Evening Star Newspaper, December 2, 1893, Page 20

20 THE EVE) G STAR: WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY. DECEMBER 2, 1893—TWENTY PAGES. ——n THE PARIS OMNIBUS Tnsolence of the Tyrants of the Streets, the Bus Drivers. j a See THE OUTSIDE AND THE INSIDE. A Description of the Transfer Sys- tem and How It Works. | THE STREET CAR LINE. Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. PARIS, November 18, 1993. HE FIRST CHAR- acteristic of the Par- is omnibus is its ter- rifying heaviness. The distracted pedes- trian, unused to Paris streets, confused by darting cabs, will feel @ sweating weak- ness crawling over him as the juggernaut | comes rolling with a| sound of thunder; and he will stand shaking in the mid- uncertain, powerless, hypnotized. The cabs, of which he was afraid before, become as nothing. The omnibus has three great horses, all abreast, @ special giant breed with feet as big as hams and rattling chains. They shake their heads and snort, to show they are no patient drudges. The jovial driver, high in air, will never slacken his speed though he should crush your ribs. Get out! Get out!—run in upon a cab—but clear the path at any risk for the ponderous tyrant of the Paris streets, the Paris omnibus. The insolence of the Paris omnibus driv- er is the same as that of the Paris cabman, only magnified by opportunity—he has a heavier vehicie. The perfect condition of the streets permits his rushing mercilessly; and as he bears down on you with a beast- ly “Houp!” with three wild horses blowing steam upon the chilly autumn air, you ask if you are living in the eighteenth or nine- teenth century. You can see foreigners—New Yorkers and Londoners, both used to crowded streets at home—shake their fists at the gratuitous outrages of cabs and omnibuses. Parisians | look mildly curious. Why is the gentleman | so angry? They cannot understand. When once you are inside a Paris omnibus or, better yet, on top, the great distinction | f this vehicle is comfort. No crowding is permitted. Each passenger must have a seat. The back platform has three legal standing places. When you stand there, a fourth, because you wish to smoke, the conducteur will jerk out briefly: | a here. Enter there inside, or nd.’ dle of the street, the seats are all marked off by | You may not stand up in | ne washerwoman holds her You never jump uy “Take this seat, maple reason that you! : ats are occupied the slowed to enter; she must t omnibus. t ti ss is | | @outiquey Foom with b With a wick uniform up Tre Numb * others | | Louts XV, finish, he rings up the transfers on the om- ibus’ dial gong. The conducior cannot go w gs! dring! start to finish the trip has some- thing of the jaunt about it. If you are al- ready up on the imperiale you note each lady’s head as it comes into view, and won- der what the next will be like. Below | there is the excitement of the call of num- bers. In the interior below the fare is s 6 cents, with a transfer free. On top the fare is only % cents, with no trans- fer. In the cold of winter and heat of summer this ratio is just; but in the beau- ys of spring and autumn everybody Y or the top seats, which remain 3 cents, just to take a ride; passeng. who jumps aboard the "bus be- cause he’s tired, will have to swelter at 6 cents below. Dring! dring! dring! The omnibus rolls off; the horses’ heavy shoes strike sparks; pedestrians and cabs make place; and those who have been ealled and also chosen whirl smoothly through the prettiest panorama in the world, the Paris streets in early evening. The Most Celebrated Route. Of all the omnibus routes of Paris, that of Madeleine-Bastilie is the most celebrated. The Church of the Madeleine is architec- turally a late Roman adaptation of a Greek temple; historically it is an edifice built up under changing dynasties—begun by unfinished in the revolution, continued as a temple of glory by Napo- leon and completed as a church by Louis XVIII. In its modern use it is a center of worship for the highest crust of fashion, and as to its location, it is the central hub _ of modern Paris. Aweslting Transfer. Lying north of the Seine about three Squares, and facing down the rue Royale toward the magnificent Place de la Con- corde, it marks, on the one hand, the eastern endl of that fine and heaithy new | rich quarter,~ which has for its artery the Boulevard Malesherbes; while on the other side it stands for the western gate of the true boulevard, the pleasure ground otf Paris. Down this series of great streets the omnibuses of the Madeleine-Bastile continuously run, regularly, less than a block apart. The ancient site of the Ba tile is now a public square some twenty minutes’ distant. Hiding along the route such nights, when every sho house front, restaurant, cafe and theater was fairly exploding with colored lights, and flags lit up, and decorative flag poles every twenty yards, with garlands of green and white upon their summits in honor of the Russian visitors, one felt an envy for the new American one guided about, and took him here the first of all. The Church of the Madeleine is a hub for many other lines of omnibuses running many ways, some absolutely charming, and others only curious. The little sawed-olf omnibus of Madeleine-Auteuil, with its two horses and top seats reached by a simple ladder, which even the ladies of Paris can- not climb, darts down the rue Koyale, past t sreat restaurants and high-class shops, unt) enters the most magnificent public square in Europe. The obelisk in the center of the Place de ja Concorde marks the spot where the statue of Justice stood in the days of the guillotine. This piace was the arena of the bloody terror. Marie Antoinette was exe- cuted on a platform which stood a little to the left of the present obelisk. When two fe ns were placed over other sites of Suillotine stands the royalists kept saying: All the water in the world can never wash away those stains. Recently, almost an . hundred ars from the death of Marie Antoinette, the place was all lit up n honor of the Russians; the waters of the fountains spouted in colors. And the swishing through ery inch had not d. It takes a of the in de take and the half suburban quarter . Where little houses with their t gardens take the place of parks hill to Pas of A . Will t the ilot Gat mee of the eity octrot. The Octrot. municipality of Paris, lke opean towns and cities, nt to collect a tariff for all eatables, drinkables the st that of exe nue on brouzht into the city. es produce 135,000,000 francs al year, which go toward the municipal ex- “ns ad of meat, every quart y sack of coal and stick ned in Paris must have paid 4t one exception is made. are the use of foreign mitted minister of the » France made a request to extended. He had lying Gare de L’Quest n little tubs of ple: of his pri- at they might come sed. A street. car 3 -Cour- humbler individ- onths. r or omnibus for octroi exam- h baskets, under- rply all about. he asks gentleman would al- the douanier would far ing on the was the invari- So in time it came to be regarded as the ; one stale, solitary joke of a gross and un- imaginative old bonhomme. The regular riders used to point the old man out and say, “Now at the gate he'll get that old ham joke of his off.” The douaniers, who pitied his gray hairs, would never cease to help him out, and gravely asked each morn- ing: Have you anything to declare?” Yes, two hams’’—and all the rest, and every one would laugh. - But one fine day a new inspector made the rounds. Have you anything taxable?” es, two. hams.” Where are they?” “I am sitting on them." “Get up.” And, sure enough, there were two little hams of the most expensive and delicate variety; they were tied up in a black cloth bundle, easily hidden beneath the massive | posterior of the stout, xgrav-haired, red- faced old fellow of the single joke. “You have made yourself liable to arrest and fine,” the dounaier began. “Not so, I told you that I had two hams. The gentlemen here present will bear me out. I had no thought of smuggling them.” They could only take his name and ad- dress. Another celebrated omnibus line is that of Odeon-Clichy-Batignolles. It runs north |and south, while the others mentioned have phe east and west. Its southern station in the Latin Quarter's heart. before the tes of the Odeon Theater. with its gov- ernment subvention and tame and classical | repertoir On its way from the dingy northern heights of Paris these "buses skirt a while the sparkling boulevard and then cut through @ maze of narrow business streets to drive in triumph underneath the arches of the Tuileries, across the Seine and through that older-looking Paris of the south side and the Latin Quarter. Betore its station at the Odeon you face the charming gardens of the Luxembourg, and people often come simply to take thé air and listen to the military band beneath the trees, where one is always sure to find an omnibus just filling up so near, and thus ride quietly home again. The northern station of this line is in the great square of the Hatignolles. Although the official quartier of the Batignolles in- cludes some new and handsome sections— the whole Pare Monceau and the north- western district of the Boulevard Male- sherbes pertain to it—the route these "buses travel show still the good old sordid Batignolles of all those detective romances of Gaboriau and his imitators, which, trans- lated into English and sold in pirating edi- tions, have made the name of Batignolles @ household word to us Americans. “The Little Old Man of the Batignolles?” Who has not read it? The narrow street of monotonous apart-j} ment houses of a dirty gray ascends a tiresome hill, Little cafes and little wine shops send forth their sample odors. There is a smell of cheese and meat becoming | |stale. Cheap dress goods flaunt their long, |lank lengths from poles hung out beside the litde shop doors. Men in blouses and men in shabby genteel black and women half sloventy holding slovenly babies while they chat mark out the route. Toiling up, the driver, high in air. will slash and curse his animals; the master of the hiil-horses will curse and slash his, too—poor, worn- out ones. Aristide Bruant. the Browning of the Paris slums, has made among his chansons | noires and gloomy monologues a hill-| morse man address his beast in language | something lke the following: this habit of talking to their horses is a universal one among all Paris drivers. “Psit * * * come here till I bat you an omnibus to start! Ruhau! * * * back up, he! you head of a Prussian! * * © “Dia! what did you do in your youth? Perhaps you ran well at Longchamps. Per- haps you're the horse of Ernesse? Hein! my colon! * * ¢ “What are you looking at? That old mare yonder? That still affects you? Are you so green? There! you can see what I think of the (spitting) 3 * Gomme, old fool, turn to the left! “You're so old you must work! It's for that that they hire you. Astonished? Well, Such is life. Bear the bit legs support you * * © * * * So it's with me— You'll go} to Maguart and I'll go to the morgu The hill-horse man will grumble all day to his beast, but not with pathos. The red- faced driver, who ts louder, is a much more | entertaming ‘fellow, and sayer of | choice slang by force of his position. When toiling up the hill he cusses humorously at its steepness; when going down, the brake jand pole can scarcely check the heavy roll- jing m: he cusses humorously at its | fatal ease; but, best of all, when working jon the level, forced to thread a crowd of | | other vehicles and men cn foot in crowded, narrow streets. his rich vocabulary finds its full expressio “Voyons!” cries an old man nearly run down. “Pay attention, animal! Are you going to smash me?" here's At the Odeon. “Animal! He calls me an animal the driver huris back, “that old packet there! | Have you finished drying yourself up there, | in the middle of the road?” “I am_ going to have you arrested, in- |solent! Not for reckless driving, but for call'ng him a ‘packet.’ ” “Have me arrested? Allons! Efface your- | self that I may Dring! Dring! Pa ta pi ta pa | ,,The Paris omnibus rolls on, the tyrant of | the Paris streets. STERLING HEILIG. a Too Beautiful to Live. From the London Spectator. The pride and flower of all the youth of! the Zoo is the young hippopotamus. As it; s side, with eyes half closed, its| ike the end of a boister tilted | , its little fat legs stuck out straight its body and its toes it looks like a gi-| It has a pale, pe- tunia-color ch, and the same a j tistic shade rs the soles of its feet. {It has a double chin, and its eyes, like a 8, Dring! bull s, are set on pedestals, and close gently as it goes to sleep with a bland, erormous smile. It cost i350 when quite] small, and, to quote the opinion of an emi-| nent grazier, who was looking it over with| a professional eye, it still looks like “grow- ing into money. There are connoisseurs in hippopotamus breeling who think it al- most too beautiful to live. —-se+ Sir Andrew Clark and Parnell. From the London Star. It is not generally knewn that Sir Andrew Clark numbered among his patients Mr. Parnell, who consulted him toward the end | of 1887 for a chest affection. Mr. Parnell he had received much tion of Sir Andrew's | to inhale an essence of pine. Even when | consulting a physician Mr. Parnell’s strange | assion for secrecy displayed its: ied whether Sir Andrew knew who his patient was, Mr. Parnell smiled and | arried the question by the reply not think he did—at least at first.”’ es Echoes of Home. | | | | _ Miss Ba | down and fe t unch I the Preetop. uu? Does their annoy Mis I makes me homesick. on—"It doesn’t annoy me; | a corrugated brow, a crumpled cloak, wrin- | gether the best civilian statue in the Dis- ‘should get the credit for first recommend- | the weight of the witnesses and the actual \ discussion and with some acrimony against | cal life. son clul were formed in the departments by subservient policy clerks, who a Iways found to “crook thet pregnant hinge: of the knee that thrift, might follow fawning.” Most officials took sides for or against in chment, and “spotters” could be every office to | t those who to Congress und | ‘avored the off ident. SPINNER IN BRONZE. | Recollections of the Old Watch Dog. of the Treasury. WHAT HE DID FOR WOMANKIND. His Services as Treasurer During the War. SOME PERSONAL TRAITS. Written for ‘The Evening Star. Ellicot, the sculptor, has finished the life- sized statue of Gen. F. E. Spinner, late treasurer of the United States. It is cast in bronze and soon it will appear in front | of the Treasury Department. The statue is heroic, standing to the ob- server six feet, with a broad-brimmed hat, kled pants, firm foot and boot; and alto- trict of Columbia. It is well and just that the people of the United States should remember the cashier of the republic. Gen. Francis Elias Spinner, late treasurer of the United States, was born in the town of Mohawk, Herkimer county, N. Y., Jan- uary 21, 1802. His father, Peter, was born | in Baden, Germany, January 18, 1768, emi- grated to the United States in 180i, and) died May 27, 1848, while minister of the Lutheran Church at Herkimer, eighty years of age. Like Luthe:, the elder Spinner had been a Catholic priest, but became a Protestant. He married a devotee of a nunnery, and soon after came to the great republic, where he continued his sacerdotal vocation until his death. The son, Francis, was noted in his youth for pugnacity,generesity and blunt honesty, characteristics that never forsook him. At an early age he was apprenticed to a con- fectioner, and afterward to a saddler, learn- ing these trades to a partial degree; but soon his restless spirit longed for the ex- citement of political life, when he was ap- pointed deputy sheriff, and afterward elect- ed sheriff of his county. He was also major general of the New York state tia, and became casnier and president of a commer- cial bank. For four years he was deputy naval officer of the port of New York, and in 1854 he was elected to Congress as an anti-slavery democrat, and after the repub- lican party was formed he represented that organization in Congress until the 3d of March, 1861, when he was requested by Secretary Chase and President Lincoln to become treasurer of the United States, which position he held for fourteen years. During the four years of the rebellion there was not an officer of the civil service of the government that performed more ac- tive or important work than Gen. Spinner. His strange and celebrated signature, first written on the printed sheets of green- backs, was universally commented upon, and to the ordinary citizen who held the notes the name of the treasurer was a puzzie. He adopted this cramped and pe- culiar signature, however, as he told me, for the purpose of foiling counterfeiters and making it difficult to imitate the orig- inal. During the rapid and accumulating events of the spring, summer and fall of 1861 and 1sé2 the greenback printing presses of the government were run to their utmost limit to provide the sinews of war for the army and navy, and Spinner himself often re- mained at his desk more than twenty hours at a stretch signing and sending out the paper bullets that conquered the rebellion. The desire of many government clerks to enlist in the army and navy and battle for their country almost depleted some of the bureaus of their working force, and the treasurer's office was no exception to the rule. To substitute the men Gen. Spinner naturally thought of the employment* of women, Knowing that their deft fingers and rapid intuition could compete with, if not surpass, men as correot counters of new or old money. The First Employment of Wome Gen. Spinner always felt a natural-and commendable pride in first giving women an opportunity to make their own living by government employment. Hundreds of mothers, wives, daughters and sisters em- ployed today in the various bureaus of the government may well thank “the old watch dog of the treasury” for his persistent and faithful adhesion to their interest; and each woman now in office should place a leaf, in the shape of a five-dollar bill, in the laurel wreath that will soon crown his bronze statue in front of the Treasury De- partment. I was intimate with Gen. Spinner and corresponded with him up to the time of his death, at Jacksonville, Fia., in January, 1891. In the summer of 1586 a discussion broke out in the newspapers as to who ing women as government employes and afterward clerks. Some friends of Secre- tary Chase claimed the honor for him, but records proved beyond a doubt that Spinner was the real pioneer that blazed the way for women to work in official capacity. At the time Gen. Spinner w summering at Pablo Beach, a seaside resort near Jacksonville, 1 wrote him regarding the those who were trying to filch from him the glory of having first recommended the fair sex for government labor. 1 have now before me a four-page autograph letter, dated August 4, 1886, at Pablo Beach, when he was eighty-four years of age; and in which occur these phrases relating to his employment of women: “The records of the Treasury Department will show that I am right in every case and my critics wrong. All the appointments of women that are claimed to have been made prior to the {th of October, 1862, were made on_ my nomi- nation for places in my then office, United States Treasurer. My records and the p: rolls prove this. And then there are living witnesses in the persons of some of those mentioned still in Washington, one of | them Miss Keller.” This lady is still in office, as well as Miss Libbie Stoner, one of the first women employed in the Treasury Department. His Personal Qualities, General Spinner was a remarkable man in personal appearance, and one who at- tracted attention whenever seen. He stood nearly six feet tall, a round, broad, high forehead, slightly bold, with a corrugated countenance, thick, overhanging brows, shading a pair of d set grayish blue eyes that looked keenly into the motives ef men. His voice was full and sonorous, his talk witty and direct, and when he was surrounded by social friends he was the most companionable of men, and was par- ucularly polite and caressing to the fair sex, Who Were ever flattered by his atten- tion. He was a prime favorite with Congres: men, and when a Senator or Representative during the war and after could not find} snug place for his trusted constituent in the departments, SY could generally | be depended upon to furnish an asylum to the friet his favorite and influential la 3 oflicial reports, estimates | and s were always seconded by | Chase and Lincoln, and when they came | before the ways and means and finance committees they pa muster like a crack regiment on dress parade. During the impeachment trial of Presi- dent Andrew Johnson, in the fall of 1568, excitement ran very ‘high In the various | departments of the government among the ks and their ior officers, — The executive and legislauve branches of the | koverrment were ayed axainst each other like forest at bay, and fight- over the south reconstruction laws ing varicus presidential vetoes with a v seldom seen in p liti- ge Spinner while the impeachm itement incident th est pitch he wrote a p nztessional residence, in the re tis, from 1870 to. 1S7 the of my i ' and he never failed to reply in the heartiest manner. v Cause of His Retirement. In 1875 a contest arose between Gen. Spinner and Secretary Bristow gver some appointments the Secretary of the Treasury wanted to make against the will and over the head of the treasurer. All former Sec- retaries of the Treasury had never inter- fered with the appointments made in the treasurer’s office, as it was regarded as a great national bank, the treasurer giving a personal bond for a hundred thousand dol- | lars for the proper care and account of the | money of the republic. It was by common consent admitted that as the treasurer was {responsible for the cash, he should be al- lowed to select his own counters and cash- fers, but Bristow sought to thrust some of his ‘political friends into Spinner’s office. | The general kicked, and the matter was | brought to the notice of President Grant by Bristow. Spinner said that he would resign umess he was allowed to select the working tools of his office, and Bristow insisted that he was the appointing power under the law and would have his own way or vacate the Treasury Department. Grant, being schooled as a disciplinarian and influenced by some personal and politi- | cal friends, sided at the time with the Sec- retary of the Treasury, and Spinner at once resigned the office that he had held so long with rare honor to himself and great profit to his country. In a few months Grant was forced to dismiss Bristow, who brought up- on his head the scandal of “the whisky ring,” that made such a noise in its day. The spring before the general retired from office he visited his family in Florida for a short vacation from his arduous labors as treasurer, and on his return to the capital, he came back by the way of New Orleans, up the Mississippi river, by one of the palace steamboats that then plied between the crescent city and St. Louis, and stopped off a few days to see some of his subordinate officers and view the sights and growing greatness of the metropolis that aspired to be the future capital of the republic. The most prominent people of St. Louis called on him at the Planters’ House, where I was then boarding with my family, and | vied with each other in showing respect and attention to the great war treasurer of the United States. One pleasant, sunny after- | noon I invited himself, his daughter and adopted daughter to take a carriage drive and see some of the rare sights of the mound city, At the Old Botanist’s. In the course of the drive we visited the celebrated Shaw’s garden, one of the rarest botanical gardens in the Unitad States. The general and his daughter alighted at the lodge gate, and we proceeded to me summer home of Henry Shaw, located at one end of the garden, amil rare uees, shrubs, vines and terns, and veautiful flow- ers growing in grace, and exhaling perfume on the wings of the gentle wephyrs that blew over this earthly paradise. We sent in our cards, and were ushered into the reception room. m afterward the sage of the flowers appeared in a silk skull cap. Mr. Shaw produced a_ register of visitors, and asked the seneral to give him his celebrated signature, saying, lausxh- ingly, that some future wanderers might have a fine time among his pet flowers ani working out his signature 48 4 ic puzzle. The general repliet: 1 think it has puszied some of the counter- feiters, and it puzzles a great many other people as to how to secure enough of the “‘greenbacks’ with my cramped chirogra- phy.” We all signed our names, the sen- eral, I think, composing a phrase before his signature. Mr. Shaw then escorted us through the grounds, explaining, as he went, the names, virtues and pecullarities of his botanical beauties, growing in regu- lar beds outdoors or blooming in pots in | the long green-houses. I remember one plant about three feet high that he took a great interest in. I think he called it a breathing or pulse plant, and that it had come from the Amazon in South America. Its small branches and moved up and down with the rhythmic ac- tion of heart beats, and it seemed to be a living object. We stood in amazement at the sight of this rare plant, and Gen. Spin- ner asked Mr. Shaw if he thought it had a heart and soul. The octogenarian replied: “I am as certain as I live that the same Supreme Being that called us into life and breathed into us His celestial spirit reigns in this wonderful plant, and teaches us the Jesson of immortali We passed on, and, going back to the house at his pressing invitation,we lingered at the tomb that he had prepared to en- case his mortal remains when life's fitful fever was over. “General,” he said, point- ing to the marble sarcophagus, “there is where I expect to rest when the sun shall shine for me no more, and since I will not | be able to attend to my lovely flowers with hands of flesh, my spirit can watch over them daily and nightly, and their own beauty will induce those to whom I have bequeathed them to watch with jealous | care for their preservation.” We were deeply impressed by the solemn language and surrounding scene, a man standing be- side his own tomb delivering his own fu- neral oration. When we arrived at the house, we found a light lunch prepared,and the old sage pressed us to partake, produc- ing some fine old sherry wine, clear as am- ber and seemingly as old as himself. In a short time we finished, and,as Gen. Spinner wished to take the wain that night for Washington, hurried away, bidding Mr. Shaw and his beautiful garden a fond fare- well, he not forgetting, however, to present each of the ladies with a beautiful bouquet and the general and myself with a single jucqueminot to wear as a boutonniere. In due course we arrived at the Planters’ House. The general and his daughters were much pleased with their entertain- ray by 7 Shaw and to the day of their death, no doubt, remembered with pleasure the St. Louis botanist. 4 The Last Interview. The last time I saw Gen. Spinner was at Willard’s Hotel, on his way to Florida, | two years before his death. The ravages of a cancer had greatly disfigured his face and a settled gloom seemed to have taken possession of his countenance, while his natural irritability was increased. He saw but few persons and those some of the true and faithful clerks that had so hon- estly served him while treasurer. The morn- ing I called was dark and rainy. He was located on the second floor on the corner near the F street entrance. When I put in an appearnace at his parlor room he rose with some effort, saluted me kindly and I Seneral, how well you y replied: ‘Now, look here, Joye ow that’s a lie I made some explanatory remarks and turned the conversation into another channel, know- ing, of course, that my first salutation was not exactly the truth, but uttered as the usual compliment among friends. But Tn never forget the sterling sincerity of Spin- ner, Who would not accept a passing social compliment when he felt it to be false! The waters of the romantic Mohawk now murmur a requiem to his memory, and the rolling hills and blooming vales that blessed his boyhood will long echo the praises of this illustrious man, who handled $3,000,- 000,000 during the civil war and accounted for every cent to a grateful people who will always cherish his memory while truth, loyalty and honesty reign in the human heart! OHN A. JOYCE. a WANTED IT FIXED. The Wedding P: So Qaiet. From the Denver Tribune. “Cap'n, are you the editor of this paper?” The speaker was a tall, raw-boned, mid- die-aged man, with faded sorrel hair and a nand like a smoked ham. “.m, sir,” replied the editor of the Pea- ville —agle. “What can I do for you?” ou had a piece in your paper this week abeat a marryin’ at Hopkins’ Run last Thursday, didn’t ye?” yes, sir; I believe I did.” rryin’ was at Peter Crumpet's, think it was.” lis oldest gal was Harkins—that right?” “That is right.” (uu wrote the piece, did ye?” of course I—1 wrote it, but”— “Stop right there! You wrote it, he “The—the facts were given to’ me by somebody from that neighborhood and”— “The facts!" howled the raw-boned stranger, bringing his fist down on table with a bang that jarred the editor in his chair. “They warn’t facts! said the wedding passed off quietly. Who told you it passed off quietly “Why—why, what’s wrong with that? Didn't it pass off quietly?” “No, si married to Clum ‘No, sir!” thundered the man. “I ought to know! I'm the gal's father! I'm Peter | Crumpet! The weddin’ passed off, _ sir, ith the golwhoppinist shivaree ever got up in our neighborhood, and if you don’t | put it that way next week an’ do the gal justice I'l come back ned bone in yer body * editor of the Peaville Bugle hastily ed to set the matter right in_ his and break every a ’ Run turned on his heel and climbed avily out of the office, shaking his head in a threatening manner as he went out. siender . leaves | ed Of, but It Wasn't — i Mr. Peter Trumpet of Hop- | A DEAL OF SKIL tIs Required in Successful Counter- feiting, SOME NEW METHODS OF WORK. Raising the Denomination of Small | Notes. WORRYING THE TREASURY. Written for The Evening Star. OU NTERFEITERS are worrying the government detec- tives with a new de- parture. They are flooding the country with small notes and certificates altered into big ones, the work being so well done as to render them most danger- ous. Many of them are “raised” with ‘ such art as almost to defy scrutiny, lacking a magnifying glass. They will pass anywhere short of a bank. Some of them are produced by pasting over the denominational numbers other figures cut out of internal revenue stamps, with no attempt to change the value of the piece of money as expressed in words on the face and back of it. But these are comparatively crude. The formid- able forgeries of this kind are turned out by experts who transform both words and figures by methods so skillful as to com- mand admiration. At the office of the secret service yester- day Chief Drummond exhibited what look- ed so much like a $10 silver certificate that not one man in a thousand would hesitate to accept it. Nevertheless, it was in reali- ty only $1 expertly altered. The big figure indicating the denomination was in each case replaced by an X taken from a real ten-dollar bill, That is to say, the numeral, together with the oval bit of lathe-engrav- ing containing it, was cut out of a certifi- cate for $10 and so artfully inlaid in the paper of the one-dollar greenback as to leave no traces of the operation visible to the naked eye. Of course, the ten-dollar bills thus mutilated could easily be treated so as to disguise the purpose of the mutilation and then sent to the treasury at Washing- ton for redemption. In this simple manner plenty of Uncle Sam's engraving could be utilized without expense for patchwork. The words “One Dol- lar’’ on the face of the bill described were al- tered py putting “Ten”in the place of “One,” the spot where the “S” ought to go at the end of the dollar being so defaced by scratching with a sharp knife as to make | it look as if the “ had been rubbed off by some accident. Along the edges of the cer- Uficate and particularly in the corners the ink was carefully smeared in such a man- ner as to render the wording of the denomi- |mation indistinguishable. All this must have required a good deal of labor, but it _Tepresented a clear gain of $%. This pro- duct of criminal industry was the work of |@ man named Freeland and his wife, who were caught at it and arrested in Chicago the other da: Their Wide Circulation. In similar ways silver certificates of $1 and $2 are raised to $ and $20; treasury | notes of $1 are altered to $10, and national | bank notes are changed from $1 to $50. Or- |@inary cigar stamps, in many instances, | furnish figures for the patchwork. Some of these metamorphosed pieces of money have been circulated widely before being de- tected,and it is probable that thousands of _them are now passing unsuspected from hand to hand. People ought to be warned to look out for them. Those of them which fall into the hands of the government are redeemed at their original face value. This sort of crime has been practiced to some | small extent in the past, but during the last year it has suddenly ingly | prevalent. Its increase is believed to be |due mainly to the difficulties which have | been placed in the way of imitating United | States currency, Counterfeiters cannot suc- | cessfully reproduce the fiber paper and ma- chine engraving of government securities; they find altering easier. | Another form of counterfeiting which has | obtained a sudden and remarkable deveiop- ment of late is the gilding of silver coins | for fraudulent purposes. No sooner did the new 25-cent piece appear than its design suggested to dishonest persons the idea of transforming it into a $10 gold piece by the | simple process of plating it with gold. The | words “Quarter Dollar” being obliterated by means of a punch, the silver piece When coated with the yellow metal will pass very | well as an eagle. But this method is im- proved by striking out only the “Quar- | ter” and soldering to the coin in its place th small letters, making the word “Ten,” jan " being added in the same fashion on | the end of the “Dollar.” Then it only re- |mains to do the plating, and the profit is /about $9.50, In like manner a dime is changed into a $5 gold piece. |_ False eagles and half-eagles of this de- scription have already been circulated in great numbers. As a rule, they are passed | without difficulty. Big profits have un- | doubtedly been made by those in the industry. The business requires littie skill and no extensive plant. It may be carried on in most convenient privacy. All | that is needed is a small tank, some cyan- | ide of potash for a solution, a few feet of | copper wire, and a little ‘battery. How- ever, an ordinary electric light current will do. The process is simply that of plating. | the coin being attached to one end of the wire and a piece of gold at the other end. Both ends are immersed in the potash so- lution, and the current being turned on | does the rest. Other Ways of Doing It. It is not surprising that persons who have |small moral principle and an appetite for | gain should be tempted to adopt so easy and seductive a method of making money, It is easy enough for anybody who is on | his guard to distinguish such false gold pieces by their lack of weight, silver being so very much lighter than the more precious metal. A century ago the prac- | tice of mutilating gold coins by clipping or otherwise for profit was quite prevalent, | but it ts so no longer. Pieces of hard money that have been injured so as to lessen their bullion value are not easy to get rid of nowadays, because people will not accept them. Besides, swindlers prefer the easier and more satisfactory method of “sweat- ing.” depriving the coin of a fraction of | its substance by means of just such a bat- tery as is above described. It can then be readily passed, its brightness and smooth- |ness being only calculated to arouse the suspicion of an expert. This process is applied exclusively to gold pieces. In fact, no case of the subtraction of metal from silver coin for gain has ever been discov- ered by the secret service. The feelings of the government detectives were much shocked three weeks ago by the turning up of a counterfeit treasury | note for $100. It was the series of 18s), check letter A, with the head of Lincoin on the face. It was the latest contribu- tion from a remarkable artist, who has been puzzling the authorities for more than a dees Like all of his other pro- ductions in this line, it was done entirel; in pen and ink. It was actually accepted as genuine at a United States subtreasury and was sent thence to Washington for re- |demption. One of the experts in the re. |demption division of the treasury, Miss Alma C. 5) ‘h, discovered it, and the teller who took it in at the subtreasury will lose | $100 by the transaction. The counterfeit | Will not bear close scrutiny, the imitated lathe engraving being only a mass of pen scratches, but it has the dangerous quality | of a good general appearance. This pen-and-ink artist is a most extra- ordinary individual. Up to date he has produced about twenty-five such counter- feits. They all reach the treasury event- ually, and several specimens of his handi- work are on exhibition at the office of the secret service here. Four out of five of his notes have been twenties, and there have been two fifties. The new one is the only one for $1 that he has turned out. He n at the rate of two a year, _ it must take nearly all of his time to do the work, which is evidently | executed under a high-power macnifying glass. Of course the labor cannot. } | profitable, and it is suppose? that he | it for amusement. It is his little fad. In | asmuch as they come from all parts of the be that he is a jtleman of leisure and travels trom city to city. Little hope is entertained of ever catchi ue him, and it is likely that ; mn & mpetery, he will always A Noteworthy Haut. One important capture made by the treasury hawkshaws during the last year was that of a man named Smith and a woman he lived with, who were engaged in counterfeiting notes on the Bank of England. They used photography for the purpose, going over the lines afterward with pen and ink. Nineteen of the notes, Supposed to be all they had made, were seized at the same time, together with the glass negative employel and other ap- tus. The securities imitated were for each. Another forgery for £20 on the same great financial institution was picked up recently. Only one specimen was se- cured, and, masmuch as it was executed entirely in pen and ink, it may, perhaps, have been the work of the ingenious artist above referred to. The Bank of England depends for pro- tection against counterfeiters entirely on its paper, which has a peculiar water mark. Though this paper is much more easily imitated than the fiber paper used by Uncle Sam, the manufacture of an imitation would require a smail factory and much machin- ery. Such a manufacture could hardiy be carricd on secretly. That eminent expert, Mr. Pete McCartney, used to wash ali the ink off of $1 United States notes, so as to procure the real fiber paper for printing $500 notes upon. One might wonder why this simple process hes not been applied to Bank of England securities, inasmuch as their design is nothing but plain black let- tering and could be readily imitated. But it may be that the British paper, being so thin, would not bear acids and take a re-” print afterward. During the last year a new issue has peared of the dangerous two-dollar cieer certificate with ihe head of Hancock,whica first saw the light in 1800, At that time it alarmed the treasury considerably. It was the most successful counterfeit that had turned up in many years. An expert might detect it, but no ordinary person would Suspect its want of genuineness. The “‘gen- eral effect” was admirable. Its worst de- fect was that in one pl the word ad place on the margin country, it must Unfortunately, to get hold of them is a Problem so difficult as to puzzle even such skilled detectives as are employed by the government. To capture a man in the act of “shoving” the bogus certificates does = scree ont much. He does not know 1o manufactures them, but is only ac- quainted with the dealer from whom he bought them at 60 cents on the dollar,whic is the cus: s them a more genuine look. It is on this ac- count that the forger stains the and tears them. Thus they get the appear- ance of respectable age and obtain the credit of long circulation, while at the same time it is rendered more difficult to per- ceive their defects. The use of imitations of United States money without criminal intention for ad- vertising purposes is still prevalent, not- withstanding the efforts of the government to put a stop to it. Shopkeepers and manu- facturers know that devices of this kind at- tract attention. During the last year nearly $4,000,000 worth of such imitations of the national currency has been confiscated. The specimens thus secured run all the way from greenbacks issued by cheap eating houses to supposititious wallets, with bills | sticking out at the ends, which are scat- tered along the street. People pick them up, find that they are made of paper, and read the advertisements inside. The fiat currency issued by business colleges used to make an immense amount of trouble, much of it being worked off upon unsus- pecting immigrants. Most of this has been gathered In and destroyed. The secret service declares that there is a popular mania for imitating the currency. Tin tags are made after the pattern of silver quarters, calendars are ornamented with pictures of $5 silver certificates, and clusters of coins are employed for paper weights. Coin counterfeiters have adopted the dodge of always having a few of these coin clusters on hand. If they are sur- prised at their work they refer to the clus- ters and explain that they are simply en- gaged in making them. United States pos- tage stamps are reproduced in the same | fashion for advertisements. day a steel engraved plate for printin Guatemala stamps was seized. Until quite recently forgers of foreign stamps could not be prosecuted in this country, but a new law has been made to cover them. The treasury is very anxious to get through Congress a legal enactment for- bidding the payment of employes in or metal tokens issued by manufacturing and other concerns which employ 1 on a large scale and compel their workmen to accept such alleged money, which is only good at the company’s store. The late financial stringency has largely increased the volume of such currency, which, as it is reckoned, subtracts from 15 to 40 per cent from the income of the wage earner. RENE BACHE. ———ee-<— — SMALL-CHANGE POCKET. It Breeds Profiigacy and There Should Be a Crusade Against It. “A ‘congress to abolish the small-change pocket’ would be an appropriate way in which to wind up the series of meetings under President Bonney,” remarked a sad- eyed man yesterday to a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. “There is nothing in the world that tends more in the direction cf profligate expenditures. “The Sherman law has had the major part of the burden of hard times laid upon its ; Shoulders, but no greater evil to the pros- perity and financial well-doing of humanity exists today than the little receptacle on the right-hand side of a man's coat. where the stray nickels, dimes, quarters and halves find their way when a large bili is changed. “From the moment the coins drop into the pocket they might as well be charged up to dead loss, for the owner loses their identity right then and there so far as value is con- cerned. “It is so easy, when passing along through the streets, in the shops, or the many places where there are opportunities to spend money to dip into th in little driblets, pocket, and it is cleaned out before one bh: lany notion of it. To the change pocket, also, I lay the blame to a considerable ex- ltent of the increase In the drink havbit. | Many a man has indulged himself in @ cocktail simply because he had the price 80 handy, whereas had he kept it in a purse ‘he might have thought twice before drink- jing.” j |