El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-21
Great Cases Of Detective Burns---By William J. Burns
XI-The Costa COnspaOrs % s 1'

TT WAS nearly twenty years ago
that I took Up and followed b5
- various paths to its end, the ex-
ceedingly interesting and romantic
case Of the Costa Rican bank
note. Counterfeit Central American
paper mOney-under ordinary circum-
stances-is not among the chief causes
Of anxiety Of the United States secret
service. But this note, unfortunately,
was manufactured IN the United States
started at once for the office OF
the consul general Of Costa Rlca IN
New York
ct is the revoluuonists," he eX-
planned This muca we know, but nos
yet can we prove il. We find TIE reFc-
lUtiOnary juuta-here in your great
city, New York. They plot ana plan
TO destroy niF country At the he4u
is a very bad man--Geu. de Nora MS
grandfather once was Costa islS'tl
presicent-a bad, very deylllsn man
81 see said What then
81 viii tell yO1- Listen. This IS the
hard times, IS II nOuZ ct was ne
darkest period after the Dig panlc-J
Very well To have revolution, one
first must have what? Money Am
/ not right2 But there is no money
What, then, VIII they do Al they
win make the false money here.
shadows and the teVOIutIun- St
q 4
suspects-au Of them ID New 4orll-
The first and most lupo- ta1c was Gen
Federico de 8I1ra-a dlsti.sgu shed
looking old man, with dark skin, pleTc-
ing black eyes, and shock u silver
hair.
Ricardo de Peauesans. thu second
man. was much yOunger-a handsome
figure, straight as an arrow, wearing a
black mustache and imperial he Was
q WidOWer and lived part OF the time
d O. q s.
in Long Island Ci-T- Part OF the time,
when funds permitted he had stopped
at the semi fashionable boarding house
in New York which Gen de Mora
Graced with his presence
The third figure was the little
widow" as I have always called her
Mrs. Girardr a bright eyed, v1Yaclous
young woman, who, following the
death Of her husband in California had
come TO New York to cultivate her rich
coutralto voice. By chance, she and a
companion had come to live In the
same boarding house with the revolu-
tiouists. She was rich. alsuted, and
lively, and de Requesans had from the
first been her devoted sutton
The S2,O0O,OOO sofa
The money changing expedition upon
which the revolution was to be 1Ounoed
had ended suddenly. some weeks be-
fore, where it had begun-at Port liz
mon, on Costa. Rica's seacOast De Re
Quesans and his charming widow had
only started their campaign OF lavish
spending counterfeit bills, when IL be-
came known that there was counterfeit
money in circulation; and the hand
some ''passers" fled between days.
They had escaped successfully and
with them, supposedly, their counter
feits. But the government officials o.
Costa Rica took no chances. Hunting
anXiOusIy around Port LimOn, they
had CHANGED upon a piece Of furniture
a sofa which had reached the country
at the same time de ResQuesans had
They had undOne its careful packing,
torn it apart, and found hidden in its
back 100000 worth Of counterfeit
bills
In all probability, this sofa had been
taken 20 Costa Rica by de ResQuesans
and his fiaucee- The practical question
was. could this be proved definitely be-
fore a court Of IaW2 The most likely
clue, I came to think, was the piece
OF burlap IL was wrapped IN
Trailing Down a Faint Clue.
This burlap told no plain story On
examining IL, found merely the fol-
lowing cryptic marks