of pesos worth approximately So each,
American money!. and signed" by F.
Baca. advocate general; j. Madritz, lei
presidente,' and F. Mayorgaz. They had
not been cut from the large sheets.
George B. Williams. president of the
printing company bearing his name, is
charged with printing the spurious notes;
III. n Secreest of Tampico. Mex. is ac-
cused of being the promoter who had the
notes printed, and Richard ]. Trumbull,
manager of the Guarantee Engraving
Company Of Chicago. is charged with
having made the copper plates from
which the paper was printed. These
plates were taken by the secret service
men from the press where they were being
used at the time of the raid
Told of Conference.
A taxicab ride at high speed across
the city following Il tip that a con-
ference of the men engaged in the
counterfeiting was being held enabled
Capt. Porter and his men to reach the
printing plant, large one, on the
north side of the river, just as the con-
ferees were hurrying away from the
building. They niade no resistance
when arrested. but Williams said he
thought Secreest was an official Of the
Nicaraguan government, and that the
work was legal. Trumpulrs pleas were
similar. he asserting he thought a
legal printing and engraving order had
been given.
The story of the counterfeiting plan,
as evolved by the secret service
operatives from the men arrested, and
from the information which put them
on the track of Secreest, is as follows:
Secreest, a planter Of TampicO, Mex,
had been loaning money to Nicaraguans,
and Was unable to get it back. because
of a shortage of currency funds in the
republic. Upon public announcement
that the government would duplicate
for 1910 an issue of five-pesOs notes
similar to those of 1909 to retrieve the
financial stringency, Secreest, according
to the story, seeing chance to profit
came to the United
States.
1t is alleged he went to a north central
city first, but his alleged efforts to get
The presence here of Secret Service
Operative Peter c. Dick of Cleveland,
Ohio, lends strength to the report 1T was
in the Ohio city, but that was not con-
firmed. Then, it is charged, Secreest
came to Chicago
Said He Was Official.
A. a ra,,,,, Of ,ha o,p,o,. IF rb;.a.o
it is charged, the Williams company,
through it's president upon Secreest's
that he was an official from
Nicaragua and that he wanted Chicago
printer to turn out the official money for
the republic. agreed to print the paper.
On the same representation according to
Trumbulls story. the Guarantee Engrav-
ing Company agreed to furnish the plates
The ''lookc"t" tip to the secret service
operatives from the first city Secreest is
reported TO have visited enabled the Chi
caSo operatives to keep close watch on
the Mexican. and today when a watcher
at the printing factory reported the three
men in conference the wild taXicab ride
of the officials and the arrests followed.
Eight bundles of the printed notes
twelve copper plates used in the printing
and a copy of the official seal Of the Mic
araguan government were loaded on a
dray and taken to the federal building
and the officials brought from the offices
of the printing company two bona fide
notes of the 1909 issue. from which the
engravers are alleged to have copied the
plates for the counterfeits.
Design Easy to Copy.
The note bears a design offering little
difficulty of copying. even for an mex
perienced engraver. 4 background of
grange lines. in simple, wavy design.
bears printed in black type the words:
Republica de Nicaragua, Pesos" and
the names of officials of the government
United States laws provide equal pun
ishment for counterfeiters of American OF
foreign coin or paper money. or the
offense of having in ones possession
the means of coin cOunterfeiting or
the spurious article. The penalty is not
70 exceed we years Imprisonment, or
fine OF SI.GsI. or both.
United States Commissioner FoOte
continued the cases against the three
men until next Wednesday. Secreests
bonds were fixed at $1,000, Williams at
SJ.Dn. and Tr;,mbulls at 500. Williams