Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-13

pen and ink These were the work of
German in New Jersey, and the skill in
penmanship exhibited was amazing. Inc
man worked secretly In room which
was closed to every one, even his wife
and family. He was observed to spend
money recklesSly. and, the suspicious OF
the secret service men turning In his
direction, he was caught. That was in
1888"
us it true that genuine plates were
ever stolen from the bureau and used
in counterfeitingT' was asked Mrs. Leon
ard.
NO" was the reply, and all stories to
that effect are myths. The plates are
guarded with the most rigid care, and
it would be quite impossible for any one
to make away with one.
Have wrong decisions ever been made
upon doubtful notes? Well, only one
such case has come under my immedi-
ate notice. In 1894 ten-dollar note was
brought to me to be stamped good L
pronounced it to be counterfeit, but'
the sender not agreeing with my opih-
ion, the note was taken through the
redemption division, cashroom and Sc
cret service division, and, with rev eX-
ceptions, was declared genuine by the
experts. 1t was then sent to the bureau
of engraving and printing and returned
from there with typewriter certihcate
of its genuineneSs.
..These decisions did not influence me.
however, and I maintained my conclu-
sion so steadfastly that my chief took
the note once more on round or lnspec-
ton, and finally in the cashroom there
was found an exact duplicate among the
counterfeits there. When the acting chief
of the bureau had the note again brought
to him he offered to buy it, SO convinced
was he of it's being good money. An en-
graver went over the note with magni-
flying glass and detected the counterfeit
IS
in some instances mistakes have been
found in the printing of the genuine
notes. For example, some Years ago
number of fifty-dollar bills were discov-
cred belonging to the series of 1880, but
which had the legend of 1874 printed upon
them. In 1893 ten-dolIar silver certffi-
cate came in for redemption. and we
found to our surprise that the upper and
lower numbers differed by -four. The at
tention of the bureau was called to the
and the officials explained
how, during the numbering process. the
error could occur. The note was redeem
ed in halves, each being s..
.'Yes. there have been attempts to de-
ceive us by persons dealing with us d.
rectly for the redemption of mutiiated
money. About fifteen years ago police
man, gayly dressed fellow, and
negro came into the office. the latter
a folded piece Of paper in his
hand, which he opened carefully and laid
before the acting chief, disclosing the up
per corner of fiIe-dOllar legal-tender
note. He stated that while sweeping he
had thrown the note into the hre. and
that the missing portions were totally de-
stroyed. The fragment, which was little
more than q square inch In size, bore no
marks of burning, but it looked suspi-
ciously like the fraction of notes known liz
office pariance as drawer scraps which
are often presented by people for redemp-
ton. These persons seem to think that
any fragment suffices for obtaining
nice, new note of the same denomination.
A clever scheme, which, however. was
soon detected, was the cutting up of
number of notes SO as to form one COM
plete bill. and then redeeming the slight
ly mutilated bills
Some time ago a woman in Ohio sent
in number of paper pellets, with the
request that a new five-dollar note be sent
her to replace the one represented by the
pellets. which, she explained, had been
thus destroyed by child. When the little
balls were undone and Strengthened out,
they were pasted upon a piece of paper,
and found to be thirteen center strips
cut from as many five-dollar bills length
wise. The applicant did not obtain the
new note.
Some rather odd vagaries performed by
divers persons in money matters have
come to Mrs. Leonard's notice. I'm 1895,
she remarked, Il counted a package of
notes received from a Pittsburg bank,
and among them came across a ten
which. while unquestionably genuine, felt
too thick l soaked 1t in water, and then
face. found another note hidden between
them