Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-05-09
CRIMINAL 80 SAYS
CAREER 4 FAILURE
coUkTERFElTER KING FRsEo
FROM ATLANTA PEN
Frisnslss., Homeless. Broken IN
hsalth, He May End His last
DAYS m Aimshou.e.

Sam l4tt, Oldest anu ihSai @E''iNu
had coin maker. VINO now ia in PM
sdelphia. Pa. has done MS last bl.
Clever as be was, the king OF couh
terfeiters could not beat The game, HIS
success in crime MAS measured IN
few hundred dollars and rev weeks
OF months OF easy living, Al most Ills
GAINS were soon gone, and Today ne -
peDniless without friend Or relative
His daushter Emma TATE, Who HAD
followed hun In crime, DIED nearly
twenty years ago
Tate, 80 years old, came Out "t Al
lsnJa, Ca, penitentiary recently.
hopeless psrslytic. 100 old and etlp
pied 10 make living, honestly ol as
honestly. he was raken TO Phlladei
phia and is beins cared for IN char
table institution
River pirate, burglar, highway rob
her. counterfeiter. gang leader. mas
been Tste's life -three-quarierS OF
century of crime. lie has deIied Tue
law and the hest efforts OF skilled
sleuths. He has detied The death seq
tsnce that his advancing years seemed
to make out OF every prison term lie
has postponed old age with his tee'
I. OF strong body But now he rs an
old mau. with all the feeble helpless
ness OF old age, broken al las by d.
sesse.
When be went 10 Atlanta on his last
sentence it vas thru special oIdef
from Washington. because Tate hat
appealed 10 be sent 10 the prison ne
liked best among all he had tried. tie
went in whiJe.haired. almost erect
man, strong for MS years. confident
as OF Old, the match for younger WIS
But three years nave done for him
His age has at last beaten him. lie
had to he carried out and started on
his Journey to Philadelphia, the scene
OF his most daring crimes.
lie is being cared Tor by The Penn
syNania Prison Society until 4 place
in some old meu's home can be found.
Ii no such place is available, Tate
may have TO 20 to The amsh0use.
Police and court records tell Of mosi
OF his life. Tate was never caught
until he was II years old.
lie was born in Maryland and went
TO Philadelphia, where he set up as a
Junk dealer as mask for disposal OF
the booty OF his river rohheries. u,
kept an old boat. in which be wan
dered up and down the river. robbins
houses, tugs aud private yachts.
lie was first caught in haul OF /.
gang of burglars. Since that time b.
hai not been out OF the sight of th'
law
II was after he was arrested AS ,
witness in The Sharplcss murder east
IN Philadelphia in 1883 and aided TIT
commonw in learning as much as
was ever found in that still unsolyeo
mystery OF the wealth, farmers dealt
thai sam Tate abandoned his more ac
tive criminal career and became
quiet and dangerous counterfeiter. He
MAS never a paper money maker. Bu
the last coins he made, the ones they
found in his little, dirty hangollt II
1914, We're almost TOO good to be DE-
rpctad They "rgnp trup "
In 1891 Emma Tate, his daughter,
beautiful girl, who had followed IN
old man thru0ut these years. and aid
ed him in his counterieiting ventures
was passing the coin for her father
She was caught and sentenced 10 tn
pcnitentary for three and Il half years
She came out year later and marie
while her father was doing tigeyea
term al Atlanta. she died soon ate
ward. leaving he Old man alone.
When he came out again all his Of
cronies were disappearing, 100. But h
Kept on at The game. He was deyelo
ing his methods Of making false col
In 1907 he was arrested with a gan
of five, and the jury acquitted hlr
But three months later he again ";
arrested, this time in a house whel
Il counterfeiting outfit was discover
by the detectives. lie protested b
innocence, saying that lead pipe touI
there was part of his stock as jul
dealer He was sentenced TO Gig
years in the penitentiary.
In 1914, several weeks after Tate
sentence was commuted, dolecti
received tip OF countertetng joi
in North Second street in Philad
pha. He went there one night, toul
the door locked, broke in and search
the place, lie found the layout IN
kitchen mOlds, pow dels, meta
Then he sat down 10 wait for the COT
tcrfeters 70 come in. At O'Clock
the m0ring Two old men approach
the door. Police surrounded the
The detective looked into the face
one and saw Sam Tate,
u hought you were dead, Sam, " I
detective told him
No. not yet" Tate replied, laco
cally. With him was George Rel
then Is years old, one OF the few ="
timers whom Tale felt he could ma
partner The secrets Of molding
coins were Sans own, and he II
ihem only Tor such old pals as Geo
Reilly.
When they sent sam to Atlanta
las, time IL seemed like a death :
tenee. But the man who had 81
quarters OF century in eri
came out. i'll and feeble TO walt