The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-09-28

the same hand, fcrethey were Just III
good as the genuine bills, with the ex-
ception Of the duplicate serial number
and letter.
"The fact that the bogus money had
country at about the same time show
ed that there had been concerted &C
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 1t showed that it was
a different man in each place. The
descriptions were good so far as they
went. Naturally the government print
Ling bureau came under suspicion be-
cause of the quality Of the work, and
every man at work in that department
was examined with a searcblight.
Well, We wasted a lot Of time proving
the innocence of government employees,
hut II, h. cP
value, after all.
| !, While I was working in Washing
ton I came across Richard Csgood,
an ex-secret service operator, and he
told me a. yarn which came from his
mulatto servant girl. The girl, who
had formed the acquaintance of g.
white man whom she knew only by
the name Of Little Jack He had be-
come confidential with her and had
dropped hint that he would soon
own part of the government printing
Office. The girl the nett day reported
to zOsgood what she had heard.
"Osgood, not being very friendly
with the secret service people on &C.
count of his dismissal, thought over
the matter for a day before reporting
the story. When the secret service
operators went to look for Little Jack,
The had flown the coop
''This information might mean much
/ or little. Investigation showed that
this fellow, under another na1nte, had
| been in the company of some Of the
government engrayers. While they
admitted this they said that tn did
not know him, and that he hac made
no dishonest proposals to them. But
who was Little Jack?' This query
kept going through my mind day and
night for several days, and then the
name of Little Jack Vaughn, the New
Orleans card sharp, flashed upon my
memory. He had been mixed up with
several swindles in the south, and I
sent to the chief Of police in New Or
leans to see if he could get me his
picture. Tt might be only a waste OF
time I thought, but I could not tell.
1t never does to miss any chances in
my business. In about a week i got
a picture from New Orleans Of Little
Jack, and the mu1atto girl said it was
the same fellow she had seen.
The next step was more important.
The description of the man who had
passed the bogus money in Philadel-
phia referred to him as being under
the average size. took the picture
to tho broker who had seen him, and
he said Little Jack was the man,
| without doubt Then we learned
from the south the names of some Of
the gang that Little Jack trained
with, and that he had been i'll the
counterfeiting business during the
| war. But where were Little Jack
| and his partners? A large reward
| was offered for the capture O. the
gang, and description of some If the
| bonds which had been bought was
sent to all the financial centers Q this
country and Europe, with a de,crip-
| ton of Little Jack We got word
from London that a man answ ering
his description had disposed Of lot
of bonds in that city, and we COM
municated with Scotland Yard.
We worked steadily on the case
here for weeks, and found out a lot
Of information about the gang. We
| were reasonably certain that Ed
| Forbes was at the head of it, but did
not have the positive proof or the
man. While racking our brains to
clear up the business, cablegram
was received from Scotland Yard to
the effect that a man who answered
the description Of Little Jack had
taken passage on the Cunard steamer
Scotia, and was apparently alone. The
Cunard pier was then in Jersey City,
and I was there when the steamer
arrived with several other operators.
/ recognized Little Jack in. spite OF
his full beard and English makeup.
did not recognize any of the other
passengers as crooks, but those who
looked the least bit crooked were fol-
! lowed by an operator to their hotel,
4