The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-05-07

or the plate. he nad an
made from the tin foil i'm
preston, printed the notes and cir
culated them with such success that
the government actually accepted $50.
900 worth of them before it suspected
that anything was wrong. Later on.
old time counterfeiter. to pick out the
good notes from the spurious ones.
Burns got Ulrich to work on the
case with him. He sent him to join
the gang of counterfeiters and through
his assistance, the officers arrested
all of them in building in West Ho-
boken, N. J. The secret service men
found more than $2,1O0.0OO in gold
certificates and a lot of Canadian 500
notes. This was the first time that
the authorities had been able to con-
vict Brockway. He went to prison
with Courtney and DIR. Bradford (who
died in PRISON. for ten year term.
Inherited Talent.
Burns comes naturally by his talent
of running down criminals. for his
father was chief of police of Column
bus. Ohio. One of his early cases was
in the election in 1885, in Columbus
and Cincinnati, Ohio, when the cleo
ton tally sheets were altered, one can
didate receiving 9S5 votes instead of
2S5. Burns ran the ballot box ship
pers down. and got confession.
Soon after this he was called into a
case in ST. Louis. where the notorious
Jim French and a gang OF firebugs
had been getting hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars out of insurance COM
panies. French was a furniture deal
err. He would fit up dwelling houses
with expensive furniture, insure them
to their full value. remove the furni-
ture, substituting junk, and then set
fire to the house. Other detective
agencies had been working on these
cases for years. Burns secured
enough evidence to send French and
his confederates to prison for five
years, two months after he began
work on the case.
In 1896 he was assigned to countr-
feiting case in New York, which was
undertaken to promote revolution in
Costa Rica, the participants making
100 peso notes, with the double pur-
pose of buying arms and discrediting
the monetary system OF The country.
General Frederick de Mora, grand
son of the first president OF Costa RI
ca, and one of his accomplices served
two years in Sing Sing as result OF
Burns investigations.
TayIor-eredeiI Case.
The case of Taylor and Bredell In
1899 was one of the most extraordin
airy in the annals of cOunterfeiting
The two men were found by process
were no clues that could be used. The
| fact that their counterfeit note was
perfect, indicated that camera had
been used. 1t was found that theiI
process was to transfer a photograph
| to a steel plate, etch the latter enough
to bite the lines, and then engrave by
hand-a feat that had heretofore
been considered impossible.
The two men were arrested bu
while they were in prison, Taylor!
mother smuggled in the necessar.
tools and materials, and the two mer
engraved the plates in their cell under
blanket with the aid of an alcoho
lamp. 1t took them two months t.
complete the work, but they actual,
printed the money, sent it out and hat
| it passed. When some OF the none.
was shown to Burns, he at once sail
that only Taylor and Bredeli coul'
have done it. He went to prison
charged them with it and they cor
fessed.
One of the Burns last big pieces Q
work for the Treasury Department
was the arrest of Dimmick, who rob
bed the San Francisco mint of 1901
900. Dimmick was assistant superin
ltendent of the mint and succeeded il
Ifamiliarizing himself with the lock
of the vaults, SO that he could stan,
at the lock with the works exposed
and determine what combination an
other person was setting. Here Burn
iagain did some eliminating and de
Iducing, but it took time to get the e,
Iidence.
Ferreted Out Land Frauds.
Burns left San Francisco and cam
East, and was preparing to take Al
European trip for the government
when he got wire from Chief Wiki
Ito report in Washington. Nilkie ha,
been sent for by Secretary of the II
jterior Hitchcock. who informed hin
THAT extensive land frauds involyin
millions OF dollars had been disco,
Tered
They started Burns ont on May
1893. and it was not until Septembel
Il 1906. that his task was finished, n
sultinE in tho conviction Of Unite