OFFICIALS KEEP STRICT WATCH FOR BAD MONEY
Item
- Title
- OFFICIALS KEEP STRICT WATCH FOR BAD MONEY
- Source
- The Washington Times
- Date
- 1922-04-30
- page
- 8
- Identifier
- https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84026749/1903-07-18/ed-1/?sp=5&q=counterfeiting&r=0.382,0.281,0.27,0.161,0
- Crime
- Counterfeiting
- Subject
- scheme, bootleggers, coins, plates, dies, molds
- Law enforcement involved
- Secret Service
- Stage of the Legal System
- Arrest
- Length of story
- 806
- Description
-
OFFICIALS KEEP STRICT WATCH FOR BAD MONEY
Secret Service Operators Prove Equal to Task of Preventing Duplication of Money.
THEIR DEEDS GO UNSUNG
During Past Year 1,025 Counterfeiters and Check Raisers Were Caught.
By W. BRUCE MACNAMEE
Universal Service
Tucked away in a dark corner of the big Treasury building there is an inconspicuous little office whose occupants are entrusted with one of the most important tasks of the Government.
There is no sign on the door, and the handful of executives and clerks inside give no outward indication of the tremendous responsibility of their work.
Force Kept Busy.
But their task is nothing less than preventing the spurious duplication of $6,000,000,000 of money in circulation throughout the country.
The unprecedented activities of counterfeiters during the past year have kept this force of Secret Service operatives on their toes every minute, but so successful have been their methods of running down the men who "print their own" that the amount of counterfeit money actually In circulation amounts to comparatively few thousand dollars.
Although replete with enough romance and thrills to fill a dozen detective novels, the Secret Service operations are so little written about that they are almost hearsay. The very nature of the service has heretofore prevented publication of its workings, which are probably the most interesting In the Government service.
Everybody with a dollar in his pocket wants to know that it is genuine. That's where the Secret Service comes in, and, take It from those who know, "counterfeiting doesn't pay." Always the long arm of Hie law descends upon the counterfeiter, often with such disconcerting swiftness that his pile of fake notes or coins are "pinched" with him. Here's the way it's done:
How They Work.
John Smith, for instance, a teller in the Blankvllle Bank, reports the finding of a $10 bill that "looks bad." He immediately reports it to the Secret Service. An agent calls on John Smith as soon as he can get to him. The bill is examined. Its denomination and workmanship are studied, and a minute description and warning flashed to every bank In the vicinity.
Sooner or later, for the counterfeiter must repeat, a second similar bill appears. If in the same town, the Secret Service knows that their man is stationary. If the spurious note is turned up elsewhere, it means that the counterfeiter is on the move. In the first case a tracer Is sent out, and the bad bill is inevitably traced back to its maker. In the case of migratory "passers," the Secret Service operative tries to get ahead of him and "nail" him when he arrives In a new town.
These methods have stood the best of time, and the accuracy of detection is deadly. During the last year 1,025 counterfeiters and check raisers were arrested.the greatest number in the history of the service. Counterfeit notes amounting to $196, 993 were seized, $12,293.53 in counterfeit coins, 171 counterfeit note plates, 14 engraved dies and 48 sets of molds for coin counterfeiting.
The Latest Scheme.
Within the past year the activities of bootleggers has developed an entirely new criminal industry with which the service has been called upon, to cope—the counterfeiting of internal revenue strip stamps required on "bottled in bond" liquor.
Secret service agents arrested during the year many persons engaged in this crime, and seized truck loads of these counterfeit stamps and labels counterfeiting the trademarks of popular brands of whiskies and gins. In many instances It was found that these counterfeit stamps were being used on poisonous concoctions which were being sold bv bootleggers as "bottled in bond" whiskies.
An entirely new phase of the bootlegging situation has arisen within the last few months. Bootleggers along isolated stretches of the Canadian border are counterfeiting and using the bogus money to buy their supplies in Canada. This situation is causing the secret service considerable concern, because of the difficulty In reaching counterfeiting plants sequestered in desolate woodland.
An instance of this kind recently took place in the mountain country of northern Alabama, but the "moonshiners" squealed and the secret service walked in and captured the men who were buying their supplies of hooch with had money: another illustration of the old maxim that when thieves fall out, honest men profit."
The swift and effective detective work of the secret service is reinforced by the courts. Heavy sentences are usually imposed upon those who try to make their own money. Anywhere from eight to sixty years is imposed upon those malefactors. In order that they may have plenty of solitude to ponder their erring ways.
The result Is that when the jail doors open, most of them are willing to agree with Chief Moran and his able assistants when they say "counterfeiting doesn't pay."
