THE CHINA MAIL, FEBRUARY 9, 1940.
REAL LIFE DETECTIVE TRIUMPHS
"MONROE HEADS" COUNTERFEIT CASE
In the Fall of 1897 the Government at Washington was startled by the ap- pearance of a number of counterfeit $100 bills, bearing the head of Presi- dent James Monroe. In the language of Treasury experts they were called "Monroe Hends." The bogus notes were so nearly perfect that they even deceived men connected with the United States Bureau of Printing and Engraving.
One of them was tendered and ac- cepted in payment of customs duties at Philadelphia, so Operative William J. Burns of the United States Secret Service was assigned to the case with instructions to stay on the job until he had arrested the counterfeiters and recovered the plates.
It was a big order, but he accepted it with confidence. His first move was
to make an investigation into the oper-
ation of all engravers in Pennsylvania | stamps had been made. When hunt-
and New Jersey. It was the hardest kind of hard work and it called for the services of a tireless man like Burns. After
many weary
By
months
GEORGE BARTON
(n)-
an
suspicion was directed to Taylor Ar- thur and Bredell Baldwin, two gravers who had a little shop on inconspicuous Philadelphia street.
What threw suspicion on their busi- ness was their apparent indifference to trade from the general public. As Burns put it, "they didn't seem care whether school kept
or not." Every movement they made for weeks
watched. They
finally tracked to Lancaster and it was found that they had some connection there with a tobacco plant owned by Cob Jabs and Digken.
was
**
*
*
were
to
On the theory that the end justifies the means, Burns entered their place at midnight and was overjoyed to find several tons of blue Internal Revenue
stamp paper piled in a corner of the factory. Obviously it was being used to make bogus" revenue stamps to paste on cigar boxes,
He made no arrests. His case was not yet completed. Instead he return-. ed to Philadelphia and late one night, with the aid of the police, broke into the engraving plant of Arthur Baldwin. There he found a number- ing stamp such as is used in making bank notes. That gave him sufficient evidence on which to act.
and
nervous
Before dark the following day the two engravers and the two cigar manu- facturers were behind prison bars. The engravers in a highly state made a partial confession, but the cigarmakers professed to belleve that they did not know what it was about.
all
ing counterfeiters one of the standing rules of the United States Secret Ser- vice is: "Get the plates." There are two reasons for this. One is that they are needed for a conviction of the culprits. The second is that as long as they have not been found there is still danger of their being used to flood the country with counterfeits.
*
•
one
scene.
a
A word dropped by Baldwin, of the engravers, gave the detective an idea. He went to the Baldwin home case in Camden. By this time the
that had assumed such importance Chief Wilkie and all of the big shots from Washington were on the The house was searched from top to bottom without result. Just when it
if the expedition were looked as failure, Burns decided to make a se- cond visit to the cellar. This time he noticed that some of the earth in corner had been freshly disturbed.
A man with a pick and shovel was way summoned. "We'll dig all the into China until we find something,” declared the detective. But it was not necessary to go far. In a few minutes the shovel struck something hard and metallic. It proved to be the missing Monroe Head plates.
#
The case attracted nationwide atten- tion. Those involved employed able counsel and fought the charges to the last ditch. But the evidence was over- whelming. All concerned were victed and sentenced to long terms in the State prison in Philadelphia.
LORD
con-
TWEEDSMUIR IMPROVING
Ottawa, To-day.
The doctors state that the Governor-General, Lord Tweedsmuir, fainted and fell,
The most important evidence of all | striking his head and cutting was still missing-the plates from the scalp.
which the counterfeit notes and bogus
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Keep you Regular and Well
He received a concussion and was unconscious for an hour but he stead- ily improved and is now conscious and resting comfortably.
A doctors' bulletin states that Lord Tweedsmuir passed a comfortable night, and his condition is showing satisfactory improvement.
Two Montreal specialists who were summoned as a precaution left for home yesterday-Reuter.
SPEED-UP IN AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION
MELBOURNE, TO-DAY.
Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Boswell
at the Registry on Saturday. Mrs.
Ying.
Page
Mr. and Mrs. Albert G. Quark after their marriage at Rosary! Church. Mrs. Quark was formerly Mias Marie Spencer.
photographed after their marriage
Boswell was formerly Miss Chang
A group of officials, including Wing-Commander A. H. Steele. Parkina, watching the A.R.P, demonstration at Jubilee Park.
Taken at the opening of the Exhibition of Industrial:goods. In the group are Sir Robert Kotswall? Mr. tp Lan-chuen and- Miss Phyllis Harrop.
PRODUCTION IN ORDER TO REACH Lawson, announced that the Govern THE MAXIMUM- EFFORT IN THE ment is pushing aheads with the inj SHORTEST POSSIBLE TIME.
vestigation into every possible methon The objective under the Empire of stimulating - shipbuliding,in com ET HAS DECIDED. TO ESTABLISH | Plan is to keep 8,000 machines always formity with Commonwealth hopes to
make a real contribution to A COMMISSION TO DIRECT-- THE | ready for the air: ACCELERATION OF AIRCRAFT Meanwhile the Trade Minister, Mr.|| shipbijljding,
THE AUSTRALIAN WAR CABIN-