Evening star., 1917-03-25
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

1N XuU VxAN
Most of the work of the secret service
agents of the Treasury Department fifty
years ago consisted in
, Counterfeiter the pursuit of counter
c, letters. who were then
o"P'Ae"' particularly active in
| issues. In The Star of March 20, 1867.
| Is an account of the capture at Cincin-
natl by Col. c. w. Wood, chief of the
secret service, of a man named Charles
| Ulrich. German by birth, said to be
one Of the best engravers in the coun-
F, try. He acknowledged that it was his
| intention to flood the country with the
counterfeits, but said that he had not
got fairly started. With him were
| taken 800 plate on the First National
Bank OF Boston complete; a $500 plate
| with the back complete and the front
| unfinished. and an unfinished S. plate.
Impressions were taken from these
plates at the Treasury Department, and
| 1t was almost impossible to distinguish
them from the genuine. 1t Is believed
| that II Ulrich had got to work he could
have circulated thousands of dollars
| worth of bad money without detection.
| He acknowledged that It had cost him
| much time and money to keep out Of the
| way of Col. Wood and his officers.
washington suffered from a very wet
March fifty years ago, and, consequently,
the water supply was in
A Cheap constant state of turbidity
r14. There was no municipal filter
| plant In The Star of March
| 20, 1867. Is suggestion of cheap do
nestle filter. description of which had
| appeared in a recent number Of a medi-
| cal magazine. 1t consisted of an ordi-
| nary flower pot, plugged, not tightly. at
the bottom. with a sponge. A layer of
coarsely powdered charcoal about one
| inch thick was placed in the bottom of
the pot, then a layer of sand Of the same
thickness, then pebbles, coarse gravels
and stones on top of the sand. This it
| mari out Of even the muddiest Potomac
water.
| Fifty years ago the Library of Con-
gress was not growing as rapidly as
it has been in recent
Peter Force years. Occasionally a
| r.,A: large accession was ac-
qufred. as noted as fol-
| lows in The Star of March 20, 1867:
Congress having appropriated $780,
| 900 at the last session to purchase the
| library of Peter Force, esq, the work
of removing the books and papers from
the building corner 10th and streets
has been commenced under the direction
of the librarian of Congress, A r. Spof-
| ford. esq. There being large number
of valuable books and papers, many of
them very old, to be removed, it is nee
essary to use great care in handling
them and it will be two three weeks
before the work is completed. At the
Capitol they are being placed in the
new ironproof wings of the Library"
| aware that the nickel penny of 1853 is
one of the most sought
The Penny for products of the Ameri-
e,oro can mint It was at a
Va A"o' high premium half a CEN
tury ago. as the following paragraph
in The Star of March 21, 1867. indicates:
mo little curiosity has been excited
by the fact that parties in this city
are making Industrious search for
nickel pennies of 1858. paying eagerly
from Is to 80 per cent premium for
| them. We presume there is scarce a
grocery, market stall or fruit stand in
the city that has not been visited by
these collectors of the coin in ques-
ton. Another curious fact has been
elected by the demand for these
pennies and that Is that the search for
progress for years, as 1t turns out that
they have been almost wholly with
drawn from circulation. II any one
having a quantity Of pennies Of diff
ferent dates and issues on hand doubts
this fact, let him hunt among the lot
for the penny of '5s and he will find
them nearly as scarce as hens teeth.
AS the coin is of too recent date to be
in demand as relic for collections, the
accepted theory is that by some acci-
dent at the time of their coinage these
pennies contain large percentage of
gold, which fact has been discovered
by the parties engaged in the search.
The penny in question will be remem-
bered as bearing one face the repre-
sentation of a nondescript. broken
backed bird. supposed to represent the
American eagle.
The anti-germ movement was not un-
der headway nifty years ago, but oc-
casionally sanitary consid-
Chionons erations operated in the
face of fashion. In The
oahheu. Star of March %. 1867, is
the following extract from the New
York World touching upon develop
ing prejudice against one of the most
popular items of feminine style of that
period:
The votaries of fashion in New York
may be blind to all reason, all common
sense, but when their cleanliness is i'm
pugned and an accusation is entered
against them of setting at nought neat
ness and tidiness they are Immediately
up in arms. not, as the tougher sex
would do, battling with their accusers.
but sensibly, removing the object of
popular aversion. So chignons have
suddenly become fashionable. Fifth
avenue won't touch the horrid thing,
Murray Hill wouldn't even look at it,
and not for worlds would you induce
Madison Square to purchase it. This
much has been done wisely and well,
but there are still many who look lin
geringly the apparently handsome
coil. skeptical of its being as an apple