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Show I PARALLEL 1 1 criminal Teiis I How He Planned the g E 'STORIES Deed and Sought to Close I " c r1 A MATTr1 Every Avenue of Knovvl- 0 JrkkilVU2 edge Leading to His Guilt. I f R T H F C The Detective Shows How 1 i I l?i O Futile These Efforts Were and I How the Old Adaqe, Murder D By KENRY C. TERRY Will Out, 'Always Holds Good." (Copyright by V. L. Nelson THE GREAT GOLD COIN COUNTER-TERFEITING COUNTER-TERFEITING CASE. 3&m& OUNTEHFEITING Is prac-fTVi prac-fTVi lically a lost art In Amer-MiIlP' Amer-MiIlP' ca. William J. Flynn, head VXK of- the Ullited sta,es Se-nS Se-nS cret Service in New York, declares that not a single sin-gle gang whose work is. comparable compar-able to that of Andy Bliss and iiis crowd, the Boscobel coiners, or any one of a dozen gangs that flourished a generation ago, is operating In the country today. ' Chief Flynn declares that he does not kiow of a single spurious I Id coin in circulation in the east, n the far west, where gold is a more ictive circulating medium, some at-:empts at-:empts may be made to counterfeit It, but none important enough to tause the secret service more than passing annoyance. With this introduction I will let Andy Bliss, the king of the gold coiners, coin-ers, tell his story, just as he told it to me. ' STATEMENT OF ANDY BLISS. No man of sense, said Andy, would ever become a thief, if he would stop for a moment and think. I will admit that there is a fascination fascina-tion in thievery, which grows upon what it feedB, until it is overpowering, and stealing then becomes a habit, the same as tobacco smoking and drinking rum, and It is very hard to break oft. I will tell you about the counterfeiting counterfeit-ing scheme, which gave me a reputation reputa-tion among crooks and honest men as well, of being a star performer In my line. It all grew out of a little trip which I made to Washington to meet Tom Cannon, an old friend of mine, who had planted a place near the White House which promised a reward re-ward of about $40,000. I would have gone anywhere for a lump of money half that size in those days. Well, I looked over the scheme and saw that It was very dangerous, but Cannon would not give up the idea. I did hot want to be looked upon as a fellow without nerve, so I consented to go Into the Job, which was to rob the safe of a paymaster. The paymaster I think his name was Hoffman drank pretty hard, and Blept near the safe, but the plan was to attack the strong box while the paymaster pay-master was in a drunken stupor. We got to the safe without much trouble. The box was an old-fashioned affair, and we got to the bills by simply knocking out the spindle In the handle. I nailed the money when the door flew open, and started away. Cannon was behind me. The paymaster was aroused, and instantly fired a shot from his revolver. The ball went through Cannon's neck and struck me in the shoulder. Cannon was killed, but the ball did not stop me. I ran and got away with the boodle. I knew that it would be unsafe for me to try and get out of Washington then, for the alarm was promptly given, giv-en, and every street and outlet was guarded by Uncle Sam's men. as well as the local police. I vrent directly to the home of Big Jim Farrell. He was an old-time thief, and then was running run-ning a faro bank to win the soldier money with crooked dials. I told Jim I was hunted, and he put me away in the care of Louise Jordan, who afterward after-ward shot Farrell In Chicago, through jealousy. I kept under cover in the Jordan house for about two weeks, and then Darby Jones and his gang, consisting of Billy Wallace, Frenchy Kline, George Keene and Warry McGee, Mc-Gee, turned up. They had come to Washington to dd business with me. I left Washington with the gang disguised dis-guised as a negro. There was a reward re-ward of $10,000 for my scalp, but I won out easily. I left the train In Newark and drove to New York in a cab. I kept under cover for a few days In New York, and then moved over to one of the old houses in Ravenswood. L. I., which bad been practically deserted for several sev-eral years. The house was near the water, and we Btuck out the sign of a fishing club on the mansion, and hired a sloop to give color to the fake. Then the counterfeiting 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 delivered deliv-ered to him In Washington. Falling to get this, he decided to make the 10 and $20 dies himself, and I put up the coin for the tools and to take care Jf the gang. Making a die Is a very slow process, ind we had a dandy time sailing and Ishing while Billy was doing the work. lie was the most painstaking workman I ever knew, but as he had worked in the treasury department he knew the kind of game he was up against, and did not want to make any mistakes. He made two dies and threw them away, because they did not suit him. The money that was made from theEe rejected dies would have passed anywhere except among experts, but Billy was in the game to beat experts. In my opinion he had not his equal In the world as an engraver en-graver and tool maker. Hilly finally finished his dies, and then had the parts of a stamping machine ma-chine built, in different foundries and machine shops. It requires a heavy pressure to stamp a coin, and our machinery was not quite as weighty as the machine 'n the mint, but our $10 and $20 coins were just as good as any that 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 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, Eng-land, and after satisfactory arrangements arrange-ments had been made upon the other side, were re6hipped to this country through a regular broker. Gold was at that time selling at a premium of from ISO to 240, and the kegs of gold were consigned to Wells & Co., reputable reput-able brokers in this city, to the credit of Nathaniel Storms, the representative representa-tive of a foreign syndicate. There were any number of bidders for the gold when it was offered for sale, and we got rid of the whole lot for about $120,000. DETECTIVE ADAMS' STORY. There never was a Job, said Detective Detec-tive Adams., worked in this country, which could match the great gold coin swindle so successfully carried out upon the expert dealers in money In Wall street. No class of people are easier to beat than Wall street men, provided they are met upon their own stamping ground by fearless men who deal with them upon an apparently solid platform. As I recall It, the bogus coin disposed dis-posed of was worth, face value, about $200,000, and the thieves were kind enough to go in and get the premium upon this sun. The firm which handled han-dled the gold In this city was Wells & Co., and they were above suspicion. The coin was sent to them from Frink & Beaman, an honorable London firm of bankers, and every connection from start to finish had all the marks of a genuine transaction. There was nothing to arouse suspicion except the gold Itself, and that was not critically examined at the time, because It had been shipped in a perfectly regulai manner. Inquiry would probably not have been made Into the transaction for a long time if it had not been for the disappearance of Nathaniel Storms, who had completed the transaction tran-saction with Wells & Co., and collected collect-ed the money for the gold. Storms came to this country with the gold and had letters of introduction introduc-tion equal to the best certificate of character. He represented that he was the agent of a syndicate of foreign for-eign capitalists who had been quietly gathering up all the gold they could get hold of in Europe at their own figures, fig-ures, and had got together several millions mil-lions of dollars which theynintended to put upon the American market to get the benefit of the large premium. When Storms collected the money for the gold, he made an appointment to meet Wells & Co. the next day upon a matter of importance, and he did not show up. He was stopping 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, morn-ing, before he w-ent to Wells & Co.'s office. His baggage consisted only of a handbag, 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, and only called at the hotel to get his mail. Storms had told one of the members of the firm that he had given a dinned 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 American life. It was considered con-sidered very strange that Storms, who carried all the marks of honesty in his face and speech, should have lied about such an unimportant matter; and. considering all the circiimstante a doubt was raited about his veracity in other matters of Importance. Several days passed and nothing was heard from Storms. Wells & Co. became a bit uneasy and sent a cable to Frink & P.eainen, asking for information in-formation about the further shipments of gold. Frink & r.eann-n replied tlia they did not know anything about shipments of the precious metal, and would be delighted to find any of It. Then the direct inquiry was made by Wells & Co. of Frink & lioamen If j they had not consigned $200,000 to Wells & Co. The answer came back that they had not. This news turned things upside down in Wells & Co.'s establishment. The gold which they had sold had been broken tip into smaller packages and pretty widely distributed. Some of the coin was found and it was pronounced pro-nounced genuine by bank experts, but the deep interest of Wells & Co. aroused the suspicion of some of their customers, and they sent several samples sam-ples to the assay office for analysis. This examination showed that there was practically only a trace of gold on the face of each coin, and the metal was worthless. Then there was the deuce to pay. The customers of Wells & Co. demanded de-manded the return of their money and tht firm was forced to suspend temporarily. tem-porarily. I was called Into the case at this juncture and I must confess that it looked like a mountain. Advices Ad-vices from London showed that all the papers which had been used by Nathaniel Storms In this country had been forged, and the investigation made by Wells & Co. was Just ten days too late. The plot would have been exposed if tbey had made inquiries concerning Storms at the start. Private Pri-vate letter blanks and secret marks of Identification had been obtained from Frink & Beamen In some way, showing show-ing that Esme one in their employ had been giving Information. There was nothing In this country but a good description de-scription of Storms. He wore a full beard, and I knew that he would shake this at the first opportunity, so that a description of him was useless. I was sent to London to work up that end with the Scotland Yard people. peo-ple. I brought them the information about the letter blanks and secret marks, and a watch was put upon everybody in Frink & Beaman's office. of-fice. They had twenty clerks working for them, and It took Bome time to pick up our man. We found a young fellow named Sinclair who had money to burn on $15 a week, and pinched him. He squealed without delay, and said that he had been Induced to give up the secrets of the business by two men who claimed to be Englishmen. They gave him $500 for his work. He heard them call each other Andy and Warry, and this gave the first tip on the gang. I was satisfied that the two men were Andy Bliss and Warry Mc-Gee, Mc-Gee, both crooks. I learned that the bogus coin had been brought from America on the Cunard line in casks of white lead, and had been returned by the same line. As it had been arranged that the money should be paid in New York, I knew that it waa certain that Warry and Andy would be on board to get their whack, and I came back. I could not Imagine who this Storms was, and my only hold was to keep the pipes running for Bliss and McGee, who naturally would not be much alarmed over the robbery for the reason that every end was covered. I knocked around among men and women I knew to be crooked for about a month before I got a good tip. It was in Nat Cunningham's saloon on the Bowery that I overheard a conversation con-versation between a couple of bank sneaks, who were telling a friend about a trip they had on Andy Bliss' yacht, and the sport at the fishing club in Ravenswood. It took me a couple of hours In Ravenswood to locate the clubhouse. It was in an old deserted mansion. I went there after dark, and was astonished aston-ished to hear a regular and very hard thumping in one of the outhouses. I could not see Into the place, but I heard the sound of several voices, and when some one came out I caught a glimpse of some moving machinery through a door. I waited till after daylight, and I knew that there was crooked work going on, for there wbb no sign of a smoke pipe anywhere. I made all my arrangements for a raid, and the next night I had ten picked men in Ravenswood. I kept tab on the clubhouse and saw that there were at least five men there. About 8 o'clock four men left the clubhouse and went to the barn. Soon the machinery was going, and I went to the barn with five men, leaving the others to watch the house. The men felt so secure that the barn door had not been locked. I flung It open and Jumped inside with my men. Every crook was covered by a gun and threw up his hands, except Frenchy Kline, who was hit on the head and died afterward from the injury. Two men In the house, hearing the confusion in the barn, rushed out to see what the trouble was, and were captured by the guard. We got Warry McGee, George Keene, Frenchy Kline, Billy Wallace, Darby Jones an Andy Bliss, and the best counterfeiters' outfit out-fit in the world. |