| Show I I 1 RAN GANG TO EJ EARTH T J J i f An FI Story of t the Department e United state tates Se Secret ret i e f Ten n millions or ten years yea a chance We took it and lost lost I I W M J 3 I T THIS Hlf inscription in fancy lettering l j I runs across the mounting of Ot o pho photographs photographs I hanging in a a frame fram in inthe inthe l the th office of Chief Wilkie of the the United States State secret service department at Rt Washington says sas the New York Yok News There Thee are five photographs In the te frame arranged crosswise and ard at the corners are four brand new greenbacks two of ot one of or 50 and ad one of ot 20 AH AU are counterfeits S I Beneath the lowest photograph of the te group the te one at the foot loot of the te cross cros Is 19 written the name of William Wilam M Id 1 Ja Jacobs I Sobs cobs whose initials figure in the in inscription inscription above The words word are his own oW and summarize in a sentence one of the greatest romances of crime his history history I tory tor has known Around the walls waIls of of Chief private office are are a score or more sim aim similarly framed photographs displaying counterfeit currency of all al denominations deomina denominations tons from a bill to the modest sliver silver certificate of ot 1 L L And In the 4 middle Of one group is posted a won wonderful wont t delful imitation of a a 50 0 Bank of Eng England England England land note Each Bach frame has its is own story etory stor of oC the Lancaster counterfeiters in which these five men were the chief I actors S Five years rears ago In January Janary 1897 the treasury officials at Washington dis discovered covered that tat bogus bogs treasury notes for fr were wre In circulation The discovery was made ma e as all aU such Ruch discoveries are In the most haphazard fashion One of the tellers teler in the treasury tr as ry in count countIng countIng Ing lag over a a pile of o 10 bills bip noticed one I on which the stamp was tas wa of a slightly different color from ther the rest st The bill bi was comparatively old and dirty from rom frequent handling and the color II of the impression merely differed from Its Us fellows much mch as faded salmon almon color differs from faded carmine carI ne Idle curi curl curiosity curiosity rather than tan suspicion as to its is genuineness caused Caus d the te teller teler to lay lar la aside the te note Intending to call C al atten attention attention Ii tion ton to tile the th curious effect ef ct of ot the faded Ink I ink S Wb When q to t half a dozen officials i of or tile the t treasury all hil al of whom were In Inthe Inthe InS II S the habit hait of 01 handling thousands of bills bUhr Jn In n the th course co 9 of a year It i was pronounced pronoun ed genuine t Even two to experts of the tho t t men whose lives had beep been be spent s nt in detecting counter counterfeits felts feits feIs declared it i to be good Assistant Chief McLaughlin however was not n tj easily ealy satisfied He laid the hilt bill l before Chief John Wilkie who at ht t once Communicated with wih the I head hend of ot the stamping department in another r branch of 01 the service and the result result of t I the conference was the dis discovery discovery covery covery beyond beyond question queston that th j bill bl was a a forgery A thorough of oC the bills bis of similar denomination in ln the th treas treasury ury r vaults aus revealed the fact ct that hat seven een other OIher lher forged notes had actually been passed upon upp the government How I many more might be b in circulation it was impossible to say Where t th notes came oame ca e from Irom or where I they had been b en manufactured was an I absolute mystery To 0 stop their cir clr circulation I culaton was vas va a t comp easy I matter mater notwithstanding that it i in involved the calling cing In f the t e entire ent issue of which h ts at a once But to trace the thee perr s of the fraud and more important still tU to recover and destroy dest y the was a ak task k seemingly impossibly unless some lucky accident or mistake on the part par partI I of the counterfeiters should betray betra them S Diligent Inquiries among the wel well vel known counterfeiters counterfeiter both bot h in prison and out of prison merely mereb added to the I I mystery Without hesitation h every ever criminal expert epert declared the forgeries for eries to t be far and away too low lov lo to be the te handiwork of any anyone one of their ac acquaintance Under the microscope the th engraving of these bills bis failed faie to show the th faintest indication of their having been ben printed in sections or from plates J made in sections And to make the themy 1 mystery my ter more bewildering It i was dla covered beyond b yond question that they the were actually printed on government paper The secret service department of the United States State resembles that of ot Scot Scotland Scotland Scotland land Yard in one point namely that I its Is jurisdiction extends all al over the country count This fact Is worthy of men mention mention mention I tion here as it I was the starting point at which Chief Wilkie began his Investigation Investigation for the discovery discover of the coun counterfeiters Convinced from an exam examination examInation of the forgeries that thy th were the work of a a gang possessing extra extraordinary extraordinary ordinary facilities even to the thu th extent of an establishment and 1 a paper mill mi of their own Chief Wilkie issued Issue orders for minute secret reports as to every ever engraving office and paper mill mm throughout the United Unite States State Secret S ret service agents throughout the te forty districts into which the United Unie States Is divided d were instructed to make these tese reports report z including not only every ever detail about about S the establishments themselves but as much personal information as ns could be secured concerning conc individuals em employed therein from the proprietor down to the office boy y Such an herculean task was probably never neer before attempted in the he history of ot criminal investigation It I meant io no 10 5 less legs than taking of a n census a most minute character of at all aU of the engrav engraving S In ing shops and nd engravers of the United U States and doing doing it too oo as secretly nail and as circumspectly as a a detective detectiveS S shadow hadow an armed burglar through a I deserted street on a moon moonlight light night A break of suspicion in inK K fl for the guilty git ones would man rn failure For nearly neady two years this gigantic gI atc 14 nook of pf web weaving was wt continued S u udler tIer der the t e personal supervision of Chief Wilkie At the end of that time the scar h had narrowed down to three cities New York Chicago and nd Phila Phia delphia and in each of these places a dozen oz n or more mod secret secret service operators operator under three of the shrewdest of his as assistants continued the te work work a i S The first frt discovery of or importance was made in Philadelphia and singularly enough was as made exactly as s Chief j Wilkie had expected It I might be One of or the points to which the te t attention of those making the Investigation was wa di dl directed was ws to ascertain aln If it any new ne en engraving engraving graving shops had been opened within a I tt time UIn previous to January 1897 S when the th first firt notes were circulated and ald whether their proprietors had ap up apparently done a flourishing business f as Shown h r by y their improved personal ap surroundings and a c display of ready money in Ii January 1893 1899 just two years Y raer after the tho search search began It I was wa reported t t to the head had b ad office in Washington that an en engraving engraving graving shop tho sho owned owne by Baldwin S rel a young youn American Ae and Arthur Artaur Arhur Taylor T a young youa Englishman lied had in existence since 1896 1895 And further furthermore furter furthermore more m that hat the te young proprietors proprietor had all alithe the appearance of prosperity as in indicated in the Inquiry Thereupon Captain Captin W J Burns one ne of ot o the thea ablest men in the secret service was ivas sent to toP Philadelphia P to Investigate InvestigateS wa S A l Bis t sm modus operand I was simplicity shI It Itself I Ithe self o if t Having a vacant room on the he fourth t floors floor of a building b on oz the th opp opposite opposite IQ site sie elde de of or the street he e tras vae WB able uble by the t aid of powerful field glasses to get I I I I I II Ii II I I I I I I I I occasional glimpses of the interior of or orthe the he workshop opposite t was slow sloW work vork and only possible v ien the sun sunI sunlight light ight was wa lu lt the te n ht direction d and the window bU bit bI ds Ids up But by b the exercise Cf of l a patience Captain Burns B was I or rather eo ao Impressed Impre seq with wit U the he eTe result lt of ot hi l observations s that thit he le lec decided c S to make ml a closer examination examinationS ex e f Locks Locke oc s bolts bols and bars bar soon soon fly fy asunder sunder t captains cap of the United Unie States Stat secret s t service and when after ater several w wes t Captin Captain Burns decided upon a midnight raid taid on the engraving office of Bredell r deU Taylor the thing ting was accomplished ed What he discovered on entering more ore than tan recompensed for the two years patient patent search serch Plates for every yeas de denomination denomination nomination nomi naton of ot bill bi from 20 upward up wardy were found The most perfect counterfeiting of ice flee ever organized lay la exposed epo Presses dies dl es rollers plates engravers en graver tools acid baths every minute detail d tal for or the equipment of a modern engrav engravIng ing ng shop hop was there One I after another Cat Burns took ook up and examined the the th objects be before before fore bre making careful creul note of every everything everything thing tIng he touched and replacing it i ex en exactly acty as he found it ene plate he le came across at first t Bt at mys titled him It I was S e engraving of an Internal revenue reven stamp Sarp such s ch ci AS fg s are arC ar used on cigar a boxes box s perfect p fr r in tHe file ie minutest detail just jt just a ag as the te c counterfeit tit rel band on the plate plat was perfect p r ct Leaving everything exactly xa ty as he found it i Captain Br Burns Birn s left l the office to Its is midnight solitude and n at once dispatched tche a cipher r to Chief Chef Wilkie notifying him of the discovery His HL instructions at the outset of or the the had been blen precise and nd em hat regarding eg what should be done when struck the te trail traI To T j avoid avold M the i possibility of o r failure i A In f the thai sudden excitement of or o a 1 discovery he had given ien strict orders that no arrests arrest s should be made unless the circum circumstances stances of the discovery dIs over left no other othel course Curse open To arrest the h actual printers printer would wold have h vt been to insure the bigger criminals escaping presuming as the chief rightly foresaw that the thereal thereal thereal real leaders of the gang might be miles mies away ayay from the place pl ce where the coun counterfeits were actually Y produced To establish a shadow on the Ute two men comprising the firm fir was t the e first eurO care of the secret service men When Bredell and Taylor reached rached their thir of office lice flee next morning and d found fO und every everything eer everything I thing ting exactly as they the had left lef it 1 not nota a plate out of its it place and ana proceeded with wih their usual work they little sus suspected suspected pec ed that a dozen of the he keenest f service men were watching their every ever move day d y and night awake or asleep hi the street on the fhe e cars car in church at the meals at the theatre anywhere and everywhere each of or these men was thenceforth never out of range of at least least two pairs of watch watching watching watchIng ing eyes Did they speak to anyone give anyone a message message send s nd a parcel anywhere that person or that parcel was dogged to his or its it destination and the subject the te message or contents of the package made known kown to Chief Wilkie Vikie an hour after For weeks wee l the persistent P tireless watch atch was maintained operator taking up the shadow where his fellow left off reporting every ever move or word of the prospects prospect with wih the fidelity of a phonograph or camera In the meantime Chief Wilkie had hd been piecing threads ads of evi evl df e whIp he discoveries made by Captain Burns had suddenly lifted to the utmost importance ortance In the drag dragnet dg dragnet net Inquiry regarding paper mills in information Information formation had been received out of a curious order given to a little out of the way yay mill mi in 1 New Tew ew York state state This was for several reams reams of blue paper water nater marked U S I R It in letters an inch deep d ep and running in words across the paper The Tle man who gave the order explained it J was wag intended as a wrapper for patent medicine the letters standing for fo Uncle Sams In Indian Indian Indian dian remedy And as a he had paid cash for the paper when delivered the them manufacturer m han hail thought hought no more it it But Chief Wilkie did The letters leters U S I R H R also also stand for United States Internal Revenue R venue Moreover t the blue paper was exactly of the char character character character acter used by the revenue of office o j flee fice for duty stamps stamp on cigar boxes bones 1 And even more curious the plate seen 1 by b Captain Burns In his midnight raid rid was an exact counterfeit of the en engraving engraving j graving of the stamp itself It I re required re required no Sherlock Holmes power of deduction to connect the plates found in Philadelphia with wih the paper p per made in n New York state But unless Bredell Breden Taylor were were In the counterfeiting business on a wholesale scale there was more than appeared on the surface of or connection between the cigar stamps and the counterfeit greenbacks greenback Three weeks after the raid rid on the I engraving workshop one of the part partners partI partners ners Bredell was shadowed to the rail railway ral railway way wa station staton where he took a train tain to I the town of Lancaster Lancster Pa Pa On the same train and in the same carriage were the inevitable secret service serIce men i I I also bound for Lancaster On arriving i I the pair shadowed their quarry to a cigar manufactory one of the largest larget In Ir the state owned by the firm of Ja Jacobs Jacobs Jacobs 1 cobs Kendig Instantly the news new was flushed to Washington Wa and by b the next train Chief Wilkie himself himsel arrived at the little Pennsylvania town I Upon being informed that the square package which Bredell Breden had brought it with him from Philadelphia had been I deposited at the cigar factory the chief at once began be n to as asIt asit I It i were But with wih the revelation came caine ce another and even more astounding fea lea feature feature ture of ot the case which made caution a hundredfold more necessary cauton I 0 0 Forgeries of cigar stamps stamp are very I rare owing to the difficulty attending ig I I their th lr use In the first place they are re I only of value to a cigar manufacturer and unless he be bd b in the counterfeiting business himself jt it is hardly conceivable ble that he be would place lace his business and his liberty Ubert in the of a a gang of counterfeiters counterfeiter who whO wh might any day day turn tur states evidence Moreover to sue sUC sully use proper pl per cigar cisar stamps In i quantities qu sufficient to make it i worth worthwhile |
