The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-06-14
COUNTERFEIT CONFEDERATE
MONEY


of the Deutsche Bank, regards the
conference proposed by the United
States for considering measures to
prevent and detect counterfeiting as
one of the greatest interest and adj
vantage to civilized countries, espe-
cially those in which such forgeries
are committed most frequently. AL
though he refers with enthusiasm to
the admirable system of bank-note
engraving employed in our country,
and the unfagging energy of our gov
eminent to detect and punish coun-
terfeiting, he nevertheless alludes,
though not without reserve, to GER
tain notes stamped Confederate
States of America"
To these he gives the diplomatic
name of obsolete issues" as though
they ever had, or ever may possess,
any validity; and thinks that they
ought to form one of the chief points
of discussion for the conference. .
Moreover, he "deplores the fact that
so many genuine and false bank
notes of the old Confederate States
should be in circulation in Europe,
and that in Germany many ineXpe-
rienced cashiers in small banks ac-
cept them in payment
Confederate issues were so COM
monty and so largely counterfeited,
both in this country and in Continent
al Europe, that it is doubtful if any
genuine ones are eXtant, and if they
are it would be almost impossible to
identify them.
On the 18th of April, 1868, during
the civil war; Winthrop E. Hilton, a
printer doing business in this city,
published the following advertise
ment in the New York Illustrated
News:
Confederate (RebeD money-fac-
smile treasury notes, so exactly like
the genuine that where one will pass
current the other will go equally
well! $500 in Confederate notes of all
denominations sent by mail, postage
paid, on receipt of S., by w. e. Hill
ton, II Spruce ST., New York"
Twenty-Five years later Hilton sign
ed a statement to the following eff
feet:
81 was hard up in 1863, and learn
ing that Confederate notes were be-
ing printed and sold by Pat Heney of
Washington, Geo. H. Briggs of Allan
ia, Chas. S. Acton of New York, S. c.
Upham of Philadelphia, others in Bos-
ton, and still others in Continental
Europe, | determined to follow suit
Fearing prosecution, tried to secure
immunity by means of some writing
or promise from the United States of
ficials on the ground that it was a
war measure designed to ruin the fl
nances of the enemy, but failed
'"They simply would not talk on the
subject, but referred me to others,
eventually to Gu. s. Marshal Sharpe
of New York, to whom | made a SIM
liar request, and was again denied,
would not be disturbed Upon this
printed millions upon millions, and
sold them to news agencies, brokers
and others by the CARLOAD. They
went to the border and southern
states, where they circulated as mon
ey at par for cotton, tobacco and 9TH
er produce. A few men in the north
and many in the south made fortunes
by them Remember that cotton was
worth dollar a pound in New
York At a rough estimate the coun-
terfeits printed in this country
amounted nominally to about 275 mil
lions, and in Continental Europe
probably to half as much again. All
of them were printed on European pa
per, water-marked, C. S. A 1t is
impossible to distinguish them from
the genuine"
Herr Won Gwinner's attitude is so
courteous and conciliatory that the
country in Continental Europe where
the forged notes of foreign manufac-
ture were printed need not be more
particularly specified-Wall Street
Journal.
Quality considered, there is ne