El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-11

7 purpose she would bore a little hole
| through the edge and, after filling the
hollow with lead she would cover the
opening with gold, so that practically
no sign Of the operation remained. The
amount taken from a $40 piece was
about $3.50; from 50 coin 50 would, be
extracted The woman was finally
caught, but the secret service people
admit that hers was just about the
smartest dodge ever practced at the
expense Of the currency.
For tricks that are vain IN the coun-
terfeiting and clipping of coins the
Chinese are famous But the most re-
markable thing they ever did in this
line was the reconstruction" as IL
might be termed. of gold coins A few
years ago a gang Of pig-tailed orientals
devised a process whereby a double
eagle was cut in two through the edge.
the inside of it being thereupOn gouged
out. The piece, being thus reduced to
a hollow shell in halves, was filled
with lead; a thin rim Of gold was SOL
dered upon it to disguise the cut edge,
and the cOrrugatiOns of the mint were
renewed with a reeding machine. A
coin treated in this manner was a YER
table work Of art
By this means about SIS worth Of
, gold was obtained from every $50 piece
treated. The fault of the process lay
in the fact that lead is too light. An
Improvement on it. adopted by Yankee
experts, consisted in substituting plati-
mum (Which is reayier than gold) for
the lead. At that period (abOut 1890
platinum was cheaper, costing less than
half as much as gold. Today it is worth
much more than the yellow metal, and
so could not be utilized economically
for such a purpose
A method somewhat similar, though
less satisfactory, is to substitute for
the interior portion of the gold piece a
core in the shape of a disk Of silver,
the coin being split for the purpose as
in the other case This process is en-
ployed exclusively by Cinnamon. Its
drawback is that the eagle or double
eagle thus treated is nOticeably light
in weight
Making Double Headers
A process less elaborate, though
somewhat similar, has been applied to
silver dollars and half dollars for
making what are known to sporting
men of a certain kind as dOuble-head-
erS-that is to say coins which are
either heads on both sides or tails on
both sides. Such pieces are produced
by splitting coins and joining the OBJ
verse Cor REVERSED of one skflfully to
the diverse Cor reverse) Of another
They are most commonly used for
cheating strangers in barrooms in the
matching game. Their manufacture,
has been declared Illegal, under the
law which forbfds the making of coins
Of original designs.
A number Of years ago, it will be re-
a
sc piece with a big on It The mint
ing Of this coin was stopped because
clever SWindlers hit upon the idea of
gliding it and passing it off as IS
gold piece. 1t was an easy matter. the
only apparatus required being a small
tank. containing q cyanide of potash
solution, a few feet Of copper wire, and
q little battery. Even the battery, in
deed, could be dispensed with, If there
was an electric light current available.
he eli 0F MA inc
the nickel being attached to one end
of the wire and a piece Of gold to the
other Both ends were immersed in
the solution, and the current did the
rest
A similar process is sometimes en-
ployed for sweating gold coins. the
result being the removal of a thin coat
of gold from the entire surface In this
metal may be taken from SO piece
without altering its appearance to any
perceptib4e extent-though leaving it
rather suspiciously bright
The discoveries Of chemistry are of
great service to cOunterfeiters and
Sweaters" Comparatively few false
coins are put into circulation nowadays
without an electrO-plating Of gold or
silver, which renders them much more
deceptive
Put the highest refinement Of this
sort Of scheme is that Of suspending in
the cyanide tank a gold piece at one
end Of the wire and DaSemetal coun-'
terfeit at the other, a coat Of yellow
metal being thus transferred from the
good coin to the bad one. The bad coin
acquires the appearance of a gold piece,
while the gold coin is still negotiable
at its face value.
Famous @SprinIzEe Dollars
The most famous of all coin counter
feits were the sO-called Sprinkle dol
lars" made by Jacob and Nancy Sprin-
kIe in Kentucky in and about the year
1910. Many thousands of them were
in circulation at that period, and
readily passed current, because it was
known that they actually contained
more silver and were Of higher bullion
value than the dollars turned out at
the United States mint. For this rea-
son many people considered that they
were beyond reasonable criticism. On
one occasion an officer of the army,
Maj. Henry Mcdowell going aboard q.
steamer at Cincinnati for st. Louis
paid for his ticket with money which
the clerk scrutinized rather closely.
Sprinkle money!" said the clerk
"AII right, isn't it?" asked the major
yes, indeed" replied the clerk. Il
wish I had q million dollars like 'em.7
Nevertheless Sprinkle was finally