White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1916-11-03
THIS MAN GOOD AT
MAKING BAD MONEY
H. r. WlLkEN ARRESTED AT
LOS ANGELES AFTER YEARS
OF COMMUNICATING.
HAS PUT OVER $50,000w0RTH
His Studio Near Police station-Aft
er Making Bunch of Money He
Would Take Pleasure Trips
and Pass Off Bills.

ing plant which was said to have
produced the notorious spurious $40
federal reserve jackson silver GER
tificate was found in the studio of
H. Russell Wilken this week, when
secret service operatives brought
Wilken here to seize the outfit after
his arrest in Santa Cruz, and his al
legged confession that he had made
and passed more than $4,000 of spu-
rious paper in seven years.
The plant-a copper etching outfit
was found concealed in a covered
sink in a room on the second story
of 315 South Hill street, three blocks
from police headquarters and in the
heart of the city. Wilken's quarters
were fitted up as a studio, and he
pretended to carry on his business
of commercial artist, according to the
authorities. There were easels, I'M
finished pictures, painting jacket
and brushes about, although Wilken
apparently worked at his profession
only enough to make it a blind for
counterfeiting.
Work Is SkiIfuI.
An etched plate, seized by the Sc
cret service men, was lined with
steel for strength, and the work, II
was said, was the most skilful seen
in years.
The jackson" silver certificate,
one of the most troublesome forger-
les authorities have encountered,
they say, was made by Wilken.
How He Made Paper.
Wilken has shown the secret SER
vice men his process for making pa
per on which the bogus bills were
printed. 1t consisted of boiling bits
Of linen bark into pulp and by hand
working into the texture the silken
threads, characteristic of genuine
paper money. He also demonstrated
to the authorities his method of MAX
ing photo-engravings and his mixture
of the inks which marked his work
as the closest approach to the gen.
uine ever seen.
Travelled and Spent Money.
Wilken's method of circulating the
bogus bills is told by the authorities
as follows:
After he had made what he con-
sidered a sufficient amount of the
counterfeits he would lock up his
commercial artist office and take a
trip through the country, passing
the bills without any difficulty what
ever. He would resume his work as
an artist for period of several
weeks before again manufacturing
and passing the counterfeit bills.
Wilken has mother dependent on
him in New York city, and the au-
thorities have found that he has reg
ularly sent funds to his aged parent.
He is % years old.
Has Made Much Counterfeit.
Wilken, who is a New York COM
mercial artist, has defied the United
States secret service for years by
operating alone. The spurious 1s-
sues to which he has confessed, ac-
cording to Harry N. Moffitt, chief Sc
cret service agent here, and 1sadore
Costanzo, lieutenant, are $4,000 In
five-dollar Indian head notes, $4,000
in one-dollar silver certificates, $4,000
in ten-dollar federal reserve bank of
Minneapolis notes.
He had large number of the lat
ter in his possession when he was
arrested several days ago in Santa
Cruz, Cal, under the name of ]. H.
Williams, alias j. H. Harris. He pass.
ed ten-dollar note which a Santa
Cruz bank pronounced good, but an
other bank detected the clever coun-
terfeit and he was arrested by local
authorities. When turned over to the
secret service men he leaped through
window, nearly making his escape.