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

, ion Of governmental prerogatives. Be
ing admitted to bail, he fled to CALI
fornia, where he died in 1860.
It seems strange to consider the fact
that not much more than half a cen
fury ago private concerns, and even
/ individuals, in this country were al
lowed to make and issue coined money
on their own account When gold was
struck in North Carolina, a man named
Bechtel started 2. mint Of his own
there. which ran for quite while, IN
til abolished by law in 1S49. Half
eagles, quarter eagles, and one-dollar
pieces manufactured by him were
largely circulated in the south and
west. Although of honest gold, they
were on an average under weight by
about two and one-half cents on the
douar-represent very comfort
able and perfectly sure profit
Reid's Private Mint.
At about the same time an enter
prising gentleman named Templeton
Reid coined gold in Georgia He moved
to California in 1S49, and mined eagles
and SIS pieces on n considerable scale.
During the same period many compan-
les and refineries in California made
a business of striking gold coins.
Quantities of % cent and so cent
gold pieces were manufactured in san
Francisco, the former containing only
about cents worth of the precious
metal, and the latter II cents worth.
Thirty years ago lot OF these We're
taken over to Germany and circu-
lated there-eIecting a formal diplo-
matte protest from the Kaiser's gov
eminent
The Mormons in Utah Issued eagles,
half-eagles and double-eagles, which
bore on the observe, an eye, with the le-
gend, Holiness to the Lord" There
was more holiness about them than
purity. But this was stopped eventu-
ally, and the private minting business
in the United States came to an end
forever.
1t was on a fine morning in the year
1892 that a letter carrier, walking
briskly along a Chicago street with a
bundle Of Undelivered mail, saw a sil-
Yer dollar, bright and new, Iau upon
the pavement in front of him, as If
from from the sky. Naturally, he
stopped to pick 1t up, but instantly
dropped it with an exclamation Of
pain. It was red hot.
Hot Dollars Lead to Discovery.
Dollars do not often fan out of the
sky. More especially when they are red
hot the phenomenon seems to dimand
explanation When inquiry in this
case was made, it resulted in the dis
coVery that the coin found by the
letter carrier was a counterfeit, and
that it had dropped out Of the window
Of a house occupied by an ingenious
person named William G. Hard who
was running a little mint on his own
it was ascertained that the pieces were
not nodded in the ordinary way, but
struck with dies, and that each one
was plated with about 20 cents worth
of silver.
It was the finest coin counterfeit
ever turned out-practicalIy beyond
detection, in fact. But for the accident
above related Hard (Who was sent to
the penitentiary for term Of years.
might have continued to conduct his
private mint for an indefinite period,
unsupported
An accident curiously similar, by the
way, happened in 1866, when a dwell
ing in Williams burg, n Y caught
fire, and a mattress was thrown out
of a window, breaking open and dis
closing its contents. 1t was literally
stuffed with counterfeit 50-cent notes
Of a pattern which had been causing
much anxiety TO the government, Ow-
ing to their Initiative excellence, many
Of them having found their way into
circulation.
To that remarkable genius. "Pete"
Mccartney, is attributed the invention
Of process for washing treasury
notes Fiber paper was adopted by the
government as a precaution against
counterfeiting, in 1859. To get this
kind of paper for printing $50 and $50
notes upon, Mccartney washed all the
ink off of 81 bills by a method that
was simple in the extreme, though
requiring not a little deXterity. First
the Dill was plunged into sulphuric
acid for Just a moment, to loosen the
ink, which thereupOn was promptly re-
moved by half dozen quick strokes
Of a dry nail brush. To prevent fur
ther action by the acid, it was then
immersed in a bath Of ammonia, from
which it came out perfectly white.
The older paper counterfeit is the
more 1t looks like real money. Be
sides, the mere appearance Of having
been in circulation for long time
lends to a note a certain convincing
quality. Hence 1t is that the crimi-
nal moneymakers resort to a, variety
of expedients to give to their prod
uct an artificial look of age. One plan
adopted for the purpose is to rub the
notes over the body of a sweating
horse, so as to saturate them with
grease and dirt. Another is to place
wet tea. leaves between two layers of
tissue paper, and shut them tightly in
a book together with the notes. the
latter being on the outside of the It's
sue. The moisture from the tea leaves
carries with it Just enough discOlora-
ton to give to the false bills the hue
deemed desirable.
Within recent years the treasury has
been much annoyed by the raising Of
small bills to higher denominations,
the methods employed being often
most ingenious The figures required
for the alterations are cut out of old
confederate notes, or sometimes out OF
internal revenue stamps, and either
pasted on or skflfully inlafd. the ef-
feet being helped out by the use Of
cOlOred pencils and inks By such
means 81 notes are frequently changed
to fives, tens, and tWenties.
The original and greatest experts in
this kind of work was a person known
as One-eyed Thompson, WO, in days
not long after the civil war, was ac-
cUstomed to utilize figures and bits
of engraving from the notes Of
busted" banks-of which there were
plenty in those times-for his patch
work He was, in fact, the inventor
Of the rrncass being dacidedlV a.