Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1894 — A Remarkable “Artist.” [ARTICLE]

A Remarkable “Artist.”

The feelings of the government detectives were much shocked three weeks ago by the turning up of a counterfeit treasury note for SIOO. It was the series of 1880, check letter A, with the head of Lincoln on the face. It was the latest contribution from a remarkable artist, who has been puzzling the authorities for more than a decade. Like all of his other productions in this line, it was done entirely in peil and ink. It was actually accepted as genuine at a United Startes sub-treasury and was sent thence to Washington for redemption. One of the experts in the redemption division of the Alma C. Smith, discovered it, and the teller who took it in at the sub-treasury will lose SIOO 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-an 1-ink artist is a most extraordinary individual. Up to date he has produced about twenty-five such counterfeits. They all reach the treasury eventually, and several specimens of his handiwork are on exhibition at thb office of the secret service here. Four out of five of his Botes have been twenties, and there have been two fifties. The new one is the only one for SIOO that he has yet turned out. He makes them at the rate of -two a year, apparently, and it must take nearly all of his time to do the work, which is evidently executed under a high power magnifying glass. Of course the labor cannot be profitable, and it is supposed does it for amusement. It is his little fad. Inasmuch as they come from till parts of the country, it must be that he is a gentleman of leisure and travels from city to city. Little hope is entertained of ever catching him, and it is likely that ho will always remain a mystery.—[Washington Star.