Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-10-11
DETECTIVE ARNOLD TELLS 1T.

1T is very difficult thing" said
Operator Arnold, formerly of the
United States secret service, ito get
get rid Of a large amount Of counter
felt money in this country without de-
lection, because Of the safeguards
which are thrown around the genuine
notes. The plan Of protecting money
has received the greatest attention
from the treasury officials. and marks
and characters have been put upon
the bills which It IL intended shall
escape the counterfeiter's notice. It
would not be policy to tell what any
OF these marks are, but II will not be
giving anything away to say that de-
fects are put into bills sometimes in
order to testify to their genuineness.
This Is done on the superstition that II
a copnterfeiter goes to work on q bill
and discovers what may seem to be a
slight defect he win correct It, and
by doing so viii furnish evidence Of
his crooked work.
Il was put to work upon a gang OF
counterfeiters, however, which beat
the government at its own game. The
treasury department received notice
Of q counterfeit from Boston Of a 500
bill on the First National bank of that
city. The bill IN question aroused
suspicion because the serial number
was duplicated. There was nothing
else about the bill that would excite
suspicion. In the vignette of Lincoln
on the bank note an Intentional de-
feet had been made In one of the lines
in the forehead and II was reproduced
In the counterfeit, and a warning
was sent out calling attention to IL
within two weeks We had plenty
Of work on our hands, for the banks,
In scrutinizing bills after receiving
notice, discovered several other coun-
terfeits Of different banks. Reports
came to Washington from New York,
Chicago. Philadelphia, Boston, st.
Louis and other places Of the finding
of counterfeits. Il became very evil
dent that the country had been
flooded with the bogus money by q
very shrewd gang Of counterfeiters. A
comparison of all the bogus bills indi-
Gated that they had all been made by
the same hand, for they were just as
good as the genuine bills. with the ex-
ception Of the duplicate serial number
and letter.
"The fact that the bogus money had
appeared in different parts Of the
country at about the same time show
ed that there had been concerted ac-
ton in getting rid Of them In large
patches by the gang. but this alone
did not give any clew to the opera
tors or their headquarters So far as
We knew they might have been locat-
ed in any one Of five large cities. Sc
cret service operators were put to
work in these cities with the intention
Of working back from the time the
money was put out.
In every city where the thieves did
business they bought bonds and Sc
curities which could be disposed of
anywhere, from bankers and brokers
who were experts in detecting bogus
money. In each city We got a good
description Of the man who bought
the bonds, and it showed that It was
a different man in each place. The
descriptions were good so far as they
went Naturally the government print
Ing bureau came under suspicion be-
cause Of the quality Of the work. and
avery man at work IN that department
was examined with q searchlight-