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Show MAKER OF I Milton H. Lee, 67 Years H of Age, and Patriarchal in Appearance, Arrest-ed Arrest-ed in This City on the Charge of Counterfeit- HE DECLARES IT I IS FIRST OFFENSE H Officers Are of the Opin-ion, Opin-ion, However, That the Man Is an Old Offend- H er and Will Look Care-fully Care-fully Into His Record. Federal officers yesterduy forcnuou rushed into a counterfeiter's plant and captured Milton II. Lpc, a venerable grayhcard, as he was in the very act of making a counterfeit $5 gold piece. Tho ancient counterfeiter had just taken the counterfeit coin from tho die and it was still burniug hot. The counterfeiting plant wna at V Donclson court. Uorc, Tor the past two weeks, Lee has been making a dozen jH counterfeit coins a day. In the plnce wero found spurious coius representing a value of $300. They had not yet been gold-plated, hut Luc admitted to-tho of-ficorn of-ficorn that he had proposed to electro- jH plate them Boon. Leo is 67 years old, and with his long, white hair and white whiskers, hns a patriarchal nppcurnncc. He declared that ho hns never oeforc been in trouble, but the officers are in-elincd in-elincd to believe that he is an old of- Threatened Suicide. To a confidant Leo had declared that if he were evor caught by the of- H ficcrs ho would commit suicide beforo J submitting to arrost, A fow days ago H he purchased some cyunido of pot as-sium. as-sium. With this ho may havo intonded to kill himself, or ho may have pur- J chased it for use in the gold-plating process for the counterfeit coins. In H any event, the sudden arrest by the of- H ficcrs left Lee no opportunity for sui- H Information which first aroused tho H suspicion of tho federal officers was ro- jH celved from W. J. Wertz. who lives at H 33 Donelson court. Wertz said that Lee H had rented a room from him about thrco H weekn ago and told him ho was working jH on an Invention, but "VVerts suspected H that lie was a counterfeiter. Ho notl-tied notl-tied Marfllml James H. Anderson of his suspicions about a week ago. Marnhal Anderson wired this Information to Don-vcr, Don-vcr, and It. K. Goddard of tho secret service was sent, to Salt Lako to lnvcs-tlgatc. lnvcs-tlgatc. Worked by Himself. H For several days Mr. Goddard worked on tho case with a -viow to ascertaining whether or not Leo was alono in his op- H orations or whether ho was a member of H a gang of counterfeiters. When ho be- H en mo convinced that Leo had no .con- H federates, he arranged for tho capture H Worts had warned tho officers that Lee had threatened to commit milcido in tho H ovent that Ills "Invention" were found H out and for that reason It was nccw- H Kiry for tho ofllcers to gain an ontntneo H to the houso without arousing tho sus- M plclons of the old counterfeiter. M Mr. Goddard and Marshal Anderson H early yesterday secured assessment rolls H and went to the house whero tho old M man wa.s at work. They were admitted H by Wertz, who was told in audfblo tones H that the ofllcers wero connected with tho H assessor's office and came to appraise the H property. Wertz took tho men into thn H kitchen. Whllo Marshal Anderson and M "Wertz were engaged In conversation, H Goddard slipped Into an adjoining room M and caught Lee nt work. H Arrest Quickly Made. Silhouetted against tho dark back- 1 ground of a small darkened room, the of- H fleer euw the ancient figure of the old H counterfeiter. Tho whiskered faco of the H old man was bent over clone to a coin H fresh from tho die. He was working B without u coat on. "His sleeves were HQI rolled to hla elbows. In his left hand ho Ml held the hot counterfeit coin. In his HH right hand worn a pair of nickel-plated HH The orriccr ut first mistook the tongs H for a plstul and he quickly drew his H own pistol and, covering the old man. H commanded .him to throw up his hands. H The old man was taken completely by H surprise. He gazed astounded at the In- H trudor and then throw up his hands, say- H lng as ho realized that his unannounced visitor must be an officer: 1 "Well. I guuss you'vo got me." M Marshal Anderson, who was In the ad- 1 joining room, hurried in after Goddard H had' tho counterfeiter covered and 1 searched the prisoner. The marslial took H tho blistering hot coin from the old H man's hand, but quickly dropped .it to H (Continued on Page Eight.) CAUGHT II! ACT OF MB $1 COUNTERFEITS Milton H. Lee, 67 Years of Age, Is Taken Into Custody by the Officers. (Continued from Pago One.) the lloor. The coin was still too hot to bo comfortably handled by ono not used to handling hot in.jlnl. In the old mnii s pocket was round a small machine for putting the milling on the coins. In a closet off this room were found a small charcoal forge, and, half burled In the hot coals. . small melting pot filled with molten metal. Beside It were two small ladles. Hero were found two dies, mado of strips of copper titled together to-gether and held by moans of tight tlninwi-:irews. tlninwi-:irews. Ono of these dies was for making mak-ing 55 coins and the other for imitations of ?0 gold pieces. Both dies were well constructed and the ?u die wan almost In perfect Imitation of the government die for ?C gold pieces. It was still hot when the officers found it. On a table wcro found twenty ?5 coins that bad evidently been mado yesterday. The edges of the coins bad not yet been trimmed down. In a sack Jn the closet wore found sixty ?u coins that had been trimmed ready for milling. None of tho coins had been gold plated and no gold-plating gold-plating apparatus was found In the room. Pieces of babbit, tin, lead and other base metal were found In the room. These were used In the melting pot lo make the composition of which tho coins were made. The coins were all of the proper size and the design was remarkably remark-ably exact. Howevor, the coins wcro considerably lighter than tho government standard. All the counterfeiting apparatus found in tho house was taken to the offlco of the United States mashal nnd both Lee and Wertz were taken in nustody by the officers. In a statement to tho United States district attorney Wertz maintained main-tained that he had no knowledge of the counterfeiting and had believed Leo's story that he was working on an Invention Inven-tion until recently, when his suspicions became aroused through Lee's secrecy. It was about that time that Lee confided con-fided to Wertz that If ho were caught he would kill himself. This led Wert-, to report the matter to the authorities. Wertz said that Leo had como to his house In Donelson court on Januarv 9 and had llvod thero ever since. Lee said be was a mechanic and was working work-ing on an Invention, which would account ac-count for the tools and the charcoal forge. Loo corroborated tho story told by Wertz and said that Wertz had nothing to do with the counterfeiting. Lee's story varied considerably in its details. At first ho said that he had nover done any counterfeiting before coming to Salt Lako and afterward he admitted having been engaged in the business In other cltlos. However, he said this was tho first time he had been arrested. Lee was born In Callfornlu, be said, Blxty-sovon Blxty-sovon years ago, and had lived near Fresno nearly all of hla life. Several months ago ho went to Colorado and worked on a ranch near LIsbetli. He came from thero to Salt Lake about the. first of the year. He said ho had no family other than two brothers living In Colorado. In admitting his guilt, Loe suggested that tho coins might have been Intended for watch charms. He was told that It made no difference what tho coins were Intended for so long as they were counterfeit. In tho afternoon Lee waB arraigned before Commissioner Charles Baldwin on a charge of having In his possession dies intended for counterfeiting United States coins. Though Lee had protested that ho had never before been In court, he quietly told the court commissioner that he would waive a preliminary hearing and await the action of the grand Jury. This action and his general demeanor Indicated In-dicated a familiarity with court practices. It Is thought, that could only be gained through experience. The officers know of no other counterfeiting cases with which he may have been connoctcd, but they feel certain they will be able to connect him with others. At the request of Assistant United States District Attorney W. M. McCrca ball was fixed at 51000 and Lee was committed com-mitted to the state prison to await action ac-tion of tho federal grand Jury. |
