Bold in its stupidities and brazen-faced in its assumptions as is the
above letter, it has probably deceived hundreds, if not thousands, and
the villain "W. J. Ferguson" could doubtless tell many a side-splitting
story in regard to the simplicity of his victims. Copies of that and
like letters, signed by other names, and sent out by different
"speculators," find their way to the farmers', the mechanics', the poor
widows', the shop-keepers', and other hands, and hundreds send little
sums of money in response--"just to try the thing," if nothing more. I
do not intend to animadvert upon the intelligence, sagacity, and moral
worth of the masses of "the people of these States," for sufficient
comment thereon can be found in the fact that these "speculators" do a
thriving business, and if not disturbed by the police authorities would
soon be able to build as fine edifices as do the "private bankers," and
thus make themselves "a credit to the city of New York," for example,
by adorning it!
I have alluded to a man whom I have in my mind's eye. He is a somewhat
"queer crittur," as one of his neighbors denominated him, though an
"honest farmer," and something of a "horse character," being interested
considerably in stock raising. He resides not a thousand miles from
Rutland, Vermont, and is "well to do" in the world. The old fellow's
name I am under certain obligations to keep secret; but lest his
neighbors (especially a jolly blacksmith living in the same "parish"
with him, and who gave me some "light" regarding him, and "enjoyed the
fun" when I told him of what facts I discovered), should, when reading
this, entertain unjust suspicions as to exactly who the "honest farmer"
(and member of the ---- church, too!) is, I will simply use the
fictitious name of W--orthy P. Row--ley to designate him by.
The exploiting of these "counterfeit-money speculators" became so
extensive that at one time complaints were received by the score
daily--by the Mayor of New York, and others; and it was finally thought
best to take some notice of them. Various means were employed to detect
the scamps. One of the most active persons, and who urged their
detection and punishment most earnestly, was a man who is, undoubtedly,
a regular counterfeiter. This was natural enough, as the "speculators,"
as will be seen further on, were hurting his business. This man had
relatives in Vermont, and in some way it became suspected that the
"honest farmer," who sometimes visited to New York, and put up at the
Bull's Head Hotel, on Third Avenue, bringing with him a blooded horse
for sale now and then, was one of his relations. (But this proved not
to be the case. He had been in his company, but was not related to him
by blood, though slightly so, as the sequel will show, as a "business
man.")
Circumstances so occurred in the ferreting out of some counterfeiters,
that suspicion fell upon the "honest farmer" as one of their aids in
the distribution or "shoving" of the "queer" (the flash or business
name for counterfeit money), and it was thought that he was wanted. So
I was delegated to wait on the gentleman "at or near" his residence.
He was in the habit of visiting Canada two or three times a year to buy
up stock (cattle mostly), and import them into Vermont, and prepare
them for market. This was one of his "side issues," as he said. When I
arrived in his town I found he had gone to Canada, and that I should be
obliged to wait a day or two for his return. Meanwhile I made as much
investigation into the affairs of the old fellow (for he is a man of
nearly sixty years of age) as I could safely; and from an enemy or two
of his discovered enough to learn that he might be as guilty as he was
suspected to be, and I prepared myself for "investigating" the old
fellow on his return.
To go into details of how I approached the "honest farmer," and what
progress I made in studying him as connected with the regular
counterfeiting business, as an agent in distributing the "queer" in
Vermont,--and somewhat in Canada, as was supposed,--would make my
narrative too long. But I found at last, to my satisfaction, and
surprise as well, that that W. P. R., the "honest farmer," had no
connection with the business we suspected him to be engaged in. But I
found also something which might have surprised me regarding a man of
his general shrewdness, if I had not known many equally astute men made
fools of.
The "honest farmer" had received, from time to time, letters like that
which is quoted herein from Mr. "Ferguson." At first he paid no
attention to them. Finally his speculative nature became whetted, and
out of "pure curiosity," as he asserted to me so often as to excite my
suspicions that he had far other motive, he entered into correspondence
with the "New York gentlemen," which resulted in his sending to the
speculators ten dollars in greenbacks, for which he was entitled,
according to their offer, to receive one hundred dollars in counterfeit
bills. He gave instructions as to how he would prefer to have it sent,
namely, by express, in a square box, well wrapped and sealed up, and he
stated about what size. His correspondents were instructed to write on
the corner of the package, "One doz. Condition." (This, he said, would
be understood by "the railroad folks," and his neighbors, if they saw
it, to mean "Condition powders,"--medicine for horses.)
The box came to the railroad station near him. He was apprised of its
arrival, and went for it himself. This was in the daytime, and he
"wasted time" on his way home, so as to arrive in the night. ("Didn't
want to let his folks know," he said, "how deuced foolish his curiosity
had made him.") He drove under the "shed" attached to his "home barn,"
and quietly took the box down into a cellar of "the old house"--an old
dilapidated, untenanted house, in which some of the products of the
farm, and a few farm tools, and some old barrels were kept; and down
into the cellar of the old house he went, and deposited there the box,
and then went in, "washed up," and sat down with his family to supper.
After supper he was uneasy to investigate the package; and making an
errand "to the barn," procured an old candle, and (forgetting the
"barn") hastened into the cellar, managing to fasten the cellar door
with a rope which he tied to the handle. He _said_ he did this for fear
somebody might see a light through an end "winder" of the cellar, and
come down and "ketch" him at the "silly job;" but I have my suspicions
that the "honest farmer" had other reasons than that of pride for his
secrecy. He put the box on the head of an old barrel, and the candle on
another, and began to unfold his treasures. Roll after roll of "old
brown papers and newspapers" he cut off, and wadding them up, one after
another, laid them on the head of the barrel on which stood the light,
or threw them on the floor.
There was a marvelous waste of paper, he said, in "doin' up that 'are
box." At last he came to the box (a small, oblong, wooden, affair which
he showed me), which I should think to be about eight inches in length
by four in width and depth, and the original use of which, if it had
any, I could not conjecture. The cover was barely tacked on. Pulling
off this, he presently came upon a few scraps of old iron, and a few
bits of what he thought were paving stones, and not a single dollar of
counterfeit money did his search reveal.
[Illustration: THE "HONEST" COUNTERFEIT MONEY SPECULATOR.]
At the bottom of the box, pasted in, was a paper, on which was written,
in a bold, quite elegant hand, "Old fool!--ha! ha!" And while he stood
contemplating his folly, and holding up a bit of the old iron in his
hand, the heap of paper on the other barrel (probably warped, or
"cockled," as paper-men would express it, by the heat from the candle)
tumbled over into the flame of the latter. The old man said this
frightened him at first, "like a judgment" on his folly, and he had
close work for a minute or two to put out the fire. "I thought the old
stairs would ketch," said he, "and I couldn't get up." The story as he
told it (for he has a considerable "knack at story-telling") was not a
little amusing, but I shall make no attempt to represent it here.
The counterfeit money speculators have no notion of getting themselves
into serious legal difficulties, and so long as they only swindle such
men as the "honest farmer" in question, the authorities of New York
will probably take no great pains to disturb them. It would be rather
amusing if one could watch the countenances of the poor dupes as they
open their packages. Disappointed ambition, "castles in Spain" all
tumbled down, visions of wealth broken into clouds upon their
countenances, would probably be the tale they would tell. But warnings
will do this class of people no good, and it is not "good" they seek;
so we need have no pity for them.
If the counterfeit money speculators, of the kind I here speak of, do
no good, they certainly do no harm, save to the regular counterfeiters,
by forestalling their field, and getting away from the poor dupes money
which might otherwise fall into the "regular" gentlemen's hands. But
perhaps the result in the long run may be beneficial to the "regular
trade," inasmuch as the present victims, when they come to get
possession of the real counterfeit money, may buy more than they
otherwise would, to make up their former losses. In this they will
imitate other business men, who, when chancing to lose by one attempted
swindle, balance accounts of profit and loss by "doubling" in a
successful swindle, or as gamblers "hedge" their bets on a horse-race.
At any rate, the "money-makers," whether of bank bills, or other false
pretences, "regular" or "irregular," will always, I suppose, manage to
find "honest farmers," and like victims, so long as the ignorance of
the people sustains such institutions as private banks; and it matters
but little whether a bank bill has passed under the eye of "Jones,
president," and "Williams, cashier," or not, so long as it is well
"executed" enough to "execute" its own mission, which is, to swindle
labor out of its just dues. The man who devised paper money and
"banking," as it is generally conducted, was the shrewdest servant that
the tyrant and sagacious classes ever had in aiding them to keep the
laboring classes subjected and "contented" with being robbed. If any
reader thinks my estimate of that man's clever swindling capacity too
emphatic or high, let him sit down soberly, and consider the subject in
all its aspects, beginning with the cost of the paper, and the thousand
profitable uses it is made to serve for the money-manufacturer, and
then reflect how it is as much one man's _natural_ right to "make,
money" as another's, but that the few manage to make a monopoly of the
business.
The fact is, that the counterfeiters are really more democratic than
the bank men, and only stick to their "constitutional rights,"--the
right of individuals, as well as of bodies politic, to manufacture
money. If the State would let the matter of money-making alone, and
abolish all laws regarding it, it would not only abolish counterfeiters
and counterfeiting thereby, and "bogus" counterfeit speculators also,
but would, in so doing, leave a clear field for sensible political
economists to work out a plan of exchange, in which some justice and
honesty might be obtained. Till then, the counterfeiters,--the regular
_bona fide_ ones, and the bogus rascals, too,--will thrive; for no plan
of "making money" is found so ingenious that these capable gentlemen
cannot imitate it.
As I write (Feb., 1871), I note in a Connecticut newspaper an instance
of the operation of these bogus counterfeit money speculators; and what
surprises me a little is, that their victim lives within four or five
hours' ride from New York, in the enterprising village of Thomaston,
Litchfield County, Conn., which connects with New York several times a
day by railway. It appears that a worthy dealer in "oysters and
vegetables" recently received from "Chatfield & Co." (professional
dealers in counterfeit money, like "Ferguson") a box marked C. O. D.,
the charges upon which were ninety dollars. "Of course" the man made no
order upon "Chatfield & Co." They sent the box voluntarily. "The
charges were promptly paid" (I quote from the newspaper referred to),
"and the box opened. The contents proved to be old iron, stones,
shavings, and rubbish. These articles can be bought cheaper here. A
factorizing suit was quickly served on the express agent here, the
money detained, and by due process of law our neighbor ... will get it
back, less the expenses of the law. But we cannot help asking the
question, Suppose he had received the "queer" instead of the rubbish
for the ninety dollars, what would he have done with it? Charity says
he would have carried it to the nearest justice, and had it duly
stamped counterfeit, and so lost the investment;" and the article
quoted from facetiously adds, "If it had been any one less honest than
he is, we are afraid he would have 'shoved the queer' just to get his
money back, with a reasonable (say two per cent.) profit. After all,
the question is still unanswered."
But the Thomaston people probably have more persons in their midst than
the oyster dealer, who think that counterfeit money is good while it
passes; and they should not feel sure, without looking, that they have
not in their purses more or less of the "real genuine article" of
counterfeit money, especially of the "fractional currency" kind; and it
may be that some of the good housewives and marketing husbands of that
goodly village have wittingly or unconsciously, from time to time,
passed so much of it upon the unfortunate dealer in oysters and
vegetables, as to inspire him with a sense of its great "convenience in
trade," and so he thought to enjoy the blessings thereof himself, and
communicated with "Chatfield & Co."
Drawing my article to a close, I was about overlooking a fact, which I
ought not to forget to state here, in regard to the "honest farmer." I
had a little business transaction with him--the purchase, in fact, of a
few pounds of very nice butter, which I took home with me. I gave him a
five dollar bill, out of which he took his pay, handing me the
"change," which was two dollars and twenty cents. I took it (made up of
sundry pieces of fractional currency), and gave it no attention beyond
rapidly counting it, and chanced to place it in one division of my
wallet by itself. At Springfield, Mass., I had occasion to use some of
it, when I found that a fifty cent bill of it was counterfeit. I
considered this "too good a joke to keep" all alone, so I sent the bill
on to the "jolly blacksmith" I have alluded to before, and made him a
present of it, with the suggestion to him to present it to the "honest
farmer," who, to my astonishment, when I heard of it, did not deny that
he "might have let that New York fellow have it;" and he modestly took
it, and gave another bill (_supposed_ to not be counterfeit) in
exchange. Whether the man knew it was counterfeit when he gave me the
bill, is more than I dare say here; but his neighbors, on reading this,
will probably decide that question for themselves.--S.
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