The Washington herald., 1910-02-19
POLICE HOLD TWO
AS COUNTERFEITERS
Handouts Slipped Upon ltal-
ianS Nabbed on Street.
QUEER DIMES ARE FOUND
Crude work, say secret Service
Police, Who Later Find Their
Southwest and Make Search for
Evidence-HeId for Investigation.

Two alleged counterfeiters. supposed to
be members of a band In New York City.
were arrested last night In Seventh street
between d and and K southwest. Police
man p b. Breedon slipped handouts over
the wrists of one man before he realized
what had happened
Five minutes later the policeman with
the prisoners entered the Fourth pre-
CinCt station. Policeman Oriani. Italian
Interpreter for the department. was sum-
moned. The Secret Service department
was notified.
Carries a Large Knife.
one Italian gave the name OF Frank
Rossi, and HIS age as thirty-eight years.
ROssi, the police say. would be a bad
man 10 meet In the dark. II seems 10 be
his custom to carry a large. bone-han-
died knife, with the blade open, in the
outside pocket of his overcoat The knife
was found by Breedon when he searched
the Italian. Rossi speaks broken Eng
llsh.
The second Italian gave the name Of
Pappalardo Carmelo, twenty-eight years
old. Carmelo talked through the inter
prefer, waving his hands about his head
when questioned in English. 4 passport
found in his pocket showed he sailed
from Naples. Italy. to New York last
year. Carmelo is a small man with a
bullet head and a pointed face. He was
dressed In the fashion OF an Italian labor
er. Each carried slips OF paper bearing
names. addresses. grocery lists. and other
memoranda. Carmelo had several clip
pings from Italian newspapers
Crude Dimes Are Found.
Rossa had money In silver, mostly
dimes Some differed from the kind man
ufactured by the United States govern
ment. said Chief Clerk Moran, OF the Sc
cret Service. when he examined the silver
pieces. Very crude counterfeits." added
Moran. as he held a dime in the light and
examined its design.
Rosa said he had purchased two
oranges at a fruit stand. The woman ac-
cepted a quarter and gave him two dimes.
Those dimes were bad, said Rosa. he
also remembered having bought a news
paper. for which he gave the boy quar-
ter. The boy returned two dimes and two
pennies. Rosa believed the boy had bad
money, too.
Everywhere Rosa bought anything he
/ received spurious dimes in exchange. it
seemed from his conversation. Then Mo-
ran examined Carmelo's hands.
He SAYS he is a baker" said Oriani.
But these hands do not look like the
hands Of a baker" replied Moran. Car
melos hands were small. and would have
been white had they been washed. But
Carmelo apparently did not care about
keeping his hands white They were
grimy, and beneath the finger nails was
a layer Of a black substance.
Two Meet In saloon.
Carmelo did not remember when he
came 10 America, OF how he got here. lie
met Rossa in a saloon in Washington
about three days ago. He did not remem-
ber the name OF the proprietor of the
saloon. nor where the groggery was situ-
ated. It seemed both men arrived in
Washington about the same time three
days ago.
Chief Clerk Moran. Detective Hewlett
Of the Central Office, Lieut. Flathers, OF
the Fourth precinct. and Policeman Oriani
left the station and went 10 a house at
s23 Seventh street southwest. In a back
room on the second floor Of the house the
searchers found the sleeping quarters OF
the alleged counterfeiters.
Their Room Is Located.
A search Of the room revealed several
interesting objects. There was a block
Of tin. several pieces OF lead a block of
pewter, several ladies. plaster Of paris,
molds, and frames for the molds. in ad
dition 10 several coins ruined in the mold
ing and thrown back in the ladIe to b.
Temelted
The Italians employed a crude method
In coming spurious money. The metal
the police believe, was melted over the
fire in a kitchen stove. Vincent Farraro,
who conducts the house. told the police
he knew nothing Of the Italians He said
they rented a room from him about six
weeks ago. Farraro will probably be
an important witness.