Page:Memoirs of the United States Secret Service.djvu/112

 continually on the watch for fresh chances to crack a country bank, at an opportune moment.

On one occasion he succeeded in relieving the Concord Bank of some $300,000 in good money; and at another time he made a big "lift" at the Wolfboro', N. H., Bank.

The amount of money he and his confederates thus obtained was so great that none dared to keep it. They got alarmed. "Blacksmith Tom" was afraid to hold it, and it was quickly secreted in glass jars and buried. It was subsequently recovered and mostly restored, through the active exertions of the New York city police.

When the famous counterfeit $50 legal tender note came upon the market (already referred to in a previous article) all the "coney men" rushed to New York to obtain bundles of this admirable specimen of the "queer"—which is the best counterfeit note, of any denomination, ever produced in America, and which deceived all sorts of money judges, for a long period.

Bill Dow, Tom Hale, "cranky Tom," Bill Gurney and others, formed a secret co-partnership for the purpose of using these large bogus notes to purchase jewelry and fine watches in Boston and Philadelphia. They first bought a choice watch of the Waltham Co., by express, "C. O. D.," for which they forwarded six of these spurious $50 notes in payment. These notes went through, the watch was sent to New York, the bills were deposited in the Bank, paid out again, and the fraud remained undiscovered. The six notes were never heard from. This incident is cited to show how exquisitely nice was this imitation note. No one then suspected it.

But the facts herein stated were all subsequently ascertained, and Detective Newcomb, now of Col. Whitley's force, worked up this case, and found the three hundred