The Makers of “ Queer ” Money.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 June 1921, Page 3

The Makers of “ Queer ” Money.

(By 11. L. Adam, Author of “The j gtory of Crime.”) There has lately been a revival of forgery, especially the forgery of Treasury notes. Fhe forger is among the most skilful of criminals. In the full sense of the word his handiwork may truly be said to be an art. I have known of a gang of forgers who had a young fellow apprenticed to the art of engraving, paying all his expenses, for the express purpose of utilising his skill, when he became proficient for their own nefarious ends. They had, of course, to wait a considerable time before the apprentice could he made use of, but it paid them in the long run, for he turned out to be one of the most skilful forgers ever known to the criminal world. He was capable of forging almost anything, and with the | results of his labours the gang “ope- j rated” in all parts of the world, netting a large sum of money. The gang was eventually broken up. hut not before it had victimised many people. The note-forger is quite distinct from [ the cheque forger, or the “scratcher” j ns he is technically termed. The forn j who is far and away the most aeeoni- j plished “penman,” must have a good j working knowledge of the art of engrav- j ing while the latter need only he able I to imitate hamlwritng more or less faith j fully. ! , One of tub" easiest notes to forge is j the English banknote, the details of j ( which are very easily imitated. But , the difficulty which the forger or coun- > terfeiter experiences in reproducing it j is in connection with the paper and \ watermark, and the difficulty is even j greater with the former than the latter, j As is generally known, the paper on ( which the notes are printed is made and j * provided exclusively for that purpose and it is not at all easy of imitation. , 1 ***** j * The most difficult notes to forge are j 1 the Continental and Scottish, partieu- : larly the former, on account of their j 1 elaborate designs. At Scotland Yard . ’ they have many specimens of such forged notes which have been so skil- J fully done as to be almost indistinguishable from the genuine articles. Some of them are Russian rouble f notes, in connection with which an amusing story is told. These notes were being extensively 1 circulated in this country, and for some 1 tifme the police were at a Ijoss to 1 locate the probable wnirce of supply. 1 At length one day they received a f ter from an obvious foreigner, apparently written and posted in London, ' volunteering his services to aid the 1 police in the task of tracking down the I forgers whose identity he professed to < know. i But there was something about the < offer which aroused the suspicions of « the police, who turned their attention to their correspondent, when they soon < discovered: that he was himself the ] principal offender. He had endeavoured < to mislead the police, hut his cunning ' had “o’erloapt itself” and brought about his own downfall. 1