Counterfeiting in the Washington Times, 1903 & 1923

The following exhibit showcases stories about counterfeiting crimes published in The Washington Times from 1903 to 1923. These stories did not share any common length, ranging from 35 words to just over 800. For this exhibit, I strictly searched for the word “counterfeiting” across the whole 20 year timeline.

Formerly printed under the Morning Times moniker, The Washington Times was founded in the District of Columbia in early 1894. After changing owners a couple of times, it was purchased by publisher Frank Munsey in 1901. Under his hands, it would be released daily as a morning edition with larger issues put out on Sundays (with 20 or so pages in the daily releases and twice that in the Sunday ones). This would continue consistently until 1939, when its editors would merge the paper with the Washington Herald.

Before the merger that caused it to cease production, it hosted a variety of content in each issue. This content contained elements of both informational and sensational papers, which is not unlike many others being worked on at the time. While there was plenty of insight into national and global events as well as political and financial news, there were also entertainment segments such as comics, sports pages, and amusements. These more sensational aspects became more prevalent in the Times’ later years and in Sunday editions.