The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-12-15

kEN at black midinight-in
W the brown-stone front
and lowly tenement-ev-
erywhere and at every
hour is this insidious enemy of social
order wideawake and on the alert.
1t takes an acute mind and level
head to contend against and bring the
ingenious criminal to the bar of jus
tice. During our civil war counter
feiting blossomed into a fine art 1t
became almost omnipresent in every
channel Of trade and the government
detectives were impotent to totally
eradicate the evil. expose the plots
and defeat the operations of these
criminals, until some time after peace
had been restored.
To meet and destroy these vampires
of society it was often necessary to
resort to measures Of seeming wrong.
that good results might be obtained
One of the most ingenious criminals
that fell into the hands of the secret
service division during my official
career was one Thomas Brownie, the
son of man OF wealth, occupying a
fine residence on an aristocratic
street in New York City
Young Brownie was possessed of a
handsome, refined face, slight figure.
polished address and the self poise Of
man thoroughly trained in the best
circles. Reared under the tuition Of a
good and tender mother and supplied
with every luxury by kind and in
dulgent father, it seems quite unac-
COuntable that he should choose to
enter the society of criminals. on ac-
count Of his experiences in dolging
the officers of the law he gained the
confidence Of many Of the leading
cOunterfeiters and forgers of the coun.
try. When l first learned of him he
was leading the life of d man OF in
exhaustible means. His extravaganza
in dress and living was in keeping
with the man Of millions Through
various sources of information it was
discovered that he was handling
counterfeit money in wholesale way
and that he was connected with what
was then known as the Miner gang
of "Coniackers."
He had for some time been cute
enough to deal in the bogus stuff in a
manner to batHe the skill of the gov
eminent officers. On more than one
occasion when the officers thought him
TO be almost IN their grasp, he would
manage 10 eludp them and diSaDDrar
from their sight The time came
"hen n~i'heF the subtle ingenuity OF
ms plans nor lAe wealth. ana respecta-
olIIly Vi ms FANNY served TO shieIu
nm ''o" lAe Aahas Oh the othcefs.
ne vas u'-"C"Il man 20 capture out
nv, W ','. ,,''-''''S HIS Ie'l"' N"o-e SKIN
anu al ''''i-'777 ne met HAS "''lCH a
'"Sl
II was WINE al lhe Ae'sht OF ms
cIIl Il! CORY ana WINE he was daily
slEu'lln5 I'foad"ay with the AR OF a
man Oh ui!-lhp' d'AabIe character ana
lheAha'7'lD-e wealth. mat evidence
suI4icAeHl I"I MS coH'I'l"h Aad httn
saIHe'eu ana brought TO my ONCE. /
aI once directed mas arrest ana plans
were IaIa IoI ms capture.
Al ABOUT inc sam" the De suddenly
disappeared from his usual tauuts
and the officers were unable to dis
cover his hiding place.
Whenever the officers sought him in
a place whore his presence had been
reported they We're always just d little
too late. The man they were seeking
had changed his location
When next heard Of he would be in
some other part Of the civ In the
course of time he was spoken OF
among the detectives as wiu.a-the-
wisp. as he was forever fitting about.
Two secret service officers ro~. do.
tailed to keep A careful watch rnon
his fathers aristocratic mansion For
weeks. night and dav This was I,an+
UT without success The man We
were in quest of never nut in an an.
pAarance there The only Dersons
seen to go ont and in were an elderly
-.a,,.l,r,,,,, 49,; - ,.,... - .