Show awn THE CRIMINAL tells how he planned the T 0 ER 1 deed and sought to C lose close every avenue of knowledge leading to his guilt C R I 1 M ES the futile detective these efforts shows were how and 1 how the old adage murder HENRY C TERRY will out always holds good 1 by P F L nelson THE GREAT GOLD COIN COUNTER aase CASE counterfeiting to Is practically a lost art in amer ca william J flynn head bead of the united states se cret service in now new york declares that not a single gang whose work la Is comparable to that of andy alss and hla his crowd the Bo colkers coiners co col iners ners or any one of oi a dozen gangs that flourished a generation ago Is operating ope fating in the country today chief flynn declares that he does not kaow of a single spurious d coin in circulation in the east N n the far west where gold Is a more active circulating medium some attempts may be made to counterfeit jt it but none important enough to the secret service more than passing annoyance with this introduction I 1 will let andy bliss tho the king of the gold coin ore ers tell his bis story just as he told it to me STATEMENT OF ANDY BLISS no man of sense cense said andy would ever become a thief if he would stop for a moment anti ami think I 1 will admit that theres th ereIs a fascination in thievery which grows upon what it feeds until it Is overpowering and stealing then becomes a habit the same as toba tobacco cco smoking and drinking rum and it Is very liard hard to break off I 1 will tell you about the counterfeiting scheme which gave me a reputation among crooks and honest men inen as well of being a star performer in my line it all grew out of a little trip which I 1 made to washington to meet tom cannon an old friend ot of mine who had planted a place near the white house which promised a reward of about 1 I would have gone anywhere tor for a lump of money half that size in those days well weli I 1 looked over the scheme and saw that it was very dangerous but cannon would world not give up theider the idea I 1 did not ant to be looked upon as a fellow without ner nerve ve so I 1 consented to go into the job which was to rob the safe of a paymaster the paymaster I 1 think his name was 14 hoffman offman drank pretty hard and slept near the safe but the plan was to attack the strong box while the paymaster was in a stupor we got to the safe without much trouble the box was an old fash doneld affair and we got to the bills by simply knocking out the spindle in the handle I 1 nailed the money when the door flow flew open and started away gannon cannon was behind roe me the paymaster was aroused and instantly fired a from his revolver the ball went through cannons neck and struck me in the shoulder cannon was killed but the ball did not stop me I 1 ran and got away with the boodle I 1 knew that it would be unsafe for me to try and got get out of washington then for the alarm was promptly given and every street and outlet was guarded by uncle sams men as well as the local police I 1 went directly to the home of big jim farreld Far farrel reli he was an old time thief and then was running rk a faro bank to win the soldier money with crooked dials I 1 told jim t r was hunted and he put me away in the care of louise jordan who afterward shot farrell in chicago through jealousy lea lousy I 1 kept under cover in the jordan house for about two weeks and then darby jones and his gang consisting of billy wallace frenchy allne alln george keene and warry mcgee turned up they had come to washington to do business with me I 1 left washington with the gang dis guised as a negro there was a reward of for my scalp but I 1 won out easily I 1 left the train in newark and drove to new york in a cab I 1 kept under cover tor for a few days in new york and then moved over to one of the old houses in ravenswood Ravens wood L I 1 L which had been practically deserted for several years the house was near the water and we stuck out the sign of a fishing club on the mansion and hired a sloop to give color to the fake then tho the counterfeiting counter felting scheme was put in motion frenchy kline and billy wallace were the experts and billy had expected to have a die for either a 10 or a 20 gold piece delia pred fred to him in washington failing to got get this he bo decided to make the 10 and 20 dies himself and I 1 put up the coin for the tools and to take care t f the gang making a die to la a very slow process md wo we had bad a dandy time sailing balling and ashing while billy was dolne doing the work ile he was the most painstaking workman I 1 over ever knew but as he be had worked in the treasury department he knew the kind of game he was up against and did not want to make any mistakes lie he made two dies and threw them away because they did not suit him the money that was made from these rejected dies would have passed anywhere except among experts but billy was in the game to beat experts in my opinion he be had not his ahls equal in the world as an en graver and tool maker billy dally finally finished his dies and then had bad the parts of a stamping machino machine built in different foundries ani and machine shops it requires a heavy pressure to stamp a coin and our machinery was not quite as weighty as tho machine in the mint bocour pa 10 and 20 coins were just as good as any that over ever left the mint with the exception that the impression made on the front and back of the coins was not quite as heavy as the genuine after the stamping the money was put into a milling machine to corrugate tile the edges and an oiled roller to give the coin the appearance of age the coin as fast as it was made was put into kegs and when we got enough the kegs were shipped to england and after satisfactory arrangements had been made upon the other side were re shipped to this country countr y through a regular broker gold was at that time selling at a premium of from to and the kegs of gold were consigned to wells co reputable brokers in this city to the credit of nathaniel storms the representative of a foreign syndicate there were any nu number aber of bidders for the gold when it was offered for sale and we got rid of the whole lot for about DETECTIVE ADAMS STORY there never was a job said eald detec tive adams worked in this country could math match the great gold coin swindle swinda so sue successfully bufu 11 y carried out upon te t e experts expert dealers in money in kneet wall euert N class of people are easier 0 o beat wall street men provided provid bd they aro are met upon their own stamping ground by fearless men who deal with them upon an apparently solid platform As J I 1 recall it tho the bogus coin disposed of was worth face value about and the thieves we were re kind enough to go in and get the premium upon this sum the firm which bandied the gold in this city was wells co ca and they were above suspicion the coin was sent bent to them from prink beaman an honorable london firm of bankers and every connection from start to finish had bad all the marks of a genuine transaction there was wae nothing to arouse suspicion except the gold itself and that was not crit critically leally examined at the time because it had been shipped in a perfectly manner inquiry would probably not no have hav been mai mad a into the transaction for a long time if it had not been for the als disappearance appearance of nathaniel storms who had completed the transaction with wells co and collected the money for the gold storms came to this country with the gold and had letters of introduction equal to the best beat certificate of character lie he represented that he was the agent of a syndicate of foreign capitalists who had bad been quietly gathering up all the gold they could get hold of in europe at their own figures and had bad got tb together gether several millions lions of dollars which intended to put upon the american market to got get the benefit of the large premium when storms collected the money for the gold lie he made an appointment to meet wells co the next day upon a matter of importance and he did not show up ho he was stopping nt at the old astor house and a letter was sent there by a messenger who brought back a reply that storms had given up his room there in the morning before ho he went to wells co s office his baggage consisted only of a handa handbag ag and he took this away with him it also was learned that storms had not stopped at the astor house at all he hired a room there by the week but never went to it it and only called at the hotel to get his mall mail storms had told one of the members of the firm that he had bad given a din ned to some of his english friends at the astor house and related some of the stories which were told by his friends of 6 american life it was considered cons s very strange that storms who carried all the marks marka of honesty in his face and speech should have lied hed about such an unimportant matter matier mid considering all tile the circumstances a doubt was raised about lila his veracity in other mutters matters of importance several days passed and nothing was hearil beard from storms storma wils wells co became a bit uneasy une asir and sent a cabla babl to frink beamen asking for ln formation about the further shipments of gold prink frink beamen replied that they lid did not know anything about shipments hl niente of the precious metal aid would be delighted to find uny any of it then the direct inquiry was ma mado mabeb deb b wells co of frink it they had not to wells wella co the answer came back that they had not this news nes turned things upside down in wells co coa s estable establishment ashment tho the gold which they had bad sold had been broken up into smaller packages and pretty widely distributed some of the coin was found and it was pronounced genuine by bank experts but the deep interest of wells wella ai co aroused the suspicion of some of their customers and they sent several samples to the assay office for analysis this examination showed that there was practically only a trace of gold on the face of each coin stud and 1 the th metal was worthless less then there was th the deuce to pay the customers of W alls ile co demanded the return of t 1 beir money and the firm was forced t suspend temporarily pora rily 1 I was calle into the caso case at this juncture and 1 must confess that t I 1 it t looked like a mountain oun tain ad vices from london s bowed that all the ahe papers which bad been used by nathaniel storms in t tl Is country had been forged and thi th ja investigation made by wells co ca v as 8 too late lae the plot auld have been exposed it if they had nado mado inquiries concerning storms at lie start vate letter blanks an and d ecret marks ot of identification had been obtained from prink beamen in seme itne way showing that some one in ti air employ had been giving there was nothing anthi in this country countr but a good description of storms e war w a f ull beard and I 1 know knew tl would shake this at the first ty ity so that a description of h hi seless el I 1 was sent bent to lond d alt it P aki that end with th the SO d peo pie I 1 brought them 1 mat aaion about tile the letter blan secret r e marks and a watch up P ev everybody in frink or flee they h ld 11 d twenty for them and it took some 0 time in e to pick up our man we found a young fellow named sinclair who had mony monty to burn on 15 a week and pinched him lie he squealed without delay and said that he be had been induced to glye give up the secrets or of the business by two men who claimed to he be englishmen they gave him for his work H he e heard them call each other ai andy and warry and this gave the first tip on the gang I 1 was satisfied that the two men were andy blass g nd 1 warry varry ic both crooks I 1 bained ar n e A that the bogus coin hod bad been brought from america on the gunaca canad line inc liti in casks of white lead and ha has been rv returned turned by the same line I 1 As aa I 1 it had been bea jin ji aged ahal the money should be pat paid d in newyork New stork York I 1 know that it was war aln that warry and andy would he be 0 i board to get their whack and I 1 cam back bacic I 1 could not imagine who this borms was and my only hold was to beep the pipes running for bliss ati all agee who naturally would not be ich ach alarmed over the robbery for tl wi i iSTon that F every end was covered I 1 knocked around an on ng g men and women I 1 knew to be cr cris r oke aked d for about a month before 3 e I 1 go got at 9 good tip it was in nat C cunningh ms saloon on the bowery that I 1 ov aheard a con vers atlon between a c uple of bank sneaks who were telli ng ig a friend about a trip they lad had t n andy bliss yacht and the sport port at t ie e ashing club in ravenswood Ravens wood IV I V it took me a couple of hours in ravenswood Ravens wood to locate I 1 he ie clubhouse it was in an old desert d mansion I 1 went there after dark lot a nd I 1 d was astonished to hear a regular i nd md very ery hard thumping in in one of the outhouses out houses I 1 could not see into the place but I 1 I 1 heard the sound of seve levei al voices and when some one came 0 it I 1 caught a glimpse of some movi molln g machinery through a door I 1 wa wal ted till after daylight and I 1 know knew tl at there was aa crooked work going on fryre re was no sign of a smoke pipe naw ro I 1 made all my arjang ants fu ftc tar a raid and the next nig I 1 had bad tr tan 11 picked men in d I 1 kep t tab on the clubhouse a aad d saw tha that t there w were C re at a t I 1 least ea bi five ren ri there about 8 four T e en left th thi clubhouse and went to th thi barn aarn so booi the machinery was going and I 1 wen to the barn with flye met merl leaving th tb others to watch the hous houe the men merl felt feit so 80 secure that the b brn n door had not ben been locked I 1 flun it open and amy jumped inside with my nen en every crook was covered by a g n and throw threw up his hands except fr achy kline who was hit on them the hoad he 4 and died afterward from the injury two men in the house hearing tho the confusion in the barn rushed out to see what the trouble was and were captured by the guard rachy we got warry mcgee george keene frenchy aline billy wallace darby jones alq an andy bliss and the lest best counterfeit counterfeiters ers out it fit in the world |