The eagle., November 14, 1894, Page 13, Image 13

About The eagle. (Silver City, N.M.) 1894-1???

Image provided by: University of New Mexico

                
THE EAGLE: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14,
CROOKED COINS.
Criminal Operations In Doctoring
Uncle Sam's Currency.
How Skillful Manipulators Derive Large
Fronts from Clipping. Sawing,
Gouging, ltoring and (Hiding
Gold I'li'ecs.
One of the many unlawful schemes
to prostitute the coin of the nation lias
recently been suppressed by ex-Chief
Drummond. It first came to my atten
tion early last year, says a New York
Herald writer. I refer to what war,
known as the "coin sticker," which
made possible the extraction of, with
out discovery, part of the silver in
c in. The inventor of this ''coin
: ticker," which was an advertisement
i rinted on paper to be pasted on coins,
i old territorial rights to print and use
it. The "coin sticker" cost the govern
ment a great deal of trouble and ex
pcuse to suppress. On fifty cent and
one dollar coins was pasted the adver
tisements with a paste of glue which
almost defied removal, covering the in
scription on the reverse of the coin,
'leadening the resonance and of course
enabling the swindler to take out part
i f the silver and substitute base metal
Spurious coins of very common work
manship also passed readily with the
coin sticker on them.
There is a great increase of 'late in
(he number of skillful men who are
constantly studying ways and means
i f stealing a part of the genuine metal
from our coins and substituting base
metal. One of the most successful
swindlers in this line was a man named
Wilcox, who was recently taken into
custody in Chicago by secret service of-.-.ccrs.
lie made an average income of
from fifty to one hundred dollars a day
by clipping gold coins. By cutting a
rim from around the coin, as a tire
might be removed from a wheel, he
look away from each twenty-dollar
(fold piece an amount of gol.l ik.í ex
ceeding twenty-six or tweiiiy-n no
grains in weight, or the value of one
dollar. The subsequent ivivj.".i.Jg of
the double eagle, done with a machine,
rendered it as perfect as ever to the eye
of the casual observer.
The apparatus was small and easily
packed, and on reaching a fresh locali
ty all that was required v;:s a quiet
room in an obscure street and u uupply
of gold coin. The latter ho secured
from the bank. He would depo .il a
considerable sum of money, arid after
awhile he would draw it out i;i gold.
The clipped coins were paase.l by Mrs.
Wilcox at dry goods shops mostly.
One of the most interesting processes
consists in sawing a double eagle in
two through the edge and gouging out
the inside, so as to remove about fif
teen dollars' worth of gold. Thus the
piece is reduced to a hollow shell in
halves. It is then filled with platinum,
which is nearly as heavy as yellow
metal and costs at the present market
rates, though this varies, somewhat
1 ss than one-half. Lead is too light
for the purpose. The cut edge of the
reconstructed coin is disguised by i.
rim of gold soldered on, and a reeding
machine renews the corrugations , of
the minting. The l'csult is really a
work of art, being a combination of
five different metals. Only an expert
can distinguish anything wrong about
it.
A method somewhat similar, though
less artistic, is to substitute for the in
terior portion of a gold piece a core in
the shape of a planchet of silver. A
better plan, though somewhat labori
ous, consists in boring into the coin
from the edge so as to remove a consid
erable part of its internal substance.
In this manner about seven dollars'
worth of gold may be conveniently re
moved from a twenty-dollar piece, the
hole being filled up with a metal com
position and soldered at the opening
with gold.
Fortunately for the currency, prac
tically all the gold in circulation in the
United States passes every few hours
through the treasury and sublreas
uries. Every piece received at there
institutions is weighed, and, if found
light in weight, is stamped with a big
"L." Such coins are redeemed as
bullion. The loss to the government
,by wear and tear on silver coin in
circulation is considerable. It overage:,
three cents on every dollar. Last year
it amounted to !?231),2!3.
The people have not all become
familiar with the faces of the new
silver coins. The obverse and reverse
of the older coins they have known so
long and intimately that the draped
figure of Liberty and the majesti pose
of the eagle are fixed in their mind un.l
always recognized, but the new coins,
with changed designs, to which,
puzzling them more, were added the
Columbus souvenirs, have not yet
established their identity.
The manufacturing counterfeiters,
quick to discover and take advantage
of whatever favors deception, almost
immediately followed the government's
issue of the coins of new design wi.h
their fraudulent issue in likene'; oi
them, and reaped a rich harvest be
cause the originals were known, but
not well known.
The gilders counterfeiters, too
saw in the new twenty-flve-centeoii!, n
gilded, a presentable, beguiling ten
dollar piece, and pocketed a full per
centage of profit until discovered. The
lack of weight should, of course, and
does make known the frauduler.1
character of the gold coin. This last,
the gilders' scheme to falsify coin, as it
requires neither skill nor expensive
'ilant, i:nd promises so much for so
little, is always u seductive one to the
unprincipled or weak of will.
IV.cih u Century Ago.
Une hundred years ago beef sold in
New York cityut 3' id. to3Jid. a pound:
..uittoii, 3J.Í(Í; veal, to 5Ja'd.; live
pigs. Slid.; butter. Is. ljjd.; new mi'.lc.
.'Ij.id. to 3Jid. a quart; chickens, lOd. to
l:;.;hay, .t'2 5s. to 2 Ids. 3d. a ton;
wheat, 5s. 7!id. a bushel; barley, 3s.
Uid.; corn, 2s. Iid.; rye, 3s.l)jd.; oats.
Is. fi'id. The average yield of wheat
per acre in the state then was 12 bush
els: of corn, 25 bushels ainiof buckwheat
15 bushels.
AMERICANS AND DIAMONDS.
They Buy More Tliun the People of
ICuropa.
It is claimed that Americans buy more
diamonds than any other people. They
have always worn more, and at all
times of da,y, in 'ind out of season, so
they were a reproach to their English
cousins in the early days of social inter-
course. Hut American women's dia
mond earrings worn early in the morn
ing, though decried by conservative
Uritishers, had the power to change
the standard of dress. Ridiculed as
they were, the Americans won the day,
and soon European dames began to
wear their jewels in the street and on
nil possible occasions. A craze for dia
monds spread over society, and not
only family heirlooms but much new
jewelry employing these once rare
stones, and bought dirt cheap, became
a feature of the daily toilette. Of
course, when fashion took a hand in
the business, the diamond market
boomed and syndicates talked very
loud and big of the fields where the
sparklers bloomed perennially. The
real gem entailed the imitation, and
rhinestones, as well as the almost-im-possible-to-detect
paste from the line
de la I'aix and the I'alais Royale hnve
had a tremendous vogue, but, as de
mand increases supply, the diamond
syndicates were equal to the occasion,
'ind "real stones" could be purchased
for a little mure than the false ones.
I The result has been thai everybody
has worn some sort of a diamond. In
this country the craze has grown into
a cult. Tiaras gleam on the brows of
the wives of millionaires. Necklaces
worth 'a prince's ransom are bought by
anybody who has money to pay for
them. Ifrooches, pins, bracelets, starred
with the gems, are so common a woman
must plaster herself with them to be
observed. Every girl "just engaged"
exhibits a diamond ring, and it has de
veloped a vein of humor, if not a new
class of joke, that much envied gage
d'amour. The nice young man who
polishes your boots for a nickel wears
a "diamond" in a not too fresh neck
fiearf, and the gentlemanly ear con
ductor is not above ornamenting his
little finger with an oil colored African
stone! In fact, where there i:i the least
excuse for jewelry, one may be certain
the preference will be given to the dia
mond kind;
NOISELESS ROYSTERERS.
The Whooplcss S;rre Indulged In ly a
Trio of Mut
Three men went out on a quiet drunk
the other night, says the Kansas City
Times. They drank early und often.
In the descriptive parlance of the north
end they "made a night of it." Unlike
the majority of men, the more intoxi
cated they became the less they
"talked." They were inutes, all three
of them, deaf mutes. They visited the
saloons of the nor th end and imbibed
copious libations of the extract of malt.
They lined up be fore a bar and chatted
to each other on their linger ends, and
drank and smiled and smiled and
smiled. Words were written in the air
'.villi startling rapidity early in the