The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1916-12-14
TRACING SPURIOUS
MONEY HARD TASK
Work Furnishes Exciting Employ
ment to Uncle Sans Secret
Service Men.
SHREWD OPERATIVES NEEDED
Protection of Currency Depends in
Large Measure Upon Persistency
and Efficiency of Government
Experts.

The tracing of counterfeit bills back
to the persons responsible for their is
sue is curious and exciting employ
ment. The experts assigned by the
government to this work are among
the most skillful members Of the Sc
cret service. The protection of the
currency depends in large measure
upon their efficiency and the pains
they take are almost infinite. The fol-
lowing case is one illustrating the diff
ficulties which the secret service peo-
pie meet and overcome:
A bank clerk in Cleveland had de-
tected counterfeit 500 bill in the de-
post of a small retail grocer. An eX-
pert was sent for and undertook the
case.
He found that the grocer had re-
ceived the bill from Il shoe dealer who
had it from dentist, who had it from
somebody else, and SO on, until the Sc
cret- service men finally traced the
note to an invalid woman who had
used it TO pay her physician. When
questioned this woman said that the
money had been sent her by her broth
er, who lived in New Orleans.
The sleuth looked up the brothers
antecedentS, and soon became CON
WINGED that he was the man wanted.
The brother, however, soon proved to
the satisfaction of the secret service
man that his suspicious were unbound
ed. Indeed, it appeared that the
money had been received by the New
Orleans man in part payment of rent
of "A house he owned in Pittsburgh.
While the sleuth was bit discour-
aged, he couldn't give over the case
when he had gone so far, so he took
the next train for Pittsburgh.
Back to Starting.
The tenant of the house in Pitts
burgh proved to be a travelling oculist,
who spent most of his time in the mid
die West. The secret service man had
the good fortune, however, to catch
him just as he had returned from Il
trip; and the man at once recognized
the bad bill as one that had been Civ
en- him by patient In Cleveland, the
very point where the sleuth had
started.
The patient was Il boss carpenter.
The carpenter an honest old fellow,
said that he had received the bill from
certain Perkins. The said Perkins
was the small grocer in whose bank
deposit ,he counterfeit had tuned up.
The expert flew to the grocer's as
quickly as the taxi would take him,
and found it closed. The grocer had
left town.
Afterward il was shown beyond
question that the grocer was the agent
Of an organized band of counterfeit
ers. His shop was Il mere blind. That
the bill which he gave the carpenter
should get back into his own funds
after travelling all over the country
was one of those miracles of chance
FOR which there is no explanation.
Another interesting case is that
which pertains to bills that turned up
in Philadelphia. A teller in bank
had noticed that certain 5000 Monroe
head silver certificates had seals that
were "off color" He did not think
for an instant that the notes were
counterfeit, for they looked absolutely
perfect. He merely thought that the
red Ink used on the seals was bad, and
took the notes to Washington and
showed them to the officials.
The counterfeit notes We're exam
ined by experts. They found that the
die-work must have taken about six
months. This led the detectives back
to the fall of 1897. The experts also
Said that the notes showed the work
of two men, a portrait-engraver and
square-letter man. The problem was
TO find two engravers capable of do
ing this quality Of work, who during
the latter six months of 1897 were
probably absent from their customary
employment.