The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-23

make any intelligent comparison between the good and the bad. As a matter Of lself-protection everybody, by leisurey examination of genuine bank notes, ought to post himself to be competent to pass with reasonable accuracy on the average spurious bll.
 Capt Thomas I. Porter the veteran of- ficer in charge of the United States secret service division in Chicago, is without doubt the best informed man west of New York. if not in the entire country, Oil the movements and operations of coun- terfeiters.
 There is no particular significance in the fact that perhaps the makers of spurious banknotes are more active than ordnari- ly,' said he. Tt simply happened that some men engaged in making eounterfeits chanced to put their goods in circulation about the same time. Don't conStrue the word engaged in the sense that there are men who for any length of time are thus occupied. Their time has long since passed. Commentators are a sporadic quantity today. We are too we'll organ ized to suffer from any epidemics from that quarter.
 Maker the One Sought
 Tt Is exceptional that any one issue of the better class of commercials is ever showed in any considerable quantity. As soon as such specimen is found there are no means spared to trace it as rap
 idly as possible to the original source and run down it's maker Once the maker or the plate is found it is not difficult to To- cate the stock held in reserve to be sent swimming
 "Of course it is difficult for any one not in the habit of handling much money to lay down any infallible rule by which a spurious bank note, printed from well made plate, may be detected. In any case | where one is suspicious it Is best to have 1 the note examined by an expert. If that is impossible take the name of the per son who passes it and call his attention to the number of the bill in question so as to avoid dispute on this important point. If ever then your conscience troubles you refuse the bill point blank" :"
 Captain Porter has not very exalted opinion of the mental caliber of the coun- terfeiters as class. "Of course," he said, there are exceptions, but the large majority of men who engage in this dan gerous method of getting rich quick are a har-brained lot who do not seem to be capable of reasoning. They are anything but brave and if working together In a gang they are when caught almost sure | to turn against one another.
 "Coiners" a Poor Lot l "One of the recent most important hauls
  in Chicago less than two years ago with the capture of the Weed gang, This was composed of Weed Brown and Wescott. They were tipped off and neatly bagged they prepared to unload a goodly lot Of S5 bills. Brown was first gathered in; he 'squealed,' we got Wescott and Weed a few days later. Forty thousand dollars of | these 5s were ready to be showed, of this amount $25OO0 were burned, about 5000 passed. and the balance seized"
 | The men who busy themselves making spurious coins of the smaller denomina- tions are held in the greatest contempt | by most government secret service off | cials. 'It is rarer nowadays to find a l skilled man among them than to find a | white crow" said a secret service man. | 'They are can rushers, and as d rule never have enough money to buy a clean shirt should they by accident have such an eXtravagant thought
 The life of a man devoted entirely to the ferretlng out and. capturing of men en- gagged in the many branches of counter feiting is necessarily rich in exciting cpl i sodes. He has decided views upon the | Iuselessness of elaborate gun display and utmost contempt for grandstand plays, where a little judicious judgment would amply suffice. "I rarely if ever resort to the use of revolver" said he. "Tt only serves to irritate a man already ex- cited and really forces him to shoot blindly simply in sheer desperation, not with vicous intent, but from the sense of self-preservation we all have.
 No Chance for Gum Guys
 T recall an instance where 1t was fore | ibly illustrated that an empty-fisted man had more power than several armed with l rifles and reVolvers. Word was received | that a bad man, 'coiner,' for whom we had been hunting for some time, had been located in the vicinity of Carmi, III. I went there, but nothing was seen of the man. I remained over night preparing to leave the following day.
 | Tt was very warm. I had taken off my coat while lollng on the veranda. Sud denly a man, wild with excitement and | swinging a rifle in his hand, rushed up | and yelled: He Is running amuck up the street. You must arrest himi' I ran into the street just as I was. Sure enough, my man, a strapping big fellow, came in sight like whirlwind f1ourishing heavy revolver in each hand. I knew him by name and shouted. Hello. old man, want your O. came the reply, it is you, | Cap; that's all right. I'll come with you. I wouldn't shoot an unarmed man, but I'll be d. if any of these gun guys shall take me aliven
 Treat these men as human beings and you get good results. We were after a gang of coiners in this city some time ago | We located them in a basement in North Clark street. While a number of officers were eager to rush in and cover them with guns, T thought it might precipitate useless and perhaps deadly fight, so took my chances and prepared to play the part of a customer and fight if forced to. T stepped into the basement and met one of the gang going out for beer. genially told him who I was. He took the matter as a joke and turned and yelled to | his companions. Say, stiffs, the game is l up; here is the cap from Washington There were seven men in all and if the police had rushed in there might have been a serious fight, with loss of life. | 'The coiners as rule belong to a lower stratum of criminals than do the makers of spurious bank notes and give us far more trouble in resisting arrest. The | Italians, of whom there are many making coins, are q particularly fierce propos- tion, yet for all that if approached with kindness they are much easier to handle | than when cornered by force" 1
 Impossible News Gatherers I bo